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2. The Coordination of the Personality - Part 2

This crisis evokes understanding, which is, as many will recognise, an aspect of light.  The aspirant slowly begins to work with the Plan as it is, and not as he thinks it is.  As he works, revelation comes, and he sees clearly what he has to do.  Usually this entails first of all a disentangling and a release from his own ideas.  This process takes much time, being commensurate with the time wasted in building up the agelong glamour.  The third ray aspirant is always slower to learn than the second ray, just as the first ray aspirant learns more rapidly than the second ray.  When, however, he has learnt to be quiet and still, he can achieve his goal with greater rapidity.  The second ray aspirant has to achieve the quiet which is ever [362] present at the heart of a storm or the centre of a whirlpool.  The third ray aspirant has to achieve the quiet which is like to that of a quiet mill pond, which he much dislikes to do.

Having, however, learned to do it, integration then takes place.  The man stands ready to play his part.

It is interesting to note that the first result of the use of these three formulas can each be summed up in one word, for the sake of clarity.  These words embody the first and simplest steps upon the way of at-one-ment.  They embody the simplest aspects of the necessary technique.

Ray One....................Inclusion.

Ray Two.....................Centralisation.

Ray Three...................Stillness.

The above will suffice for the techniques of integration of these three major rays.  We will now take the formulas which will embody the techniques of integration for the four minor rays, and glimpse the possibilities which they may unfold.  We will emphasize in connection with each of them the same five stages of the technique we are studying:

1. Alignment.

2. A crisis of evocation.

3. Light.

4. Revelation.

5. Integration.

At the same time, we will bear in mind that the alignment with which we have hitherto been occupying ourselves is that of a form of expression and that this is achieved through discipline, meditation, and service.  These techniques of integration, however, refer to the establishing of a continuity of consciousness, within the aligned forms.  Therefore we begin with alignment in these cases and do not end with it.

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Ray Four

"'Midway I stand between the forces which oppose each other.  Longing am I for harmony and peace, and for the beauty which results from unity.  I see the two.  I see naught else but forces ranged opposing, and I, the one, who stands within the circle at the centre.  Peace I demand.  My mind is bent upon it.  Oneness with all I seek, yet form divides.  War upon every side I find, and separation.  Alone I stand and am.  I know too much.'

The love of unity must dominate, and love of peace and harmony.  Yet not that love, based on a longing for relief, for peace to self, for unity because it carries with it that which is pleasantness.

The word goes forth from soul to form.  'Both sides are one.  There is no war, no difference and no isolation.  The warring forces seem to war from the point at which you stand.  Move on a pace.  See truly with the opened eye of inner vision and you will find, not two but one; not war but peace; not isolation but a heart which rests upon the centre.  Thus shall the beauty of the Lord shine forth.  The hour is now.'"

It is well to remember that this fourth ray is preeminently the ray of the fourth Creative Hierarchy, the human kingdom, and therefore has a peculiar relation to the functions, relationships and the service of man, as an intermediate group, a bridging group, upon our planet.  The function of this intermediate group is to embody a type of energy, which is that of at-one-ment.  This is essentially a healing force which brings all forms to an ultimate perfection through the power of the indwelling life, with which it becomes perfectly atoned.  This is brought about by the soul or consciousness aspect, qualified by the ray in question.  The relation of the human family to the divine scheme, as it exists, is that of bringing into close rapport the three higher kingdoms upon our planet and the three lower kingdoms of nature, thus acting as a clearing house for divine energy.  The service humanity [364] is to render is that of producing unity, harmony, and beauty in nature, through blending into one functioning, related unity the soul in all forms.  This is achieved individually at first, then it takes place in group formation, and finally it demonstrates through an entire kingdom in nature.  When this takes place, the fourth Creative Hierarchy will be controlled predominantly by the fourth ray (by which I mean that the majority of its egos will have fourth ray personalities, thus facilitating the task of fusion), and the consciousness of its advanced units will function normally upon the fourth plane of buddhic energy or intuitional awareness.

It is this realisation which will provide adequate incentive for alignment.  This alignment or sense of oneness is not in any way a mystical realisation, or that of the mystic who puts himself en rapport with divinity.  The mystic still has a sense of duality.  Nor is it the sense of identification which can characterise the occultist; with that there is still an awareness of individuality, though it is that of an individual who can merge at will with the whole.  It is an almost undefinable consciousness of group fusion with a greater whole, and not so much individual fusion with the whole.  Until this is experienced, it is well nigh impossible to comprehend, through the medium of words, its significance and meaning.  It is the reflection, if I might so express it, of the Nirvanic consciousness; the reflection I would point out, but not that consciousness itself.

When this fourth ray alignment is produced and the disciple becomes aware of it, a crisis is evoked.  The phrase "the disciple becomes aware of it," is significant, for it indicates that states of consciousness can exist and the disciple remain unaware of them.  However, until they are brought down into the area of the brain and are recognised by the [365] disciple in waking, physical consciousness, they remain subjective and are not usable.  They are of no practical benefit to the man upon the physical plane.  The crisis thus precipitated leads to fresh illumination when it is properly handled.  These crises are produced by the bringing together (oft the clashing together) of the higher forces of the personality and soul energy.  They cannot therefore be produced at a low stage of evolutionary development, in which low grade energies are active and the personality is neither integrated nor of a high grade and character.  (Is such a phrase as "low grade energies" permissible?  When all are divine?  It conveys the idea, and that is what is desired.)  The forces which are involved in such a crisis are the forces of integration at work in a personality of a very high order, and they are themselves necessarily of a relatively high potency.  It is the integrated personality force, brought into relation with soul energy, which ever produces the type of crisis which is here discussed.  These constitute, consequently, a very difficult moment or moments in the life of the disciple.

This fourth ray crisis, evoked by a right understanding and a right use of the fourth ray formula, produces the following sequential results:

1. A sense of isolation.  Putting this into more modern language, a complex is produced of the same nature as that which temporarily overcame Elijah.  He was overwhelmed with a sense of his clarity of vision in relation to the problem with which he was faced, of his unique response to it, and also with a sense of aloneness which devastated him.

2. A sense of despairing futility.  The forces arraigned against the disciple seem so great and his equipment so inadequate and feeble!

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3. A determination to stand in the midst and, if not victorious, at least to refuse to admit defeat, taking with determination the position which St. Paul expressed in the words: "Having done all, to stand."

4. A sudden recognition of the Warrior within, Who is invisible and omnipotent but Who can only now begin His real work when the personality is aligned, the crisis recognised, and the will-to-victory is present.  We would do well to ponder on this.

When, therefore, this state of mind is achieved, and the disciple and inner Master, the soldier and the Warrior are known to be at-one, then there takes place what has been called in some of the ancient books "the breaking forth of the light of victory"—a victory which does not inflict defeat upon those who are at war, but which results in that triple victory of the two sides and of the One Who is at the centre.  All three move forward to perfection.  This is typical of a fourth ray consummation, and if this thought is applied with due reflection to the problem of the fourth kingdom in nature, the fourth Creative Hierarchy, humanity itself, the beauty of the phrasing and the truth of the statement must inevitably appear.

With this blazing forth of light comes the revelation expressed for us so adequately in the closing words of the fourth ray formula.  Man sees and grasps the final purpose for the race and the objective ahead of this fourth kingdom in the great sweep of the divine manifestation.  It is valuable also to remember that this revelation comes to the race in three stages:

1. Individually, when the disciple "relinquishes the fight in order to stand, thereby discovering victory ahead, [367] achieving oneness with the enemy, the Warrior and the One."

2. In group formation.  This approach to the revelation is today going on in the world, and is producing a moment of extreme crisis in connection with the work of the New Group of World Servers.  Their moment of crisis lies immediately ahead.

3. In the human family as a whole.  This revelation will come to the race at the end of the age and with it we need not for the moment, therefore, concern ourselves.  It is essentially the revelation of the Plan as a whole, embodying the various aspects of the Plan as—from cycle to cycle—the race has grasped the smaller aspects and revelations and succeeded eventually in bringing them into concrete manifestation.  It is a revelation of the purposes of Deity—past, present and future purposes—as grasped by those who have developed the divine aspects and are, consequently, in a position to understand.

This series of spiritual happenings or unfoldments of consciousness in the life of the individual and the group produces a definite integration upon the three levels of personality work (mental, emotional and physical).  It also lays the ground for those processes of fusion which will blend the rays of the personality and of the soul.  If you will carry this concept of integration (achieved upon the three levels of the three worlds of human endeavour) into the activities and relationships of groups, you will find much of interest and of informative value anent the work of the New Group of World Servers.  This group is, if I might so express it, an effort at an externalisation of the group personality of the disciples, connected with the Hierarchy.  If we ponder on this, the function and relation will be apparent.

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Let us now add to the three words expressing the three ray formulas already given, the word for this ray:  Steadfastness.  Therefore we have:

Ray One.....................Inclusion.

Ray Two.....................Centralisation.

Ray Three...................Stillness.

Ray Four....................Steadfastness.

As we brood on these words and on the remaining three which are indicated hereafter, we shall bring clearly into our consciousness the keynote for the disciples of the world at this time, who are in a position to discover that their personalities or their souls are on some one or other of these rays.  The use of these words by those who are not pledged disciples in connection with their personality rays and personality expression might be definitely undesirable.  The third ray personality, emphasising stillness, for instance, might find himself descending into the sloughs of lethargy; the first ray personality, seeking to develop inclusiveness might go to extremes, deeming himself a centre of inclusiveness.  These are Words of Power, when used by a disciple, and must be employed in the light of the soul or may have a striking harmful effect.

Ray Five.

"'Towards me I draw the garment of my God.  I see and know His form.  I take that garment, piece by piece.  I know its shape and colour, its form and type, its parts component and its purposes and use.  I stand amazed, I see naught else.  I penetrate the mysteries of form, but not the Mystery.  I see the garment of my God.  I see naught else.'

Love of the form is good but only as the form is known for what it is—the veiling vase of life.  Love of the form must never hide the Life which has its place behind, the One who brought the form into the light of day, and preserves [369] it for His use,—The One Who lives, and loves and serves the form, the One Who Is.

The Word goes forth from soul to form:  'Behind that form, I am.  Know Me.  Cherish and know and understand the nature of the veils of life, but know as well the One Who lives.  Know Me.  Let not the forms of nature, their processes and powers prevent thy searching for the Mystery which brought the mysteries to thee.  Know well the form, but leave it joyously and search for Me.

'Detach thy thought from form and find Me waiting underneath the veils, the many-sided shapes, the glamours and the thought-forms which hide my real Self.  Be not deceived.  Find Me.  Know Me.  Then use the forms which then will neither veil nor hide the Self, but will permit the nature of that Self to penetrate the veils of life, revealing all the radiance of God, His power and magnetism; revealing all there is of form, of life, of beauty and usefulness.  The mind reveals the One.  The mind can blend and fuse the form and life.  Thou art the One.  Thou art the form.  Thou art the mind.  Know this.'"

This fifth ray formula is of exceeding potency at this time and should be used often, but with care, by those upon this line of divine energy.  It has most powerful integrating properties, but the person who employs it must be mindful to visualise and hold in his mind's eye the even, balanced, equilibrised distribution of the divine energy set in motion by the use of this fifth ray formula so that the three aspects of the spiritual entity concerned—the mind, the One Who uses it (the Self) and the form nature—may be equally stimulated.  This statement means, for instance, that if all the emphasis of the soul energy available is poured into the lower nature, the natural man, it might result in the shattering of the form and the consequent uselessness of the man in service.  If all of it, on the other hand, is poured into the receiving chalice of the astral nature, it might only serve to intensify the glamour and to produce fanaticism.

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1. The lower psychic man—physical and astral—must receive a balanced quota of force.

2. The mind must receive its share of illuminating energy.

3. A third part of that energy must be retained within the periphery of the soul nature to balance thus the other two.

This is a replica of the experience of the Monad when coming into manifestation, for the monad retains a measure of energy within itself, it sends energy forth which is anchored in that centre of energy which we call a soul.  Still more energy pours forth also, via the soul, for the production of a human being—an expression of the soul upon the physical plane, just as the soul is an expression of the monad upon the mental plane, and both are expressions also of that one monad.

The use of this formula, which produces eventually a definite relation between the soul and the various aspects of the form, brings about a needed alignment, and again (as in the other cases considered previously) produces also, and evokes, a crisis.  This crisis must be regarded as producing two lesser crises in the consciousness of the personality:

1. That in which there comes the achieving of equilibrium and what might be called a "balanced point of view." This balanced vision causes much difficulty and leads to what might be called the "ending of the joy-life and of desire."  This is not a pleasant experience to the disciple; it leads to much aridness in the life-experience and to a sense of loss; it often takes much wise handling, and frequently time elapses before the disciple emerges on the other side of the experience.

2. This balanced condition in which the not-Self and the Self, the life-aspect and the form-aspect, are seen as they [371] essentially are (through the aid and the use of the discriminating faculty of the mind), leads eventually to a crisis of choice, and to the major task of the disciple's life.  This is the detaching of himself from the grip of form experience, and consciously, rapidly, definitely and with intention preparing himself for the great expansions of initiation.

When this dual crisis is over and that which it has evoked has been rightly handled, then the light streams forth, leading to the revelation of the relationships of form to soul.  These two are then seen as one in a sense never before realised and are then regarded as possessing a relation quite different to the theoretical relationships posited in ordinary occult and religious work.  It will be apparent, therefore, how a new relationship and a new type of integration then becomes possible and how the mind quality of the fifth ray (critical, analytical, separative and over-discriminating) can become, what in the middle ages it used to be called, the "common sense."

When this takes place, form and life are indeed one unity and the disciple uses the form at will as the instrument of the soul for the working out of the plans of God.  These plans are at-one with the intention of the Hierarchy.  We now have five words for disciples upon the five rays to study:

Ray One......................Inclusion.

Ray Two.....................Centralisation.

Ray Three....................Stillness.

Ray Four.....................Steadfastness.

Ray Five......................Detachment.

Ray Six.

"'I see a vision.  It satisfies desire; it feeds and stimulates its growth.  I lay my life upon the altar of desire—the seen, the sensed, that which appeals to me, the satisfaction of my [372] need—a need for that which is material, for that which feeds emotion, that satisfies the mind, that answers my demand for truth, for service, and my vision of the goal.  It is the vision which I see, the dream I dream, the truth I hold, the active form which meets my need, that which I grasp and understand.  My truth, my peace, my satisfied desire, my dream, my vision of reality, my limited ideal, my finite thought of God;—for these I struggle, fight and die.'

Love of the truth must always be.  Desire and aspiration, reaching out for that which is material or soaring upward towards the vision of reality must ever find their satisfaction.  For this men work, driving themselves and irking others.  They love the truth as they interpret it; they love the vision and the dream, forgetting that the truth is limited by mind—narrow and set, one-pointed, not inclusive; forgetting that the vision touches but the outer fringe of mystery, and veils and hides reality.

The word goes out from soul to form:  'Run not so straight.  The path that you are on leads to the outer circle of the life of God; the line goes forward to the outer rim.  Stand at the centre.  Look on every side.  Die not for outer forms.  Forget not God, Who dwells behind the vision.  Love more your fellow men.'"

It will be apparent, therefore, that the sixth ray disciple has first of all to achieve the arduous task of dissociating himself from his vision, from his adored truth, from his loved ideals, from his painted picture of himself as the devoted follower and disciple, following his Master unto death, if need be; forcing himself (from very love of form) and forcing all his fellowmen to dedicate themselves to that which he sees.

It must be recognised that he lacks the wide love of the second ray disciple which is a reflection of the love of God.  He is all the time occupied with himself, with his work, his sacrifice, his task, his ideas, and his activities.  He, the devotee, is lost in his devotion.  He, the idealist, is driven by his idea.  He, the follower, runs blindly after his Master, his chosen ideal and loses himself in the chaos of his uncontrolled aspirations [373] and the glamour of his own thoughts.  Curiously enough, there is a close relation between the third and the sixth rays, just as there is between the first and the second rays, and the second and the fourth.  The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rays have no such paralleling relations.  1 added to 1 equals 2, 2 added to 2 equals 4, 3 added to 3 equals 6.  Between these pairs of rays there is a line of special energy flowing which warrants the attention of disciples who are becoming conscious of their relationships.  This relation and interplay only becomes active at a relatively high stage of evolution.

The problem, therefore, of the sixth ray aspirant is to divorce himself from the thralldom of form (though not from form) and to stand quietly at the centre, just as the third ray disciple has to learn to do.  There he learns breadth of vision and a right sense of proportion.  These two qualities he always lacks until the time comes when he can take his stand and there align himself with all visions, all forms of truth, all dreams of reality, and find behind them all—God and his fellow men.  Then and only then can he be trusted to work with the Plan.

The alignment evoked by this "peaceful standing still" naturally produces a crisis and it is, as usual, a most difficult one for the aspirant to handle.  It is a crisis which seems to leave him destitute of incentive, of motive, of sensation, of appreciation by others and of life purpose.  The idea of "my truth, my master, my idea, my way" leaves him and as yet he has nothing to take its place.  Being sixth ray, and therefore linked with the world of astral psychic life, the sixth plane, he is peculiarly sensitive to his own reactions and to the ideas of others where he and his truths are concerned.  He feels a fool and considers that others are thinking him so.  The crisis therefore is severe, for it has to produce a complete readjustment of the Self to the self.  His fanaticism, his devotion, his [374] furious driving of himself and others, his wasted efforts, and his lack of understanding of the point of view of others have all gone, but as yet nothing has taken their place.  He is swept by futility and his world rocks under him.  Let him stand still at the centre, fixing his eyes on the soul and ceasing activity for a brief period of time until the light breaks in.

It is interesting here to note that the Master Jesus, as He hung upon the Cross, experienced (on a much higher turn of the spiral than is possible to the disciple) the acme and the height of this crisis, though in His case—being attuned to God and to all God's children—there swept over Him the sum total of the dilemma of the world disciples and all the agony of the astral awareness of this dilemma, voicing itself in the agonising words:  "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me."

But by facing futility and himself and by surrendering himself to the life at the centre and there holding himself poised and still, yet alert, the light will break in and reveal to the disciple that which he needs to know.  He learns to express that inclusive love which is his major requirement and to let go the narrow, one-pointed attitude which he has hitherto regarded as love.  He welcomes then all visions, if they serve to lift and comfort his brothers; he welcomes all truths, if they are the agents of revelation to other minds; he welcomes all dreams if they can act as incentives to his fellow men.  He shares in them all, yet retains his poised position at the centre.

Thus we can see that the essential integration of this unit into his group can now take place.

The problem of the disciple upon this ray is greatly increased by the fact that the sixth ray has been the dominant ray for so many centuries and is only now passing out.  Therefore the idealistic, fanatical thought-forms, built up by [375] the devotees upon this ray, are powerful and persistent.  The world today is fanatically idealistic, and this is one of the causes of the present world situation.  It is hard for the man who is the one-pointed devotee to free himself from the prevailing influence, for the energy thus generated feeds that which he seeks to leave behind.  If he can, however, grasp the fact that devotion, expressing itself through a personality, engenders fanaticism and that fanaticism is separative, frequently cruel, often motivated by good ideals, but that it usually overlooks the immediate reality by rushing off after a self-engendered vision of truth, he will go far along the way to solving his problem.  If he can then realise that devotion, expressing itself through the soul, is love and inclusiveness plus understanding, then he will learn eventually to free himself from the idealism of others and of himself and will identify himself with that of the Hierarchy, which is the loving working out of God's Plan.  It is free from hatred, from intense emphasis upon an aspect or a part, and is not limited by the sense of time.

Ray Seven.

"'I seek to bring the two together.  The plan is in my hands.  How shall I work?  Where lay the emphasis?  In the far distance stands the One Who Is.  Here at my hand is form, activity, substance, and desire.  Can I relate these and fashion thus a form for God?  Where shall I send my thought, my power the word that I can speak?

'I, at the centre, stand, the worker in the field of magic.  I know some rules, some magical controls, some Words of Power, some forces which I can direct.  What shall I do? Danger there is.  The task that I have undertaken is not easy of accomplishment, yet I love power.  I love to see the forms emerge, created by my mind, and do their work, fulfill the plan and disappear.  I can create.  The rituals of the Temple of the Lord are known to me.  How shall I work?

'Love not the work.  Let love of God's eternal Plan control [376] your life, your mind, your hand, your eye.  Work towards the unity of plan and purpose which must find its lasting place on earth.  Work with the Plan; focus upon your share in that great work.'

The word goes forth from soul to form:  'Stand in the centre of the pentagram, drawn upon that high place in the East within the light which ever shines.  From that illumined centre work.  Leave not the pentagram.  Stand steady in the midst.  Then draw a line from that which is without to that which is within and see the Plan take form.'"

It is not possible to be more explicit than this.  This great and powerful ray is now coming into manifestation and it brings new energies to man of so potent a nature that the disciples of today must move and work with care.  They are literally handling fire.  It is the children who are now coming into incarnation who will eventually work more safely and more correctly with these new potencies.  There is much, however, to be done in the meantime, and the disciples upon this seventh ray can ponder on this formula and seek their own interpretation of it, endeavouring first of all to stand in the East, within the protection of the pentagram.  As he realises the task to be carried out and the nature of the work to be done by the seventh ray worker, and appreciates the fact that it is the magical work of producing those forms on earth which will embody the spirit of God (and in our particular time, this necessitates the building of new forms), each seventh ray disciple will see himself as a relating agent, as the one who stands in the midst of the building processes, attending to his portion of the task.  This, if really grasped and deeply considered will have the effect of producing alignment.  The moment that this alignment is achieved, then let the disciple remember that it will mean a tremendous inflow of power, of energy from both the aligned points, from both directions, converging upon him, as he stands in the [377] midway place.  Ponder deeply upon this truth, for it is this fact which always evokes a seventh ray crisis.  It will be obvious what this crisis is.  If the man concerned is materially minded, selfishly ambitious and unloving, the inpouring energy will stimulate the personality nature and he will immediately be warring furiously with all that we mean by the instinctual, psychic, intellectual nature.  When all these three are stimulated, the disciple is often for a time swung off the centre into a maelstrom of magical work of the lower kind—sex magic and many forms of black magic.  He is glamoured by the beauty of his motive, and deceived by the acquired potency of his personality.

If, however, he is warned of the danger and aware of the possibility, he will stand steady at the centre within the mystical pentagram, and there suffer until the light in the East rises upon his darkness, discovering him still at the midway point.  Then comes the revelation of the Plan, for this has ever to be the motivating power of the seventh ray disciple.  He works on earth, upon the outer plane of manifestation, with the construction of those forms through which the divine will can express itself.  In the field of religion, he works in collaboration with the second and sixth ray disciples.  In the field of government he labours, building those forms which will enable the first ray activity to be expressed.  In the field of business, he cooperates with third ray energies and the executives of the Plan.  In the field of science, he aids and assists the fifth ray workers.  He is the expression of the builder, and the creator, bringing into outer manifestation God's Plan.  He begins, however, with himself, and seeks to bring into expression the plan of his soul in his own setting and worldly situation.  Until he can do this, he is unable to stand in the East within the pentagram.

It is occultly said that "the pentagram is open and a place [378] of danger when the disciple knows not order within his own life, and when the ritual of the soul is not imposed and its rhythm not obeyed.  The pentagram is closed when order is restored and the ritual of the Master is imposed."  The writing goes on to say that "if the disciple enters through the open pentagram, he dies.  If he passes over into the closed pentagram, he lives.  If he transmutes the pentagram into a ring of fire, he serves the Plan."

b. THE TECHNIQUES OF FUSION AND DUALITY

We come now to the consideration of a very practical matter where the world disciples are concerned, and one with which I intend to deal very simply.  The point which we are to study is the Technique of Fusion, leading, as it inevitably does, to the emergence (into controlling prominence) of the Ray of the Personality.  After a brief study of this we will refer briefly to the Technique of Duality.  The brevity is necessary because only disciples of some experience and initiates will really comprehend the things whereof I speak.  A study of the Technique of Duality would serve to elucidate the relationship which should exist between the two rays of manifesting energy, which constitute that phenomenal being we call man.  Therefore, it will be apparent to you from the start, how necessary it will be to deal with these abstruse subjects in the simplest way.  Our study of the Techniques of Integration was definitely abstruse and couched in language quite symbolic.  We were there dealing with the relationship of five rays:  Those of the personality, of the ego or soul, and of the rays of the three personality vehicles, prior to their integration into a functioning whole.

It might be of value here if I pointed out to you that the three words:  Integration, Fusion and Duality when dealt [379] with, as they are, in connection with the final stages of the Path of Evolution, are significantly different.  For one thing it might be said that

1. The Technique of Integration, a sevenfold technique, is applied upon the Path of Probation.

2. The Technique of Fusion is applied upon the Path of Discipleship.

3. The Technique of Duality is applied upon the Path of Initiation.

I am here using these three terms only in relation to what we call the Aryan Race, or to what might be more adequately called the Aryan consciousness, for that consciousness demonstrates in a two-fold manner as mental power and personality force.  It is found at a certain stage in every human being and in every race; it must therefore be remembered that I am not using the word Aryan as synonymous with Nordic but as descriptive of the intellectual goal of humanity, of which our Occidental civilisation is in the early stages, but which men of all time and all races have individually demonstrated.  The Aryan state of consciousness is one into which all men eventually pass.

Integration here refers to the bringing into one field of resultant magnetic activity of five differing types of energy:

1. Physical and emotional sentient energy (2 energies therefore) are brought together and eventually form one expressive force.

2. Physical, emotional-sentient and mental energy (3) are also brought into relationship; one potent vortex of force is then set up which eventually becomes so systematised and integrated that we call its aggregated expression Personality, (4) and in time this aggregate [380] becomes a realised potency and thus completes the fourfold lower man.

3. These four types of energy are then brought into relationship with the ego or soul.  This brings then into play another and higher type of energy expression, and thus the five energies integrate, blend and fuse.

These five energies, when rightly related to each other, produce one active force centre, through which the Monad can work, using the word Monad to express the first differentiation of the One Life, if such a paradoxical phrase can be employed.  Its use is only permissible from the standpoint of the personal self, still limited and imprisoned in the "I" consciousness.

The Technique of Fusion deals with the production of a close interplay of the five above enumerated aspects of energy which have been, in due time, integrated into a unity.  It is really a fusion of the four forces and the one energy.  This fusion produces:

1. A demonstration of personality activity when, in response to the Technique of Integration, there is

a. Response and interplay between the threefold lower man.

b. A gradual emergence of the dominant note of the lower man which will, in time, indicate the nature of the personality ray.

c. The quality of the personality ray, in its higher aspects, emerges into living expression.  Great beauty of character or great forcefulness will then appear.

2. Gradually, the qualities of the personality energy are transmuted into those of the ego or soul and the fusion of the two energies—soul and body—is then complete.  [381] This Technique of Fusion might be better understood by all of you if it were called the Technique of Transmutation, but it must be remembered that the transmutation referred to is not that of bad qualities into good or of bad characteristics into good ones (for this should take place quite definitely upon the Path of Probation) but the transmutation of the higher aspects of the personality ray into those of the soul.  When this has been to a great extent carried forward satisfactorily, then the Technique of Duality comes into play—a duality differing greatly from that to which we refer when we speak of the higher and lower selves.  It is a duality which is utilised upon the Path of initiation by Those Who Know no sense of separativeness, and signifies one wherein the transmuted and purified personality qualities and characteristics are used by the initiate in the three worlds for service and the furthering of the Plan.  The egoic energies are only brought into play when needed for group benefit and within the confines (again a paradoxical term and only of significance in consciousness from the standpoint of the lesser minds) of the Kingdom of God.

It will be seen, therefore, that we are dealing here with relatively advanced stages of human development.  What I have now to say will veil, under extremely simplified phrases, truths which will be apparent to two groups of aspirants:

1. Accepted disciples, who will comprehend the significances of the Technique of Fusion.

2. Initiates, who will work with the Technique of Duality.

It should be remembered also that we are here dealing with the primordial duality of spirit and matter and not with the secondary duality of soul and body.  This point is of deep importance and will bear most careful consideration.

The man who will seek to use the Technique of Fusion is [382] the disciple who is conscious of personality power, owing to the fact that his mind is beginning to dominate his sentient emotional nature, much in the same way as his emotional-sentient nature has, for ages, controlled his physical body.  The use of the mind is becoming "second nature" to certain advanced types of men, and it is called into play, when they reach this stage, almost automatically.  The result is that the integration of the three energies is proceeding fast.  At the same time, the man is definitely oriented to soul contact and knowledge, and frequently the mind (when it is the controlling personality factor) is itself brought suddenly and dynamically under the control of the soul.

This accounts for the intense difficulty of the life of every disciple at this stage.  Several processes are simultaneously going on:

1. The mind factor is steadily becoming more dominant, increasingly clarified and usable.

2. The three aspects of the lower nature are working in closer unity all the time, each growing at the same time in individual potency.

3. The personality ray is making its presence felt, and the expressed power of the man (within his environment) is equally increasing.

4. The soul ray is, at times, projecting itself and this produces in the early stages those difficult upsets and turmoils which are usually of a distressing kind.

It is at this stage therefore that the Technique of Fusion can profitably be used, preserving at the same time the realised integrity of the motive which, if correctly apprehended, should be

1. The motive of a realised objective of soul control in response to a living reaction to its sensed pull or call.

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2. The motive of service, in response to a sentient realisation of humanity's need.

3. The motive of cooperation with the Plan, in response to an intelligent appreciation of its nature and existence.

Again you will note that we have swung back to our three major themes:  Soul control, Service, and the Plan.

It might, therefore, seem that this particular technique will be a sevenfold one like the Technique of Integration, but in this you would be mistaken.  It is a threefold technique based upon the fact that all souls are eventually divided (again a paradoxical phrase when dealing with souls, but what can be done when modern language proves inadequate to the demands of soul knowledge) into three major groups, or rather distinguished by three major qualities, those of the first, second and third rays.  Life, the One Life, manifests through these three major qualities, which condition its sevenfold appearance, and which are essentially Will, Love and Intelligence.

This Technique of Fusion evokes these three qualities in relation to the soul, to service and to the Plan.  At the same time, it brings illumination to the mind (thus revealing the soul and the kingdom of God); it brings increased imagination (creative and dynamic) to the emotional sentient nature, the astral body (thus revealing relationship and responsibility); it brings likewise inspiration to the physical life, to the physical body, via the brain (revealing actual capacity to cooperate intelligently with the Plan).  Therefore, we shall have to consider a technique which will do three things:

1. Bring Illumination, through the evocation of the Will or first aspect of divinity.

2. Bring Imagination, through the evocation of Love, the [384] second aspect or of sentient response to the world soul in all forms.

3. Bring Inspiration, through the evocation of the Intelligence, the third aspect.

If we study this triplicity with care, we shall see that the process outlined brings the higher aspect of the personal self, the mind, to the lowest point of contact and into control of the physical body; we shall see that it brings the soul into conscious control of the astral, desire-sentient body, and that it also brings the will aspect (the highest aspect of divinity) into control of mind.

There are, therefore, two thoughts which we will have in our minds as we study this Technique of Fusion.  First, that it is a threefold technique and is coloured by and conditioned by the qualities of the first, second and third major rays.  Secondly, that this technique of whichever of these three natures it may be, will be of such a kind that it will produce illumination through the evocation of the will.  It is right here that esotericists will recognise the importance of the teaching in connection with the centre at the base of the spine.  It is awakened by an act of the will, which really means by the mind, functioning forcefully, under the influence of the spiritual man, through the medium of the brain.

It infers also that this technique will so stimulate the faculty of the imagination that an ever expanding or an all inclusive love will increasingly be expressed, and therefore that the heart centre will be forcefully affected and awakened into full activity.  It infers also that the spiritual plane life of the disciple, as it expresses itself in his environment will become inspired and creative through the full and conscious use of the intelligence.  This, in its turn, brings about the rounded out activity of the throat centre, and thus the [385] three major centres, which are aroused into activity upon the Path of Discipleship, are brought to full and measured and controlled activity.  Upon the Path of Initiation, the awakening and full-conditioned functioning of the two head centres is completed.  This is the result of the use of the Technique of Duality by the initiate.  One head centre, the thousand-petalled lotus, represents the spirit or life aspect; the other, the ajna centre, represents matter or the form aspect.  Thus the work carried forward upon the paths of evolution, of probation, and of discipleship is completed upon the path of initiation, and thus, when the rays are understood, you have the possibility of a new system of awakening the centres, or chakras.  But this system concerns only the awakening of the central part of the centre or lotus of force.  The teaching given in the oriental and theosophical books refers primarily to the awakening and right relation of the centres when the aspirant is upon the probationary path.  The teaching which I have here given has not before been so explicitly made public and has hitherto only been communicated orally.  One half of the centre, the outer half (therefore one half of the lotus petals) is brought into increased activity upon the probationary path; the other half begins its intensified vibratory activity upon the path of discipleship, but the intensification of the centre of the lotus (though the One Life controls both soul and body) only takes place when the two later techniques of fusion and of duality are carried successfully forward.

Certain questions therefore arise:

1. What are the techniques, producing fusion upon the three major rays.

2. How do these techniques bring about

a. Illumination of the mind.

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b. Imaginative capacity of the sentient body.

c. An inspired life.

Another point should here be made; Disciples upon the minor rays likewise employ one or other of these three major techniques.  Fourth ray disciples employ the second ray technique, as do sixth ray disciples; disciples upon the fifth ray employ the first ray technique.  It is interesting to note that (prior to the first initiation) the personalities of all aspirants to this great expansion of consciousness will be found upon the third ray which is—like the solar plexus centre—a great clearing house for energies, and a great transmuting station, if I may use this term.

The first ray technique must, therefore, do the following things and produce the following results:

1. The divine will must be evoked, of which the mind aspect is the reflection, and the brain (or the phenomenal appearance) the shadow.  This brings into functional activity upon the physical plane what is called in theosophical books, Atma, or the first qualified differentiation of the monadic Life.  The quality is often called the spiritual will.

2. The evocation of this will produces an illumination of the mind, differing from the illumination achieved through ordinary meditation and about which much has been written in the mystical books.  This latter illumination is essentially the evocation of the intuition, which brings the illumination of direct knowledge to the mind.  The one to which I here refer is, symbolically speaking, related to the state of consciousness of the Creator when He sent forth the phenomena-producing fiat: "Let there be Light."

3. This illumination, coming from the highest aspect which [387] man can conceive follows a direct line of approach, or pours down through a direct channel from

a. The level of Atma, or that centre of spiritual will which is dynamic and effective but seldom called into play, to the will petals of the egoic lotus, upon which I touched in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  These petals are the reflection in the soul of this particular aspect of energy.

b. From this layer of petals to the mind body.

c. From the mind body to the brain.

d. From the brain, in due and set time, to the centre at the base of the spine, thus arousing the kundalini fire.

It will interest students to note how the first ray disciple, when employing this first ray technique of fusion, ends by producing second ray characteristics of which illumination, producing understanding love and sympathetic cooperation, is the predominant note.  The second ray disciple, through rightly applied technique, produces curiously enough, third ray results, of which the use of the creative imagination is the outstanding characteristic.  The third ray disciple through the development of the "power to inspire" adds to his innate qualities certain definitely first ray potencies.  All are, however, subordinated to the second ray nature of the divine expression in this solar system.

The technique of Fusion, employed by the second ray disciple, will produce the following results: