The Science Of The Seven Rays

A Tool For Understanding Ourselves, Our Fellowmen, And Our World

A talk given at the Theosophical Society of Edinburgh, 30 September 2010 by Sarah McKechnie

Thank you very much for this opportunity to share some of the teachings on the seven rays from the books of Alice Bailey. The concept of the seven rays was introduced by H. P. Blavatsky and later developed by Ernest Wood. Alice Bailey then developed the teaching considerably in a number of her books, especially A Treatise on the Seven Rays.

We might begin by asking, Why seven rays? Why not ten or twelve, for those are also numbers of considerable spiritual significance? The number seven features prominently in the human perception of structure of the world: the seven colours of the rainbow, seven notes of an octave; in occult cosmology the seven major planes and subplanes of existence, and in the calculation of time the seven days of a week. Then there are the seven sisters of the Pleiades, the seven Rishis of the Great Bear, and the seven Spirits before the Throne of God. All are essentially living forces carrying the one Life into expression – seven great interpreters of the One Essence as it takes on form.

The cosmology of the Ageless Wiscom gives an explanation of the seven rays so profound, so occult that it’s beyond the grasp of the human mind, but to summarise and thereby grossly simplify it: As part of the initial Plan, the one Life sought expansion. Initially, that Life expressed in triple formation: as Life, Quality and Appearance, or Monad, Soul, and Personality; Will, Love, and Intelligence. The seven rays are the first differentiation of this divine triplicity: from three major rays, four minor rays unfold to reveal the sevenfold nature of divinity. Yet the seven emanations came forth from the central vortex, and as such are seven aspects of one whole and therefore interrelated. "Each of the great rays has a form of teaching truth to humanity which is its unique contribution", Alice Bailey wrote, yet only in their composite do we understand nature of the One, of Deity.

She said "The endless diversity of forms hides a subjective synthesis. Man can therefore eventually see, expressing itself through all forms in all kingdoms, a universal septenate, and when this happens, he is entering into world of subjective unity, and can proceed on his way consciously towards the One. He cannot as yet enter into the consciousness of that basic essential Unity, but he can enter into that of his own ray-life, of the emanating source of his own temporarily specialised life."

The energies which emanate from what is esoterically called the "heart of the sun" sweep through the planets in seven great streams and pour into human soul producing what we call awareness. These seven types of energy produce the seven types of souls or rays. These differentions are like the colouring that the prism takes when subjected to the rays of the sun. But the prism is one.

TO ENUMERATE EACH OF THE SEVEN RAYS:

1st ray – The energy of Will, Purpose or Power, which is essentially the Will of Deity. This ray is of such dynamic intensity that it’s called the ray of the Destroyer. We are told that there is no true 1st ray type in incarnation yet, due to its potency. Perhaps the best example of the first ray’s potency is found in the mineral kingdom, for radium is said to hold the key to the mystery of the 1st ray. Courage is also an aspect of the 1st ray, but true courage is not a fighting courage or any sort of struggle to be what is called "brave." It is the courage of sure knowledge, held steadily and without questioning in the midst of difficulty and discomfort.

Higher Expression: The science of statesmanship, of government.

Lower Expression: Modern diplomacy and politics.

Perhaps the words of great servers can add a human dimension to the quality of particular rays. Goethe, I think, touched upon the dynamic, initiating power of the first ray when he said: "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." And the courage of the first ray lies behind the Christ’s promise: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

2nd ray – The energy of Love-Wisdom – the desire or love of Deity. This is not emotional desire, but desire as the great Law of Attraction - the capacity to draw to itself that which is loved. It’s the bond of coherence, the principle of magnetic cohesion which works through all creation of forms on every level, from a crystal to a solar system. All have been created to satisfy the desire of the Creator.

Higher Expression: The process of initiation as taught by the hierarchy of adepts.

Lower Expression: Religion

The inclusiveness of the 2nd ray is encapsulated in some words of Krishna: "Whatever path men travel is my path; No matter where they walk it leads to Me."

3rd ray – The energy of Active Intelligence or, to reverse it, intelligent activity; the intelligent use of form building, of all creative effort, to reveal divine purpose.

Higher Expression: Means of communication or interaction. The radio, telephone, telegraph and the power to travel.

Lower Expression: The use and spread of money and gold.

The intelligence expressed through the 3rd ray is the authority the Buddha pointed his disciples to in his final sermon: "Be a lamp unto yourselves. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp. Look not for refuge in anyone beside yourselves."

4th ray – The energy of Harmony through Conflict. This ray produces beauty and works towards the harmonising of effects. Essentially, it is the refiner, the producer of perfection within the form so that the objective world becomes a true house of Light.

Higher Expression: Masonry, based on formation of hierarchy, and rules for admittance.

Lower Expression: Architectural construction. Modern city planning.

Perhaps the words of Julian of Norwich, the fourteenth-century mystic whose puzzlement over the existence of sin was appeased in the revelation that "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well". This summarises the essential harmony that in time prevails when conflict has exhausted itself.

5th ray – The energy of Concrete Knowledge or Science. This energy has produced science and led to man’s comprehension of the natural world. Because it operates on the plane of the higher and lower mind and because "man" is literally "one who thinks", the 5th ray has special significance to humanity.

Higher Expression: The science of the soul. Esoteric psychology.

Lower Expression: Modern educational systems and mental science.

Again, the words of the Buddha invoke the essence of the 5th ray: "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

6th ray – The energy of Devotion or Idealism. This ray endows man with the capacity to see the ideal, the reality behind the form. It endows man with the urge to penetrate behind the veiled and hidden realms. The past 2000 years have produced fantastic gains in the understanding of what were, to early man, "magical" realms. Christ hinted at this when he said "Greater things than I have done ye shall do." Einstein also touched upon this urge to penetrate beyond the outer realms in his statement, "The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science."

Higher Expression: Christianity and diversified religions. (Notice here relation to Ray II.)

Lower Expression: Churches and organised religions.

The devotion of the 6th Ray is perhaps best expressed by Jesus, the 6th Ray Master: "Whosoever would find his life must lose it for my sake."

7th ray – The energy of Ceremonial Order. This is the coordinating capacity which unifies inner quality and outer tangible form or appearance. This ray primarily involves the etheric levels and thus governs the true magical work - the spiritualising of forms.

Higher Expression: All forms of white magic.

Lower Expression: Spiritualism – emphasis on form, "phenomena."

The essence of the 7th ray is found in the familiar aphorism of Hermes Trismegistus: "As above so below." The scientist David Bohm also touched upon the 7th ray in his theory of the Implicate Order, a new form of insight which he defined as Undivided Wholeness in Flowing Movement. A hologram is the symbol of the implicate order, he said: A total order is contained, in some implicit sense, in each region of space and time.

These are the seven rays, but it’s important to remember that all seven rays are subrays of the synthetic 2nd Ray of Love/Wisdom: Basically speaking, the energy of love, expressed with wisdom, is the line of least resistance for the manifested lives in our solar system. "God is love" is a great truth, for love is the basic law of this solar system.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS

The ray types give the new psychological approach to man through an understanding of the energies which animate him and make him what he is. In addition, the ray of the personality in a previous life leaves definite habits of thought and activity. It has built into the life rhythm certain unalterable tendencies. From this we can begin to see that when the true nature of the seven rays is grasped, we shall approach the subject of man’s duality with greater intelligence. It will awaken psychologists to a true understanding of man.

There is nothing in the whole solar system, at whatever stage of evolution, which does not belong and has not always belonged to one of the seven rays. All kingdoms in nature are conditioned by the seven rays, but the human kingdom provides perhaps most interesting and complex depiction. Every individual vibrates to some particular measure; 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, Alice Bailey said:

"Each vibrating unit of energy can say: I am part of a divine whole, which in its sevenfold nature expresses the love and life of the One Reality, coloured by one of the seven qualities of the love of Deity and responsive to the other qualities." Each of these seven streams or emanations of energy was coloured by a divine quality, an aspect of love, and all of them were needed for the ultimate perfecting of the latent and unrevealed purpose."

Every human being is swept into manifestation on the impulse of some ray, and is coloured by that ray quality, which determines his form and indicates the way that he should go. A ray confers physical conditions, the quality of the astral nature, and the distribution of energy. Each ray governs a particular centre, giving a predisposition to certain strengths and weaknesses. It gives the human being his colouring and quality. The personality shifts from ray to ray, from life to life, until all qualities are developed. While this process of soul control is being perfected, the ray types of the personality vehicles steadily emerge, the ray of the personality begins to control, and the soul ray begins finally to dominate and subdue the personality.

When considering the rays, we are really considering energy. The various rays of our makeup are a problem of the interrelation of energies, their fusion and balancing, plus the final synthesis of two major energies – soul and personality. The field of energy we call the soul absorbs, dominates or utilises the lesser energy we call the personality (itself composed of four energies).

Generally speaking, in the case of most people the mental body is governed by rays 1,4,or 5; the astral body by 2 or 6; and the physical by ray 3 or 7. Advanced souls, disciples, occasionally will choose a different ray for a particular body than the ones I’ve just cited, but it’s always a good idea to begin with the premise that one is fairly ordinary, don’t you think? Learning to recognise one’s ray pattern isn’t easy, but we have some guidelines to go on. Ask yourself, does my mind express power easily (1st), or does it strive for balance by seeing many different points of view (4th), or does it crave detail and tend to observe with detachment (5th)? Does my emotional nature tend to be fairly serene (2nd) or does it tend more to the stance of the passionate advocate (6th)? In terms of the ray of the physical body, ask yourself if your body likes to be active and handles diversified tasks well (3rd) or if it prefers an organised, rhythmic physical pace.

The personality ray finds its major field of activity in the physical body. That ray determines its appearance, purpose, life trend and occupation, while the soul ray has direct action upon the astral body; hence the battlefield of life is ever on the plane of glamour, we’re told. The personality ray fosters a separative attitude and causes a detachment from the group of souls of which the personality is an externalisation, and a consequent attachment to the form side of manifestation. The egoic ray fosters group consciousness and detachment from external forms, causing attachment to the life side of manifestation and the subjective whole.

When the personality ray becomes pronounced and dominant, and the rays of the three bodies are subordinated to it, then the great fight takes place between soul and personality ray. In preparation for initiation, the personality ray works to prevent contact, to mislead, retard progress, and misinterpret. Differentiation becomes marked, and the sense of duality becomes more definitely established. Eventually, the soul ray becomes the dominating factor, and the rays of the lower bodies become sub-rays of this controlling ray. This is the true relation of the personality to the soul. The disciple who understands this relation and conforms to it is ready to tread the path of initiation, we’re told.

In Alice Bailey’s words: "Each person is potentially a transmitter of ray energy, either egoic or personality rays. Each can in time learn to transmit the quality of his soul ray to the group, stimulating his brothers to greater courage, clearer vision, finer purity of motive, and deeper love, and yet avoid the danger of vitalising his personality characteristics. This is the major difficulty. To do this effectively and correctly, we must all learn to think of each other as souls, and not as human beings."

Perhaps at this point it would make the psychology of the seven rays more meaningful if we consider them in terms of individuals. The two volumes of Discipleship in the New Age by Alice Bailey provide a record of a group of disciples whom the Tibetan was overseeing during his work with Alice Bailey, and he gave each of those individuals information about their rays which is published in the two books. They were never identified by their actual names, only by initials. Let’s consider just a couple of examples to understand the complexity of the process.

ISG-L

"As you know, I find it useful to indicate to all in my group of pledged disciples their five determining or conditioning rays so that they can work with intelligence at the fusion of

a. The various personality rays.

b. The personality ray with the soul ray.

There are two major factors of paramount interest to all aspirants and—in your case—the task is made somewhat difficult because you have to add to these two tasks the work of shifting your soul ray from the sixth Ray of Devotion to the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. This is not an easy thing to do without an interlude of intense difficulty and of energy disruption, accompanied oft with loss of personality balance. You have, however, nearly completed the task and the worst part of the process is over. It had primarily a physiological effect upon you which showed itself in the difficulty you had a couple of years ago. At that time, as you know, I endeavoured to help you. That condition is now definitely ameliorated. The psychological implications are to be found in the transference of the psychical energy you wield from the solar plexus centre to the heart centre. In terms of living expression, this means that you can transmute devotion into love, and idealism into proven wisdom. Is not this your immediate aim, my brother?

As you know, your soul ray is the second ray, for your basic nature is essentially love-wisdom. Your personality ray is the first, the Ray of Will or Power. That has been for a long time subordinated to the past ray of your soul, that of devotion to the soul, to the Hierarchy, to humanity as well as to yourself. Your problem of personality emphasis has changed from that of the continuous impressing of your personality attitudes, ideas and desires upon your environment (as was the case in your last life) to an occasional cyclic and almost violent emphasis upon some individual. This is now only occasional (relatively speaking). You are learning to leave others free—a hard lesson for a first ray personality, animated as yours is by knowledge and goodwill.

The ray of your mental body is also the first ray. This means that your intelligent mind can dominate at need and can be far more powerful in expression than it usually is. It is always an interesting and an easy matter for the soul to control and illumine the mind when the first and the second rays are as closely related as they can be in your case.

As your emotional body is, however, on the sixth ray (as was your soul when you came into incarnation) it is there that the emphasis of the soul has been and there has been for you the line of least resistance. Now the line of least resistance should be the mind, and your major objective in life and in meditation should be the mind, and increased illumination—this in order to render increased service to your fellowmen.

Your physical body is also on the first ray, so you can see how powerful a combination you have for service, if you can truly comprehend your problem and work with a sense of synthesis. Therefore, your rays are as follows:

1. The soul ray—the second Ray of Love-Wisdom.

2. The personality ray—the first Ray of Power or Will.

3. The ray of the mind—the first Ray of Power.

4. The ray of the astral body—the sixth Ray of Devotion.

5. The ray of the physical body—the first Ray of Power.

It is this powerful first ray combination of forces in your equipment which has produced the emotional instability of which you have ever been conscious. But the shift of your soul energy on to the second ray will now most definitely offset this and lead to a condition of focussed stability. This will probably also better your physical condition."

EES

"Your soul ray is the seventh, which would enable you to work with facility in the new world which is emerging into manifestation with such rapidity. It will aid you also in producing order and rhythm in your environment; in these days of turmoil and difficulty, every rhythmic centre is of value to us.

Your personality ray is the sixth. This gives you power upon the astral plane and, in consequence, it gives you a powerful and sensitive astral body with all the implications of success and failure which go with that situation.

The close juxtaposition of your soul and personality rays is an asset, not a hindrance. This leads to quick results on the physical plane when both types of energy are simultaneously applied. Ponder on this.

Your mental body is definitely on the fourth ray and it is through this fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict that you can establish a rapid rapport with your brothers. It makes for understanding, intelligently applied, and for the emergence of beauty through that established rapport. It is the quality in you which gives you an ordered sense of colour, proportion and of harmony in your planned environment. It also evokes in you at times a violent reaction to that which seems incorrect, inharmonious and out of tune or line.

Your astral body is upon the sixth ray so that it will be obvious to you that through that vehicle your personality will find the least resistance; there also lies the need for watchful supervision. This I think you know and there is no need for me to elaborate this theme.

You have a first ray physical body. This is the only vehicle or energy of expression in your equipment which is on one of the major rays…later, in your next life, it will be necessary for you to shift the centre of your egoic or soul attention on to the second ray. The shift of emphasis has in it the main objective of this present incarnation and hence your possession of a sixth ray personality and astral body. This devoted, idealistic one-pointedness is an aid to you in your soul's enterprise. I know that this will give you much food for thought and instigate you to renewed purpose in your life endeavour.

1. The soul ray—seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order.

2. The ray of the personality—sixth Ray of Devotion.

3. The ray of the mental body—fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict.

4. The ray of the astral body—sixth Ray of Devotion.

5. The ray of the physical body—first Ray of Will or Power.

The qualities which you should cultivate are persistence, expansion, and strength, applied with love."

Alice Bailey sums up process of integration as follows: "As the three rays which govern the lower triplicity blend and synthesise and produce the vital personality, and as they in their turn dominate the ray of the dense physical body, the lower man enters into a prolonged condition of conflict. Gradually and increasingly, the soul ray, ‘the ray of persistent and magnetic grasp’, as it is occultly called, begins to become more active. In the brain of the man who is a developed personality, an increased awareness of vibration is set up. There are many degrees and stages in this experience, and they cover many lives. The personality ray and the egoic ray at first seem to clash, and then later a steady warfare is set up with the disciple as the onlooker—and dramatic participator. Arjuna emerges into the battlefield. Midway between the two forces he stands, a conscious tiny point of awareness and light. Around him and in him and through him the energies of the two rays pour and conflict. Gradually, as the battle continues to rage, he becomes a more active factor, and drops the attitude of the detached and uninterested onlooker. When he is definitely aware of the issues involved, and definitely throws the weight of his influence, desires, and mind on to the side of the soul, he can take the first initiation….The ray of the personality is occultly "extinguished" or absorbed by the ray of the soul, and all the potencies and attributes of the lower rays become subsidiary to and colored by the soul ray. The disciple becomes a "man of God",—a person whose powers are controlled by the dominant vibration of the soul ray and whose inner, sensitive mechanism is vibrating to the measure of that soul ray" (EP II 17)

THE SEVEN RAY METHODS OF SERVICE also provide insights into understand ray differences of method and expression:

Ray I servers, if trained disciples, work through what might be called the imposition of the Will of God upon human minds. This they do through the powerful impact of ideas on human minds – first, by initiating period of destruction and the breaking up of the old and hindering, later by the clear shining forth of the new idea and its grasping by the minds of intelligent humanity.

Ray II servers ponder and meditate on the new ideas associated with the Plan. By the power of their attractive love, they gather together those who are at a point in their evolution where they can respond to that Plan. These servers can select and train those who can "carry" the idea deeper into humanity.

Ray III servers stimulate the intellect of humanity, sharpening and inspiring it. They work by manipulating ideas to make them easier to grasp by those intelligent people whose intuition isn’t yet developed. So the progression is: 1st ray servers register ideas, which are then rendered attractive by 2nd ray servers, and adapted to immediate need and rendered vocal by 3rd ray workers.

Ray IV – Few 4th ray souls are in incarnation, but many 4th ray personalities are. Their major task is to harmonise the new ideas with the old, so that there can be no dangerous gap or break. They bring about a "righteous compromise", and adapt the new and the old so that the true pattern is preserved. They participate in the bridging process, for they are the true intuitives.

Ray V servers are coming rapidly into prominence. They investigate the form in order to find its hidden idea, its motivating power, by proving the idea either true or false. Through scientific investigation, research and discovery, they are preparing the new world.

Ray VI servers over the past 2000 years have trained humanity to recognise ideals, which are blue prints of ideas, by training world thinkers to desire the good, the true, and the beautiful. Some people can be galvanised by an idea, others reached more easily by an ideal.

Ray VII servers work on the physical plane. This is the ray coming into power. They focus on creating a group of workers to carry the Plan forward. The old age method was to empower an individual leader who could impose his idea on followers; the new age method is to evoke group idealism.

RAY CYCLES

"In the last analysis, all history is the record of energies & forces (rays) as they play upon humanity, expressing through successive civilisations and cultures, producing changes, and fashioning the many races & nations", Alice Bailey said. Each ray embodies an idea which can be sensed as an ideal. The rays in time produce the world pattern, the inner potency of evolutionary process. But when a ray begins to pass out of manifestation, it brings a crystallising cycle, requiring destruction and producing mental conditions of a set and static nature. The history of the world is based on the emergence of ideas, their acceptance, their transformation into ideas, and their eventual superseding by the next imposition of ideas.

Five ray energies are presently manifesting: the 6th, 7th, 2nd (always present), 3rd , and 1st. These five energies together will determine the trend of world affairs, we’re told. The 2nd ray has the longest cycle, producing a "crisis of love". The 3rd ray cycle is also very long because intelligence must be stimulated in even "the lowest of the sons of men".

The 1st ray is the most powerful force in the world today. It expresses the Will of God in world affairs, which is the will-to-good. A study of history shows the progression to unity and synthesis in all departments of human living. Unity in multiplicity is the Eternal Plan – unity in consciousness, multiplicity in form. The 1st ray also expresses as a destructive element. 1st ray energy streams from Shamballa and lies behind the present world crisis, for "It is the Will of God to produce certain radical and momentous changes in the consciousness of the race which will completely alter man’s attitude to life", Alice Bailey said.

The 3rd ray influence is seen in money, which is the concretized expression of the spiritual energy of intelligence. Up till now human intelligence has served materialism, but this hopefully will change if humanity responds rightly to the clash of energies created by an outgoing ray (the 6th) and an incoming one (the 7th).

THE SIXTH VS SEVENTH RAYS

The past 2000 yrs have been conditioned by the 6th Ray of Devotion and Idealism. This ray has fostered the growth of the great world religions because the 6th ray endows the "capacity for abstraction". The outstanding quality of human experience over the past 2000 years has been the growing expression of idealism. But after 2000 years, the conditioning has led to the tendency to impose one’s own particular ideal on others, at the expense of the original idea.

The 6th ray is the ray of blind procedure; only one aspect of reality is seen at a time - and usually the least desirable. All else is sealed to them; they vision only one picture; their horizon is limited to only one point of the compass. To most of humanity, this vision has focused on the material world, material comfort, material possessions and material enterprises. To this the labour movement today bears testimony, AAB pointed out.

Two of these rays are struggling for expression - one incoming (7th) and one outgoing (6th). Although the 6th ray began to pass out around 1625, it’s still the most powerful influence. The influence of the 6th ray has led to the development of taste in all forms. "Good taste" is highly valued; now disciples must transmute this into the discriminating sense of spiritual values. Interestingly, when a ray cycle passes out, the lower manifestation of that ray lingers on longer than the higher expression. Thus, the 6th ray is expressing now through the reactionary forces, clashing with the progressive forces of the incoming 7th ray which are seeking to govern and which would take world civilisation in drastically different directions. One ray is fostering crystallisation and the perpetuation of the existing culture, and one is fostering the creation of something entirely new out of the present world upheaval. 6th ray people are often the reactionaries, the conservatives, diehards and fanatics, who hold on to the past and hinder progress. They provide, however, a needed balance and steadying.

Alice Bailey said the failure of the 6th ray devotee to work intelligently and lovingly with substance and to produce right relation with the outer form has led over the last 2000 years to a mismanaged world suffering from a cleavage: as can be seen between science and religion and between religion and spirituality, for example as it manifests in regard to money. The task of new age workers is to bring these two apparent opposites together, to demonstrate that spirit and matter are not antagonistic to each other, and that throughout the world there is only spiritual substance, working on and producing the outer tangible forms.

The 7th ray is steadily gaining influence. It aids and inaugurates the new age, based on spiritual drive and aspiration, mental freedom, loving understanding and a physical plane rhythm. A large number of 7th ray individuals – soul or personality – are coming into incarnation now, and to them is committed the task of organising the activities of the new age and ending the old methods of life and old crystallised attitudes.

The result of the increasing flow of the 7th ray and the decreasing power of the 6th ray is to throw the millions of people who don’t respond to either ray, into a state of bewilderment – a feeling of being entirely lost, for all that they hold dear is rapidly fading.

The incoming 7th ray plays through the planetary sacral centre, and then through the sacral centre of every human being. As the 7th ray pours in, we are seeing the increasing focus on sexuality – not always a pretty picture, but because the 7th ray governs the fusion of spirit and matter, surely it will lead to a wiser approach to sexuality.

The higher expression of the 7th ray is white magic: the power of the trained worker to bring together the "within and the without" so that that which is below may be patterned on that which is above. The work of the 7th ray is the relating of life and form, but when the emphasis is laid upon the form aspect, then wrong procedure eventuates and the work of the black magician can begin.

The incoming 7th ray expresses the power to organise, integrate and synthesise the great pairs of opposites, producing new forms of spiritual manifestation, but also new forms of material evil. It is the great impulse which will bring into the light of day all that is found clothed in matter, and thus will eventually lead to the revelation of spirit and of the hidden glory, when that which has been revealed of the material form has been purified and redeemed. Christ prophesied this when he said the hidden things would be made plain, and secrets shouted from the housetops. By means of this process of revelation, discrimination in thought will develop, leading to a truer sense of values emerging in consciousness.

The forces of the 7th ray work out on the seventh or physical plane – the plane whereon major changes in all forms are made. This produces the precipitation of karma, but because of this grounding effect, the 7th ray will foster the spiritual advancement of all grades. But it’s important to remember that the 7th ray is the direct line along which first ray energy can travel, bringing the release of life into new and improved forms and the destruction of old ways of living. "You can’t pour new wine into old bottles", it’s been said. Does this explain the growing sense that something is being destroyed in order to make way for the new? Is this what’s evoking the "reactionary" elements and the growing fundamentalism we see in so many areas of life?

From this description of the seven rays, we should be starting to realise that it’s not all about us – the seven rays aren’t relevant only to human individuals but to whole societies and other kingdoms. Alice Bailey said "There is nothing in the whole solar system at whatever stage of evolution, that does not belong to one of the seven rays." And that includes the nations of the world. All major nations are governed by two rays, just as an individual is – a personality ray, which is the dominant and controlling factor at this time, and by a soul ray which is sensed only by the disciples and aspirants of any nation. This soul ray must be evoked into increased activity by the new group of world servers, the subjective worldwide network of all servers, working in all fields of activity, not just the overtly spiritual. Perhaps this point, this challenge, is a good place to begin our group discussion. Thank you for your attention.

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