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1.  The Influence of the Rays Today. - Part 1

1. The Influence of the Rays Today.

 

First: The most obvious and powerful force in the world today is that of the first Ray of Will and Power.  It works out in two ways:

 

1. As the will of God in world affairs, which is ever the will-to-good.  Steadily — if you study human history intelligently — you will see that there has been a regular and rhythmic progression toward unity and synthesis in all departments of human affairs.  This unity in multiplicity is the Eternal Plan — a unity in consciousness, a multiplicity in form.

 

2. As the destructive element in world affairs.  This refers to man's use of this force of will which is seldom as yet the will-to-good in active expression, but something which leads to self-assertion (of the individual or the nation) and to war with its accompaniments — separation, selfish diplomacy, hate and armaments, disease and death.

 

This is the force which pours into the world from the major world centre, Shamballa.  Little is known of Shamballa.  More will be known as you study this text and note how world affairs are taking shape before your eyes in accordance with my prevision (as presented to your limited [13] vision) and the obvious possibilities.  These are necessarily the equally obvious effects of predisposing causes.

 

Only twice before in the history of mankind has this Shamballa energy made its appearance and caused its presence to be felt through the tremendous changes which were brought about:

 

1. When the first great human crisis occurred at the time of the individualisation of man in ancient Lemuria.

2. At the time of the great struggle in Atlantean days between the "Lords of Light and the Lords of Material Expression."

 

This little known divine energy now streams out from the Holy Centre.  It embodies in itself the energy which lies behind the world crisis of the moment.  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 and his grasp of the spiritual, esoteric and subjective essentials of living.  It is this force which will bring about (in conjunction with second ray force) that tremendous crisis — imminent in the human consciousness — which we call the second crisis, the initiation of the race into the Mystery of the Ages, into that which has been hid from the beginning.

 

The first crisis, as you have been taught, was the crisis of individualisation wherein man became a living soul.  The second crisis is the immediate one of racial initiation, made possible (if you will but believe it) by the many individual initiations which have lately been undergone by those members of the human family who had vision and a willingness to pay the price.

 

This particular and somewhat unusual ray energy is expressing [14] itself in two ways.  Perhaps it would be more correct to say in two ways that are recognisable by man, because it should be remembered that these ray forces express themselves as potently in other kingdoms in nature as they do in the human.  For instance, one phase of the destructive aspects of first ray force has been the organised and scientific destruction of forms in the animal kingdom.  This is the destroying force, as manipulated by man.  Another phase of the same force (which can be noted in relation to the unfoldment of consciousness in subtle and powerful ways) can be seen in the effect which human beings have upon the domestic animals, hastening their evolution, and stimulating them into forms of advanced instinctual activity.  I mention these two phases as illustration of the effect of first ray energy in the animal kingdom, as expressed through human activity.

 

The ways in which humanity itself is affected by this ray energy, as it expresses itself in a twofold manner, producing a twofold result, are as follows:

 

1. There is, at this time, an emergence of certain powerful and dominating first ray personalities into the theatre of world activity.  These people are in direct contact with this Shamballa force and are sensitive to the impact of the will energy of Deity.  According to their type of personality and their point in evolution will be their reaction to this force and their consequent usefulness to the Lord of the World as He works out His plans of world unfoldment.  The energy of the will of God works through them, though stepped down and often misused and misapplied, by their differing and limited personalities, and interpreted unsatisfactorily by their undeveloped consciousness.  These people are found in every [15] field of human affairs.  They are the dominant persons, and the dictators in every aspect of human living — political, social, religious and educational.  Who shall say (until at least a century has gone by) whether their influence and their efforts have been good or bad.  Where they flagrantly infringe the Law of Love, their influence may be powerful, but it is passing and undesirable, at least where that phase of their activities is concerned.  Where they meet human emergency and need, and work along lines of basic restoration and the preservation of "units of synthesis," their influence is good and constructive.

 

I would here point out that real group love never demonstrates as hatred of the individual.  It may work out as the arresting of the individual's activities or enterprises where that is deemed desirable in the interests of the whole and if what he is doing is estimated as harmful to the good of the group.  But the arresting will not be destructive.  It will be educational and developing in its results.

 

The true first ray personality who works in response to this Shamballa influence will have the ultimate good of the group deeply enshrined in his consciousness and heart; he will think in terms of the whole and not in terms of the part.  That is the thing which he will endeavour to impress upon the racial consciousness.  This may lead at times to ruthlessness and cruelty if the personality of the individual is not yet controlled by soul impulse.  Such cases can frequently be seen.  An instance of this can be noted in the history of the Jews as found in the Old Testament.  When the first ray was in control and passing through one of its rare cycles of activity we read that they butchered and slaughtered all their enemies — men, women and children, [16] putting them to the sword.  The sword is ever the symbol of the first ray force just as the pen is of the second ray influence.

 

I wish to remind you that I use the word "energy" in reference to the spiritual expression of any ray and the word "force" to denote the use to which men make of spiritual energy as they seek to employ it and usually, as yet, misapply it.  I would point out that Ataturk, the Turkish dictator, within certain personality limitations of relatively negligible moment, made good use of first ray energy, and only the testimony of future historical records will indicate fully how wisely, sanely and disinterestedly he used this type of force for the attainment of first ray objectives.  It might be apposite here to point out that such first ray exponents of force are often misunderstood and hated.  They may and often do misuse the energy available but they also use it constructively within the desired limits of the immediate plan.  I would also like to state that the lot of a first ray disciple is hard and difficult.  There are disciples of Shamballa just as there are disciples of the Hierarchy and this is a fact hitherto not recognised and never as yet referred to in the current writings on occult subjects.  It is wise and valuable to remember this.  They are powerful, these disciples of Shamballa, headstrong and often cruel; they impose their will and dictate their desires; they make mistakes but they are nevertheless true disciples of Shamballa and are working out the Will of God as much as the disciples and Masters of the Hierarchy are working out the Love of God.

 

This is a hard saying for some of you but your failure to recognise this truth and to respond to it does not affect the issue.  It simply makes your individual lot and difficulties harder.

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I would also remind you that the use of first ray energy inevitably means destruction in the early stages but fusion and blending in the later and final results.  If you study the nations of the world today from this angle, you will see this Shamballa energy of will working out potently through the agency of certain great outstanding personalities.  The Lord of Shamballa in this time of urgency, from love of the life aspect and from understanding of the Plan as well as from love of humanity, is sending forth this dynamic energy.  It is form destroying and brings death to those material forms and organised bodies which hinder the free expression of the life of God, for they negate the new culture and render inactive the seeds of the coming civilisation.

 

From this display of energy, unthinking humanity draws back in fear and likes it not.  When full of personality hate and self-will, human beings seek often to turn this energy to their own selfish ends.  If human beings (even the best of them) were not so undeveloped and so superficial in their judgments and their vision, they would be able to penetrate behind what is going on in the key countries in the world and see the gradual emergence of new and better conditions, and the passing away of the loved, but slowly decaying forms.  The energy of Shamballa is, however, so new and so strange that it is hard for human beings to know it for what it is — the demonstration of the Will of God in new and potent livingness.

 

2. The second way in which this dominant will impulse makes itself felt is through the voice of the masses of the people throughout the world.  This will express itself through sound, as consciousness or love does through light.  The sound of the nations has been heard as a mass sound for the first time.  That voice today is unmistakably [18] expressive of the values which embody human betterment; it demands peace and understanding between men and it refuses — and will steadily refuse — to permit certain drastic things to happen.  This "voice of the people," which is in reality the voice of public opinion is, for the first time and with no recognition of the fact, being determined by the Will of God.

 

Second:  The next great energy which is making its potent contribution to the present world situation is that of the second Ray of Love Wisdom, Christ's ray.  This energy is poured into the world through the second great planetary centre which we call The Hierarchy.  The energy which is concentrated in this centre and which is manipulated by the initiates and the Masters is making one of its cyclic impacts upon the Earth and — as I explained in Volume II of A Treatise on the Seven Rays — is also making one of its major cyclic Approaches to humanity.

 

The energy flowing through the Hierarchy at this time — the energy of love — is seeking to blend with that which is flowing out of Shamballa and is needed in order to make the desired application of it.  The problem of the Hierarchy at this time is to produce a wise and adequate fusion of the Shamballa and the hierarchial energies and thus temper destruction and bring to the fore the spirit of construction, setting in motion the building and re-habilitating forces of the second ray energy.  The Shamballa energy prepares the way for the energy of the Hierarchy.  Thus it has been from the beginning of time, but the cycles of the Hierarchy, though relatively frequent, have not coincided with those of Shamballa, which are rare and infrequent.  As time progresses, the impact of the Shamballa force will be more frequent because men will develop the power to stand and [19] withstand it.  Hitherto it has been too dangerous an energy to apply to mankind, for the results have worked out destructively, except in the first great Lemurian crisis.  Its work has, therefore, been confined almost entirely to the Hierarchy Whose Members are equipped to handle it and to assimilate it correctly and also to use it for the benefit of humanity.  Now the experiment is being attempted of permitting man to receive it and its impact, free from the mediation of the Hierarchy.  It may prove a premature and abortive effort but the issues are not yet determined and the Lord of Shamballa, with His assistants and with the aid of the watching Members of the Hierarchy, are not discouraged over the initial results.  Humanity is responding unexpectedly well.  There has been much success along this line but the results do not appear with clarity to intelligent human beings because they refuse to see anything except the destructive aspect and the disappearance of the forms to which they have hitherto anchored their emotions, their desire, and their mental perceptions.  They fail, as yet, to see the irrefutable evidence of constructive activity and of true creative work.  The temple of humanity in the New Age is rising rapidly but its outlines cannot be seen because men are occupied entirely with their individual or national selfish point of view and with their personal or national instincts and impulses.  I would here like to call your attention to the fact that the instinctual life of nations is something which remains to be studied scientifically and is a phase which leads inevitably to the individualistic life of nations — a matter of more immediate interest.

 

The new forms are, however, being built and the Shamballa potencies, plus hierarchical guidance, are working towards ends which are definitely planned and which are working out favourably.  The potency of love-wisdom, transmitted [20] by the Hierarchy, is playing upon modern humanity in a more intimate and close manner than ever before.  The Directors of the Hierarchy are seeking to evoke an intelligent response from men and an indication that they are conscious of what is happening.  Most of the response to the Shamballa activity is characterised by fear and terror, by sensitivity and distressingly developed reactions to the forces of hate and separation.  Only a few, here and there, really grasp the vision of the future and realise what is going on, seeing truly the beauty of the emerging plan.  It is with these few that the Members of the Hierarchy can work because they (even when lacking understanding) bear no ill-will or hatred to others.  Love is a great unifier and interpreter.

 

This energy of love is primarily concentrated (for purposes of hierarchical activity) in the New Group of World Servers.  This group has been chosen by the Hierarchy as its main channel of expression.  This group, composed as it is of all world disciples and all working initiates, finds its representatives in every group of idealists and servers and in every body of people who express human thought, particularly in the realm of human betterment and uplift.  Through them, the potency of love-wisdom can express itself.  These people are frequently misunderstood, for the love which they express differs widely from the sentimental, affectionate personal interest of the average worker.  They are occupied mainly with the interests and the good of the whole group with which they may be associated; they are not primarily concerned with the petty interests of the individual — occupied with his little problems and concerns.  This brings such a server under the criticism of the individual and with this criticism they must learn to live and to it they must pay no attention.  True group love is of more importance [21] than personal relationships, though those are met as need (note, I say, need) arises.  Disciples learn to grasp the need of group love and to amend their ways in conformity with group good, but it is not easy for the self-interested individual to grasp the difference.  Through the medium of those disciples who have learned the distinction between the petty concerns of the individual plus his interest in himself and the necessities and urgencies of group work and love, the Hierarchy can work and so bring about the needed world changes, which are primarily changes in consciousness.  I have dealt somewhat in detail with these matters; the gist of them has, however, been embodied in the pamphlets sent out in the past few years.

 

Third:  the major energy upon which we shall touch here is that of intelligent activity — the potency of the third ray.  This finds its expression through the third major centre on the planet; this centre, we call Humanity.  The evocation of a loving intelligent response to the Shamballa impulse, stepped down by the Hierarchy, is that to which this world centre should respond.  This is rapidly and, as I have told you, satisfactorily, happening.  A definite world effect is being produced and the New Group of World Servers has given much aid in this.  They have interpreted, explained and assisted the processes of evoking the latent love in human beings which, in its initial and unformed stages, exists in the form of an inchoate goodwill.

 

I call this to your attention as the underlying, motivating idea behind all the work which you are called upon to do.  I suggest, therefore that you endeavour to see the three major ideologies with which you have perforce to deal in terms of the three efforts which are emanating from the three major planetary centres at this time:  Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity.  You will thus gain a more synthetic [22] viewpoint, and a deeper understanding of the slowly emerging world picture.

 

Is it not possible that the ideologies which we have been discussing are the response — distorted and yet a definite and determined, sensitive reaction — to the energies playing upon humanity from the two higher major centres?  I would like to suggest that the ideology which is embodied in the vision of the totalitarian states is an erroneous but clear-cut response to the Shamballa influence of will; that the ideology behind the democratic ideal constitutes a similar response to the universality which the love of the Hierarchy prompts it to express, and that communism is of human origin, embodying that ideology which humanity has formulated in its own right.  Thus the three aspects of God's nature are beginning to take form as three major ideas and what we see upon the planet at this time are the distorted human reactions to spiritual impulses, emanating from three different centres, but all equally divine in their essential natures, and in their essences.  Ponder on this.

 

I have brought this to your attention and discussed these basic modern schools of thought because the potency of their idealism is affecting every person, capable of thought, upon the planet.  Not one of you is immune from their effects; not one of you but is inclined to range yourself upon one side or another, fighting furiously and under the cloak of so-called "adherence to principle" for what appeals to you.  Most of you are, nevertheless, far more affected by the methods employed to materialise the ideas and by the quality of their exponents than you are by the ideas themselves.  These you could hardly define if asked to do so.  You are affected by their impact upon your emotional bodies (not your minds) after these divine impulses have filtered through from the Shamballa and the hierarchical centres [23] into and through the human centre and have then been seized upon and applied to specific national, racial and political conditions.  You are hardly at all affected by the pure idealism which gave them birth and which lies behind them as the motivating (though unrecognised) impulse.  You cannot grasp or view these great mental trends as does the Hierarchy.  Hence much of your confusion and your difficulty.

 

If we consider these three great planetary centres and their relationships in tabular form we can get the general idea more clearly in mind:

 

I.          SHAMBALLA........................... Will or Power.......................... Planetary head centre,

            The Holy City.......................... Purpose . . Plan                       spiritual pineal gland.

                                                             Life Aspect.

                                                Ruler:-  Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World.

                                                            The Ancient of Days.

                                                             Melchizedek.

 

II.         THE HIERARCHY.................... Love-Wisdom......................... Planetary heart centre.

            The new Jerusalem................. Consciousness.

                                                              Group Unity.

                                                 Ruler:-  The Christ.

                                                              The World Saviour.

 

III.       HUMANITY................................ Active Intelligence.................. Planetary throat centre.

            The city, standing foursquare.... Self-Consciousness.

                                                              Creativity.

                                                  Ruler:-  Lucifer.

                                                               Son of the Morning.

                                                               The Prodigal Son.

 

These three centres are closely interrelated and must be thought of in their entirety as expressions of divine livingness, as embodying three great stages in the unfoldment of God's plan and as constituting the three major centres in the body of the "One in Whom we live and move and have our being."  Students who have studied as you have can relate if they so choose, these three centres to the three solar systems, referred to in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

 

1. In the first solar system, the centre which is Humanity [24] was prepared, and the principle of intelligence came into manifestation.

2. In the second solar system, the Hierarchy of love made its appearance and must eventually come into full manifestation upon the physical plane, thereby enabling the Love of God to be seen.

3. In the next solar system, the centre which we today call Shamballa will manifest (intelligently and through love) the will aspect of Deity.  It is only however in this second solar system that all these three centres, expressing the three divine aspects, meet simultaneously at various stages of livingness.  It is interesting to note that it is only through human beings that these centres can ever come into true functioning activity.

 

Little is known of Shamballa except by Members of the Hierarchy to Whom that centre is the goal in the same way that the Hierarchy is, at this time, the goal for humanity.  Shamballa is the directing centre for the Hierarchy.  Little is really known of the will of God except by Those Whose function it is to interpret and express that will through love, intelligently applied.  They know what the immediate purpose is and Their major occupation is the working out of that will into manifestation.

 

We have, therefore, three great centres and from them emanate three types of energy which are taking form as the three governing ideologies in the consciousness of the race.  Old ideologies still persist; subsidiary schools of thought are everywhere to be found; distorted interpretations and travesties of reality abound on every hand; on all sides the dead level of the people (the ignorant masses) is played upon by these energies and men become victims of the exponents of the ideologies — past, present and future.

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Forget not that behind all of them stands He Whom we call the Lord of the World.  When all these temporary experiments have been tried and when humanity has been led on in its consciousness from one stage of understanding to another and of recognised interrelation, the kingdom of God will be established upon Earth and the Ruler of the Earth will then work through the Hierarchy to produce that synthetic living creative response from nature (of which humanity is a part) which will enable each kingdom fully to reveal the glory of God.  Shamballa will work through the Hierarchy and the Hierarchy, in its turn, will reach the various kingdoms in nature through the medium of Humanity, which will then enter into its pre-ordained and destined function.  It is for this that all is taking place.  The time of fruition lies relatively far ahead but in the meantime humanity is experimenting or is the subject of experiment; it is exploiting or being exploited; it is learning the lessons of enforced obedience or the dangers of selfish license; it is victimised by powerful personalities in every land and this without exception, or it is being guided in right directions (and this again without exception) by the emissaries and disciples of either Shamballa or the Hierarchy.  All vaunted freedom or vaunted control is but the temporary reaction of a humanity which is swept by ideas, controlled by ideals, impulsed by selfishness, impregnated by hates and yet all the time is struggling to express the higher and better qualities and to free itself from the thralldom of ancient evil, the slavery of ancient codes and the curse of ancient habits of thought and living.  It is what is happening behind the scenes to mankind as a whole which is of moment; it is the unfoldment of the human consciousness which counts with the Hierarchy, and that unfolds in response to the presented conditions in any country or countries.  Let me assure [26] you that under the pressure of modern life, under the strain of the imposed present conditions and civilisation, plus the mental concern, the terror of marching armies, the thunder of the many voices and the stress of the worldwide economic stringency, the human consciousness is rapidly awakening from its long sleep.  That great and fundamental reality which you call the "human state of mind" is just beginning to focus itself upon the things which matter and to express itself in a living fashion.  That is the factor of moment and not the happenings in any particular country.

 

And, I would remind you, all that is occurring is an evidence of energy and is expressive of force.  That is the factor never to be forgotten.  It is essential that you recognise them as existing.  There is little that you, as individuals or as groups, can do about them beyond seeing to it that there is nothing in you which could make you — unimportant as you may be — a focal point for hate, separation, fear, pride and other characteristics which feed the fires which threaten to bring disaster to the world.  Each of you can aid more than you can guess through the regulation of thought and ideas, through the cultivation of a loving spirit and through the general use of the Great Invocation whereby these forces and energies — so sorely needed — can be invoked.

 

We have now considered the three major energies which are pouring into our planetary life at this time through the three major centres.  It remains for us now to consider the energy of the two minor rays, the sixth and the seventh, which are in many ways of more immediate moment to the masses and of tremendous effectiveness.  One is of moment because of its pronounced hold and because of the crystallisation it has produced particularly in the world of thought, and the other because its hold and its power, its influence [27] and its effects will be of an increasing momentum.  One is potent in producing the necessity for the present chaos; the other is potential and holds in its activity the seeds of the future.

 

This is a fact of great interest and of really practical import.  It takes us, moreover, into the realm of prevision.  I would have you remember, at this point, that no prevision is divorced entirely from the past but that there must always be the seed of truth.  The Law of Cause and Effect holds good eternally and particularly so in the realm of spiritual insight (so rapidly developing at this time) which enables the seer to see the future as it may be and to forecast coming eventualities.  There are several ways in which such prevision can — during the next three centuries — be developed in the race of men:

 

1. Through the development of soul contact among the advanced members of the race.  This contact will relate soul knowledge with brain impression and, if the meditating factor of the mind is duly trained and controlled, there will be a correct foreknowledge of individual destiny and coming events.

2. Through the development of the science of astrology — a science which is, as yet, in its infancy and which is based on so many uncertain factors that it is difficult for a student to arrive at those true indications which will truly present the future.  Character indications and small personality happenings can frequently and correctly be deduced but the general subject remains until today much too nebulous for certitude.  I will later deal with this matter and will indicate the lines along which future investigation should proceed.

3. Through the recurrence of "soothsaying" and the reappearance [28] of those ancient "informers of the race" who, in Roman times, were called "sibyls."  These mediums (for such they were) will be trained by the workers upon the seventh ray to speak under inspiration from the Hierarchy Whose foreknowledge extends far ahead into the future, but does not extend beyond two thousand years.  These mediums will, however, only be used under direction, after careful training and only twice a year at the May and June Full Moon rituals.

 

As to the prevision with which I shall deal, unorthodox as it may appear to be to some of you, it will be based upon two factors:  First of all, the logical indications to be gathered from the past and present events which condition the immediate future and which must inevitably lead to definite and tangible happenings.  Any deep student of human affairs could follow the same line of reasoning and come to approximately the same conclusions, provided he loved his fellowmen enough to see them truly as they were and allow, consequently, for the appearance of the unexpected.  And, secondly, what I may say to you is based on a knowledge of the ray influences which are at this time so powerfully and effectively affecting humanity and its coming civilisation and culture.

 

I would ask you, therefore, to read what I have to say with an open mind; I would beg you to relate my words to present world conditions and to see, emerging from the realms of subjectivity, those forces and potencies which are directly changing the current of men's thoughts, which are moulding their ideas, and incidentally altering the face of the earth and the policies of nations.

 

As you know, there are at this time, two minor rays (which are rays of attribute) affecting powerfully the destiny [29] of mankind.  These are the sixth Ray of Abstract Devotion or Idealism and the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Magic or Organisation.  The sixth ray began to pass out of manifestation in 1625 after a long period of influence, whilst the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Order began to come into manifestation in 1675.  There are three points to be remembered in connection with these two rays and their effects upon the race of men.  (I am not here dealing with their effects upon the other kingdoms in nature.)

 

1. The sixth ray is as you know, the most powerful in manifestation in this time and a very large number of people are responsive to its influence.  It is still the line of least resistance for the majority, particularly in the Aryan race, for the reason that when in process of time and through evolution the influence of a ray has become potent, it is groups that are primarily affected and not just individuals.  A rhythm and a momentum is then set up which lasts a long time and which gains power through the very force of organised numbers.  This truth will emerge more clearly as we proceed with our studies.  Suffice it to say that the sixth ray people are the reactionaries, the conservatives, the die-hards and the fanatics, who hold on to all that is of the past and whose influence is potent to hinder the progress of humanity into the new age.  Their name is legion.  They provide, however, a needed balance and are responsible for a steadying process which is much needed in the world at this time.

 

2. The seventh ray is steadily gaining momentum and has for a long time been stimulating and enhancing the activity of all fifth ray nations.  If you bear in mind that one of the major objectives of seventh ray energy is to bring [30] together and to relate spirit and matter and also substance and form (note this distinction) you can see for yourself that the work of science is closely connected with this endeavour and that the creation of the new forms will definitely be the result of a working interaction between the rulers of the fifth, the second and the seventh rays, aided by the help — on demand — of the ruler of the first ray.  A large number of seventh ray egos or souls and also of men and women with seventh ray personalities are coming into incarnation now, and to them is committed the task of organising the activities of the new era and of ending the old methods of life and the old crystallised attitudes to life, to death, to leisure and to the population.

 

3. The result of the increasing flow of seventh ray energy plus the decreasing influence of the sixth ray — which shows itself as a pronounced crystallisation of the standardised and accepted forms of belief, religious, social and philosophic — is to throw the millions of people who do not respond to either of the above influences through egoic or personality relation, into a state of bewilderment.  They feel entirely lost, are gripped by the idea that life holds for them no desirable future, all that they have learnt to cherish and to hold dear is rapidly failing.

 

These three groups of people, influenced by the sixth and seventh rays or who are bewildered by the impact of forces generated by those rays, are those who must together, with understanding and clear vision, bring order out of the present chaos.  They must materialise those new and desirable conditions which will conform to the subjective pattern in the minds of the illumined people of the world and to [31] the spiritual plan as it exists in the consciousness of the members of the Hierarchy.  The new age with its peculiar civilisation and culture will be brought into manifestation through the collaboration of the well-intentioned many, responsive increasingly to the good of the whole and not of the individual; they are the idealistic but practical thinkers, influenced by the pattern of things to come and the world disciples, impressed by the plans and under the instruction of the Hierarchy which is directing and controlling all.

 

It is with these three groups of people and with the work upon which they are engaged that any prevision I may evidence will consistently deal.  All changes in connection with the human family, the fourth kingdom in nature, are always dependent upon three factors:

 

1. Those outer physical events which are definitely "acts of God" and over which no human being has the slightest authority.

 

2. The activity of human beings themselves, working on all the different rays but in any given time and in any particular period conditioned by:

a. The preponderance of egos to be found on any particular ray.  There are a very large number of second ray egos in incarnation today and their work and their lives will facilitate the coming Great Approach.

b. The nature and the quality of the predominating personality rays of the majority.  At this time there are a vast number of souls in incarnation whose personality rays are either the sixth or the third.  They condition the coming civilisation outstandingly including all educational and financial enterprises, just as the influence of those who have soul contact and can express soul quality condition and determine the current culture.

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c. The activity of the fifth principle, that of the mind.  This mind principle is peculiarly active today in a broad and general sense.  If I might put it symbolically the vertical activity of the mind which has affected individuals everywhere down the ages has always produced the mental guides, the directors and the leaders of humanity.  Today, the horizontal activity of the mind, embracing huge masses of the populace and sometimes entire nations and races, can everywhere be seen and this must lead inevitably to events and effects hitherto unvisioned and impossible.

 

3. The influence of the outgoing and the incoming rays at any time.  You have often been told that these events — for the emergence or disappearance of a ray influence is an event in time — are a matter of slow development, are psychic in nature, and are governed by law.  The length of time in which a ray appears, manifests and does its work and finally disappears is one of the secrets of initiation, but — as time elapses and the nature of time itself is better understood — the period and the time equation of the minor rays of attribute will be established but that time is not yet, although the intense interest taken today in the phenomena of time indicates a growing awareness of the problem itself and of the need for understanding the relation of time, both to space and to event.  It will be realised before long that time is entirely a brain event; a study of the sense of speed as registered by the brain, plus the capacity or incapacity of a human being to express this speed, will, when properly approached, reveal much that today remains a mystery.