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2. The Coordination of the Personality - Part 3

1. Increased sentient response to the world soul and to the environment in which the disciple finds himself will increasingly be achieved.

2. This is largely done through the cultivation of the creative imagination.  This is one of the great building attributes [388] of deity.  It is brought about by the evocation of the love nature and, as earlier noted, brings in soul power in full tide.  In the world of phenomenal appearance, the soul is the creating agent, the major building factor, the constructor of forms, and, through the Technique of Fusion, the power to imagine or to use imaginative thought power (in conjunction with the faculty to visualise, to wish, to dream into being) is definitely and scientifically developed.

3. This creative tension or one-pointed focus of imaginative dreaming swings the astral body into complete subordination to the soul.  This fact is hinted at in The Bhagavad Gita where, upon the battle field of Kurukshetra, Arjuna suddenly sees the form of God wherein all forms constitute the One Form.  The battle is then over.  The soul is in complete control; no sense of separativeness is again possible.

4. The channel through which this synthesising and creative energy pours down is as follows:

a. From the Monad to the love petals of the egoic lotus.

b. From these love petals to the astral vehicle, energising all astral matter found in the equipment of the phenomenal man.  "The spirit of God moves upon the face of the waters."

c. From thence to the solar plexus centre.

d. From that centre to the heart centre.  The needed duality connected with the astral body thus appears.  We have here also a correspondence to the descent of the fire of the will to the base of the spine with its subsequent raising, along the spinal column, to the head.

The third ray disciple, employing the Technique of Fusion, finds that:

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1. It evokes a full functioning of the divine creative faculty.  It will be apparent at this point how important is motive, for it determines the line of activity and differentiates man's activity into what is called (by esotericists) black and white magic.  It is interesting also to note that it is the very rare man indeed who swings into the field of so-called black magic.  This indicates, does it not, my brother, the extraordinarily triumphant work of the Great White Lodge.

2. The fiat which initiated this creative activity, as far as it relates to man, has been inadequately couched in the words:  "Let the earth bring forth abundantly", thus inaugurating the age of creativity.  This creative fecundity has steadily shifted during the past few thousand years into the creation of those effects of which ideas are the cause, producing within the creative range of man's mind:

a. That which is useful and so contributing to man's present civilisation.

b. That which is beautiful, thus gradually developing the aesthetic consciousness, the sense of colour, and the recognition of the use of symbolic forms in order to express quality and meaning.

3. As a result of the disciple's use of this technique, there is brought about an increased vital livingness, and a dynamic inflow of spiritual life into the physical plane experience.  The disciple becomes "inspired" by the fire of love, and this evokes the "service of creation" as an expression of that love.

4. The power which inspires him and which makes him dynamic and creative in his environment comes likewise from the will aspect of the Monad, sweeping the higher [390] mind into activity upon the higher mental level which is that on which the creative ideas of God emerge in form to be recognised by the human consciousness.

5. The channel of approach or of downflow is as follows:

a. From the will aspect of the monadic life to that level of consciousness and of energy which we call that of the higher mind.

b. From the higher mind to the knowledge petals of the egoic lotus.

c. From these vortexes of force to the lower or concrete mind—that in which the average intelligent man familiarly works—to the throat centre and from thence immediately to the sacral centre (the centre of physical plane creation or reproduction).  From there it is raised again to the throat centre where the creative physical urge is transmuted into artistic or literary creation in some form or another, and later still into the power to create groups or organisations which will express some idea or some thought which emanates from the Mind of God, and which demands immediate precipitation upon earth.

The result of this inflow of supremely high energies is that the processes set in motion by the Technique of Integration are completed and the rays of the lower man are welded or fused into the Personality Ray.  This itself is later blended with the egoic ray, enabling that spiritual Identity which we recognise as standing behind phenomenal man to work through both these rays, thus bringing about a correspondence to that grouping within the divine expression which we call the major and minor rays.  The rays of the triple lower nature then form one single avenue through which the soul, and later the energy of spirit can contact the larger Whole [391] in manifestation upon the physical, astral and mental planes.  When the Techniques of Integration and Fusion have done their intended work, this spiritual Identity can work in service to humanity and in cooperation with the Plan in the three worlds of human endeavour and in the five states of consciousness, human and superhuman.  This brings the disciple to the period wherein the third initiation can be taken; then still higher forces can be brought into play and the Technique of Duality can be considered, mastered and used.  It will be obvious to you that I cannot give you the rules of this technique, as they constitute part of the veiled secrets of initiation.  Though duality is emphasised, it is a duality which produces simplification, merging and synthesis.  Man is then viewed as a duality of spirit and matter and not as the well known triplicity of spirit, soul and body.

Now let us for a moment consider the Technique of Fusion.  The keynotes of the three techniques are as follows:

First Ray.........................Isolated Unity.

Second Ray....................Inclusive Reason.

Third Ray........................Presented Attributes.

The first thing the disciple who seeks to use these techniques undertakes is to arrive at an understanding (practical, experimental and subjective) of the appropriate phrase for his ray.  Let me paraphrase or elucidate each of them, inadequately perforce owing to the lack of comprehension and the limited evolution of the average disciple, but in any case in order to bring suggestion to your minds.

Isolated Unity is that stage of consciousness which sees the whole as one and regards itself, not theoretically but as a realised fact, as identified with that whole.  It is a whole which is "isolated" in the consciousness of the man, and not the man himself who regards himself as isolated.  The word "isolated" [392] refers to that complete organised organism of which the man can feel and know himself to be a part.  The word "unity" expresses his relationship to the whole.  It will be apparent therefore that this whole is something progressively realised.  For the bringing about of this progressed realisation the great expansions of consciousness, called initiations, have been temporarily arranged as a hastening or forcing process.  This progression of realised "isolations in unity" may begin with the disciple's group, environment or nation and, through right use of the understanding, will end by enabling him to isolate the whole divine scheme or living structure, and to identify himself with it in an active capable manner.

The result of meditation upon this theme will be:

1. A definite illumination of the mind, for it will then be at-one with the Universal Mind and all the ways of God and the plans of God will stand revealed to him.

2. The creative imagination will be powerfully evoked in response to this revelation, and modes and methods of cooperation will be sentiently developed and the disciple will become a creative cooperator and not just an obedient servant of the Plan.

3. His life will be then inspired by the desire to serve humanity and to cooperate with the Custodians of the Plan.  This will bring in the full tide of soul life, producing temporarily a violent conflict between the personality ray and the soul ray, but also producing a steady subordination of the lower to the higher, of the minor to the major.

I cannot too strongly call to your attention that I am not here dealing with the normal service and the self-enforced cooperation of the aspirant—a cooperation based upon theory and a determination to prove theory and plan and service to [393] be evolutionary facts—but with that spontaneous illumination, creativity and inspiration which is the result of the use of the Technique of Fusion by the soul—by the soul, and not by the aspiring struggling disciple.  Here lies the clue to meaning.  We are dealing consequently with that stage of development wherein, in deep contemplation, the man is consciously merged with the soul and that soul, in meditation, decides, plans and works.  He functions as the soul and has achieved a definite measure of success in living as a soul, consciously upon the physical plane.

This particular technique of meditation involves the use of the head centre, demands the ability to focus the consciousness in the soul form, the spiritual body, and, at the same time, to preserve soul consciousness, mind consciousness and brain consciousness—no easy task for the neophyte and something which lies far ahead for the majority of students who read these words.  This condition has been described as "the intensest reflection of the man, isolated in God Who is the negation of isolation and is nevertheless the Whole which is set apart from other Wholes."  When this state of awareness has been achieved (and Patanjali hints at it in the last book of the Sutras) the disciple becomes invincible upon the physical plane, for he is completely unified and linked up with all aspects of himself in the greater Whole of which he is a part, is fusing all attributes and is at-one with the Whole, not simply subjectively and unconsciously (as are all human beings) but in full, waking, understanding awareness.

Inclusive Reason, which is the theme for the initiatory meditation of the second ray disciple, produces that inherent divine capacity which enables the detail of the sensed Whole to be grasped in meticulous entirety.  This wide, yet detailed, scope or universal recognition is extremely difficult for me to explain or for you to understand.  The second ray has been [394] called the Ray of Detailed Knowledge and where this term has been employed, the beginner has necessarily laid the emphasis upon the word "detail".  It might rather be called the Ray of Detailed Unity or the Ray of the Divine Pattern, or of beauty in relationship.  It involves on the part of the disciple a very high point of synthetic comprehension.

You will note how, in all these three keynotes for advanced meditation, there is the calling of the disciples attention to those related arrangements which constitute the whole when brought into relation with each other.  The word "isolated", the words "detail" and "presented" would seem to indicate separative recognition, but this is emphatically not so.  They simply indicate and refer to the intricate internal life of the organised creation of God wherein the consciousness (released from all material pettiness and self-centredness) sees not only the periphery of the Whole but the beauty and purpose of every aspect of the inner structure.  Just as the average, yet unthinking human being knows that he is a person of intricate design, of multiple interior organisms which produce an aggregate of living forms, co-related and functioning as a unity, but of which he in fact knows nothing except their general nature, so the aspirant upon the probationary path may see the whole of which he is similarly a part.  Just as the intelligent student of humanity and the highly educated thinker knows in greater detail and fuller comprehension the general equipment and more detailed purpose of the organised whole which we call a man, so the disciple, in the early stages of his career upon the path of discipleship, comes to see and grasp wider aspects of the inner relationships of the organised organism through which Deity is working out His Plans and Purposes.  Just as the trained physician, who is also a trained psychologist (a rare thing to find) views the human body and its energies, so the disciple upon the later [395] stages of the Path also grasps the plans, purposes and materialised ideas of God.  This is but a feeble effort in my attempt to show the vastness of the knowledge required when a man begins to use these three seed thoughts in meditation.  The living structure as it expresses ideas, the intricate beauty of the inner relationships within the expressing Whole, the circulation of the energy which is working out the divine Idea, the points of force and local points of energy which act as power and light stations within that Whole—all these stand revealed to the man who is permitted, as a soul, to meditate upon such a phrase as inclusive reason.

The reason here referred to is that pure intuitional infallible comprehension which grasps cause and effect simultaneously, and sees why and whence and to what end all things are moving.  It is not possible for the aspirant to take these words into his meditation and profit greatly thereby, for he will be meditating as an aspiring mind, and not as a soul.  No matter, therefore, how great his effort, it will be the material more than the consciousness aspect and pattern which will engross his attention.  When he has reached the point where he can meditate both as a soul and as a mind, involving also the brain reaction, then he will understand the purpose of these words and will view both the symbol, the inner living structure and the emerging conscious ideas with a synthetic comprehension and a simultaneity of reception which it is impossible for me to put into words.

You might well ask me here of what profit is it then for me to write these things at all, and to say much that I have said in this Treatise.  I would reply:  There are a few today, and there will be an increasing number in the next two decades, who—grasping the beauty of the presented idea—will be urged by their souls to work towards these ends.  By so doing, [396] they will succeed in raising the consciousness of the entire human family.

The results of using this meditation on the synthetic detail of the manifested Life will be

1. The realisation of the true significance of Light and the revelation of the meaning of what has been called in esoteric books, "the heart of the Sun", which is the inner point of life in all manifested forms.  Illumination of the mind will be seen to be direct and infallible and will usurp the place of the present theoretical knowledge and belief.

2. The creative imagination will be occupied with those measures which will "throw the light" into the dark and unrelieved places in the (as yet) incomplete creative process.  The man then works consciously in the light, as a Light bearer.  Perhaps my meaning will emerge more clearly to some of you when I point out to you that the disciple usually sees himself as a point of intensified light within the light of the world and then seeks to use that light (which is in him atomic, etheric and that acquired as a soul) for the furtherance of the Plan.

3. This necessarily produces an intensified service to "those in dark places".  The disciple will seek to bring the light of knowledge to them first of all, and then the light of Life.  Ponder deeply on this distinction.

Presented Attributes may appear to you a more simple phrase upon which to meditate and easier for the average aspirant to contemplate and understand.  Perhaps this apparent simplicity may be due to your failure to comprehend the significance and meaning of the word "attribute".

This third ray meditation concerns itself essentially with inherent forces, and students would do well to recognise the [397] fact that there are inherent or innate qualities and attributes in the divine Whole which remain as yet unrevealed, and are as much unexpressed as are the divine tendencies in the majority of human beings.  It is with these mysterious and slowly emerging energies that the man, ready for initiation, will have to deal, and of them he will become increasingly aware.  He has to learn to occupy himself with the task of cooperating with those great Lives Who, working on formless levels, are busy with the development of an inner and as yet unrealised development within the Whole, and which can only be contacted and sensed by those on, or nearing, the Path of Initiation.  There is a mystery within the mystery.  The four minor rays, or rays of attribute, are concerned with the attributes which are definitely and slowly coming into expression and to fruition—knowledge, synthesis, beauty, science, idealism and order.  But there are others, further back behind the scenes, held in latency for the proper period and time (if I may speak of these things in terms of modern usage), and these are the theme of this higher meditation.  Only those who have freed themselves from the thralldom of the senses can truly thus meditate.  The attributes of Deity might be divided into three main groups:

1. Expressing Attributes—those which are steadily emerging,—of which we are becoming conscious, and which will constitute the major qualities and attributes of the fourth kingdom in nature, when the evolutionary cycle has done its work.

2. Presented attributes—those which (again using human phraseology) have presented themselves to the consciousness of the advanced disciple, which are as yet not capable of interpretation nor can they be comprehended by average human beings, but which are attributes of [398] [398] the Kingdom of Souls, and which will distinguish that kingdom in its final stages.  These latent attributes can be gradually comprehended and brought into activity by those who can function as souls.

3. Undefined Attributes are those of which the Christ, the planetary Logos and Those great Lives of Whose consciousness we can have no conception are becoming aware (note that phrase).  For these attributes we have no words, and it is needless for us even to guess at their nature or to ponder upon their significance.  They are as remote from our understanding as the aesthetic sense, group philanthropy and world states are from the consciousness of the aboriginal savage.

In connection with the problem of "presented attributes", it might be stated that those which characterise the soul and which cannot express themselves until the soul is consciously known and steadily achieving control, could be illustrated through attention to the word Love.  Love is such a presented attribute, and it took a great Avatar, such as the Christ, to grasp for humanity and present to humanity its significance.  It has taken two thousand years for this presented attribute to take even the form it has in the consciousness of the human family, and those of us who are students of world affairs well know how unknown real love is.  Even today, in relation to the entire planetary population, there is only a very small group (a few million would be an optimistic speculation) who have even a beginner's grasp of what the love of God really is.

Love is the presented attribute which is at this time working into manifestation.  Wisdom began to emerge in the time of the Buddha, and was the specified forerunner of love.  Synthesis is another of the presented attributes and is only now making its appeal for recognition—an appeal which can only [399] evoke response from the higher types of men, even though centuries have elapsed since Plato endeavoured to picture forth the completeness of the Whole and the intricacy of the ideas which have come forth as an expression of that Whole.  Such great Revealers of emerging divine attributes as are Plato, the Buddha or Christ differ radically from other Avatars in that They are so constituted that They are focal points through which a new presented attribute can emerge as a thought form, and, therefore, impinge definitely upon the minds of the racial thinkers.  These Avatars are possessed by the attribute; They intelligently comprehend it and are used to "anchor" the attribute in human consciousness.  There then ensues a long period of adjustment, development and emergence before the presented attribute becomes the expressed attribute.  The above few comments may serve to simplify your thought on these abstruse matters, and give you a better idea of the true scope of these advanced meditations.

The result of using this meditation on the presented attributes will be:

1. The attributes already expressing themselves somewhat will achieve an intensified livingness in the daily life-expression of the disciple, and consequently in the lives of all whom he may touch.  They will form the stepping-stones across the river of life down which the new attributes may come, presenting themselves in the Persons of Those Who are destined to reveal them eventually to man.  Just as, symbolically speaking, the meditation on Inclusive Reason opens the way to the "heart of the Sun", so this meditation brings in certain agencies and forces from the "central spiritual Sun", and these energies find their focal point through the medium of some revealing [400] Agent.  Thus the problem of Avatars or of the Messengers from the Most High, the Embodied Principles, and the Revealers of Divine Attribute will gradually come to be understood in a new light, and grasped and understood as a possible goal for certain types of men.

2. This theme opens up a wide range wherein the creative imagination can roam, and provides a fertile source of specialised divine expression.  The purer the agent, the better should be the functioning of the imagination, which is essentially the planned activity of the image-making faculty.  By its means, subtle divine attributes and purposes can be presented in some form to the minds of men, and can thus in time achieve material expression.  This involves the higher sensitivity, power to respond intuitionally, intellectual ability to interpret that which is sensed, focussed attention in order to "bring down" into manifestation the new potentiality and possibility of the divine nature, and an organised stability and purity of life.  Ponder on this.

3. This use of the creative imagination will appear to you immediately as constituting, in itself, a definite field of service.  Of this service, the highest of which you can know anything is that of the Group of Contemplatives, connected with the inner planetary Hierarchy, Who are called Nirmanakayas in the ancient books.  They are entirely occupied with the task of sensing and with the endeavour to express the presented attributes which must some day be as familiar to men (theoretically, at least) as are the gradually expressing attributes of Love, Beauty or Synthesis today.  On a much lower plane, those of you who are occupied with the effort to make soul quality expressed factors in your lives are beginning [401] to perform, on your level of consciousness, a task somewhat similar to that of the Divine Contemplatives.  It is good training for the work you may have to do as you prepare for initiation.  The small lesson mastered (and many of you are finding it a hard lesson) leads inevitably to wider opportunity in Service.

I have given enough information on which deeply to think and reflect.  I have pointed out a goal which is impossible of achievement as yet, but one which leads eventually to that assured faith which is based upon direct knowledge and vision.  I have briefly indicated the triple techniques of Integration, Fusion and Duality, and have shown you how, by means of them, the three rays of the Personality, the Ego and the Monad can be fused and blended until Deity, the essential divine Life, is revealed and from a materialised Triplicity only an eventual Unity can be seen.  We will next take up some of the problems of Psychology, studying them from the angle of the soul.