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Question 2.  What are the origin, goal, purpose and plan of the soul? - Part 2

The Crucifier and the Crucified

The Breaker of Stones

The Imperishable Flaming One

The One Whom Naught can turn

The Implacable Ruler

The General on the Perfect Way

The One Who leads the Twelve

Curiously enough, this sixth ray Lord has always been a [81] loved enigma to His six Brethren.  This comes out in the questions which They addressed to Him on one occasion when They met "under the eye of the Lord" to interchange Their plans for united, divine, harmonious action.  They asked these questions in a spirit of heavenly joy and love, but with the intent to throw some light upon the somewhat obscure quality of Their loved Brother.

1. Why is desire red?  Why red as blood?  Tell us, Oh Son of God, why thy way is red with blood?

............... Quality......power to kill out desire.

2. Why do you turn your back upon the sphere of earth?  Is it too small, too poor?  Why kick it as a ball upon a playing field?

............... Quality...... spurning that which is not desired.

3. Why set the cross from earth to heaven?  But earth can be a heaven.  Why mount the cross and die?

............... Quality......self-immolation.

4. Why battle thus with all that is around?  Seek you not peace?  Why stand between the forces of the night and day?  Why thus unmoved and calm, untired and unafraid?

............... Quality..... endurance and fearlessness.

5. See you not God in all, the life in all, and love in all?  Why separate yourself and leave behind the loved and the well-known?

............... Quality......power to detach oneself.

6. Can you arrest the waters of the sixth great sphere?  Can you stem the flood?  Can you recover both the raven and the dove?  Can you, the Fish, swim free?

............... Quality......overcoming the waters of the emotional nature.

This out-going ray of devotion to the ideal, and the incoming ray of magical order or organisation are largely responsible for the type of man's consciousness today.  Man is essentially devoted (to the point of fanaticism) to whatever may be the goal of his life's attention.  This goal may be to achieve discipleship, or to raise a family, or to get money, or to achieve [82] popularity, or any other objective to which he consecrates his time and energy; but whatever it may be, to it he devotes all that he is or has.  Man also is essentially and inherently a producer of law and order, though this quality is only just beginning to make its presence felt.  This is because mankind is, at last, becoming mentally centred, and hence we have in the world at this time the many and varied attempts to straighten out affairs along business, national, economic, social and other lines, to produce some system and order, and to bring about the re-arranging of all energies with the objective (unrealised consciously as yet) of inaugurating the New Age.  Owing, however, to defective mental control and to an almost universal ignorance as to the laws of thought, and in addition, to a profound lack of knowledge as to man's own nature, man works blindly.  The ideals sensed are not correctly interpreted by the mind nor applied in such a way that they are of general and appropriate application.  Hence the confusion and the chaotic experimentation going on, and hence also the imposition of personal authority to enforce an individual's idea of the ideal.

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

It was the realisation of the present world need for illumined [83] thinkers and subjective workers which prompted Those Who guide so to direct the incoming spiritual energies that the formation of the esoteric groups everywhere came about; it led also to the publication of the mass of mystical and Oriental literature on meditation and allied topics which has flooded the world today.  Hence also the effort that I, a worker on the inner side of life, am making to teach the newer psychology in this treatise, and so show to man what is his equipment and how well suited he is to the work for which he has been created, and which he has as yet failed to comprehend.  The force and the effect of the seventh ray influence will, however, reveal to him the magical work, and the next twenty five hundred years will bring about so much change and make possible the working of so many so-called "miracles" that even the outer appearance of the world will be profoundly altered; the vegetation and the animal life will be modified and developed, and much that is latent in the forms of both kingdoms will be brought into expression through the freer flow and the more intelligent manipulation of the energies which create and constitute all forms.  The world has been changed beyond belief during the past five hundred years, and during the next two hundred years the changes will be still more rapid and deep-seated, for the growth of the intellectual powers of man is gathering momentum, and Man, the Creator, is coming into possession of His powers.

THE SEVENTH PURPOSE OF DEITY

Ray VII. Ceremonial Order or Magic

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

The doors were closed.  The light shone dim.  The temple walls could not be seen.  The seven were silent and their forms were veiled.  The time had not arrived for the breaking [84] forth of light.  The Word could not be uttered.  Only between the seven Forms the work went on.  A silent call went forth from each to each.  Yet still the temple door stayed shut.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These words will be noted by many as of deep significance and as indicating a wide intention (during the coming cycle) [85] to open the door wide into the temple of the hidden mystery to man.  One by one we shall undergo the esoteric and spiritual counterpart of the psychological factor which is called "a mental test."  That test will demonstrate a man's usefulness in mental work and power, it will show his capacity to build thought-forms and to vitalise them.  This I dealt with in A Treatise on White Magic, and the relation of that treatise to the magical work of the seventh ray and its cycle of activity will become increasingly apparent.  A Treatise on White Magic is an attempt to lay down the rules for training and for work which will make it possible for the candidate to the mysteries to enter the temple and to take his place as a creative worker and thus aid in the magical work of the Lord of the Temple.

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

The Unveiled Magician

The Worker in the Magical Art

The Creator of the Form

The Bestower of Light from the Second Lord

The Manipulator of the Wand

The Watcher in the East

The Custodian of the Seventh Plan

The Invoker of Wrath

The Keeper of the Magical Word

The Temple Guardian

The Representative of God

The One Who lifts to Life

The Lord of Death

The One Who feeds the Sacred Fire

The Whirling Sphere

The Sword of the Initiator

The Divine Alchemical Worker

The Builder of the Square

The Orienting Force

The Fiery Unifier

The Key to the Mystery

The Expression of the Will

The Revealer of Beauty

[86]

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

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

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

1. Take thy tools with thee, brother of the building light. Carve deep.  Construct and shape the living stone.

............... Quality......power to create.

2. Choose well thy workers.  Love them all.  Pick six to do thy will.  Remain the seventh in the east.  Yet call the world to enter into that which thou shalt build.  Blend all together in the will of God.

............... Quality......power to cooperate.

3. Sit in the centre and the east as well.  Move not from there.[87] Send out thy force to do thy will and gather back thy forces.  Use well the power of thought.  Sit still.

............... Quality...... power to think.

4. See all parts enter into the purpose.  Build towards beauty, brother Lord.  Make all colours bright and clear.  See to the inner glory.  Build the shrine well.  Use care.

............... Quality......revelation of the beauty of God.

5. Watch well thy thought.  Enter at will into the mind of God.  Pluck thence the power, the plan, the part to play. Reveal the mind of God.

............... Quality......mental power.

6. Stay in the east.  The five have given thee a friendly Word.  I, the sixth, tell thee to use it on the dead.  Revive the dead.  Build forms anew.  Guard well that Word. Make all men seek it for themselves.

............... Quality......power to vivify.

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

The Chohans of the sixth initiation have the guidance of those units of consciousness in whom their particular ray vibration and colour predominate.  The vast importance of this fact is often overlooked, even when theoretically acknowledged by aspirants to initiation.  Hence the importance of determining the ray of the ego and of the Monad,—something of vital moment after the third initiation.  A majority and a minority always exist in every department of life.  So it is in the work of the Logos, for at the end of the greater cycle (manvantara) the majority will find their way to the synthetic love ray; a small minority will find their way to the power ray.  This minority are destined for an important function.  They will constitute the nucleus which (in the next solar system) will constitute the majority, finding their synthesis on ray one.  This is a great mystery and not easily understood. [88]  Some hint towards its solution will be found hidden in the real meaning of the words "exoteric" and "esoteric."

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

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

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

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

Ray VII..Ceremonial ritual or organisation.  This is the reflection on the physical plane of the two above, and is likewise connected with the Mahachohan. It controls [89] the elemental forces and the involutionary process and the form side of the three kingdoms in nature.  It holds hid the secret of physical colour and sound.  It is the law.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rays 2. 4. 6 are the rays connected with the inner life, expanding through those forms,—the rays of motive, aspiration and sacrifice.  Rays pre-eminently of quality.

Rays 1. 3. 7 deal with things concrete and with the functioning of matter and form from the lowest plane to the highest.

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

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

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