Navigate the Chapters of this Book

II. The Seven Laws of Soul or Group Life - Part 3

An integrated, intelligent personality is adequate to deal with the working out of the server's part in the active work of the world, provided his vision is not blurred by personal ambition nor his activity such that it degenerates into a sense of rush and a display of busy feverishness.  It takes the soul itself to reveal to the poised and peaceful mind the next step to be taken in the work of world evolution, through the impartation of ideas.  Such is the Plan for humanity.

As the force pours through the personality and gives to the server this necessary vision and the sense of power which will enable him to cooperate, it finds its way into the emotional or astral body.  Here again the effect will be dual, owing to the condition of the server's astral body and his inner orientation.  It may enhance the glamour and deepen the illusion, swinging the server into the psychic illusory effects there to be found.  When this happens, he will emerge upon the physical plane glamoured by the idea, for instance, of his amazing personal contacts, whereas he has only contacted some group thought-form of the Great Ones.  He will be under the illusion that he is a chosen vessel or mouthpiece for the Hierarchy, when the truth is that he is deceived by the many voices, because the Voice of the Silence has been dimmed by the clamour of the astral plane; he will be deluded by the idea that there is no other way but his way.  Such an illusion and deception is common among teachers and workers everywhere [137] today, because so many are definitely making a contact with their souls, and are being swept then into the desire for service; they are not yet free, however, from ambition, and their orientation is still basically towards personality expression, and not to the merging of themselves in the Group of World Servers.  If however they can avoid glamour, and can discriminate between the Real and the unreal, then the inflowing force will flood their lives with effective unselfish love and with devotion to the Plan, to those whom the Plan serves, and to Those Who serve the Plan.  Note the sequence of these attitudes, and govern yourselves accordingly.  There will then be no room for self-interest, self-assertiveness, or selfish ambition.  All that is considered is the need and the driving necessity to take the next immediate step to meet that need as it demonstrates before the server's eyes.

With the heart and mind then functioning together (either in selfish coalition for the presentation of an active personality, or in dedicated selflessness and the attitude which is oriented towards soul guidance) the force, flowing through the server will galvanise his etheric body into activity.  Then, automatically, the physical body will respond.  There is, consequently, a great need for the server to pause upon the astral plane, and there, in a holy and controlled silence, wait, before permitting the force to pour through into the centres in the etheric body.  This point of silence is one of the mysteries of spiritual unfoldment.  Once the force or energy of the soul—preserved in its purity, or tainted and sidetracked on its way through into physical manifestation—has reached the etheric body, there is nothing more to be done by the average disciple.  The result, when it reaches that point, is inevitable and effective.  The inner thought and the desire life determine the activity which will be expressed physically.  When the force comes through in purity, it brings the centres above the [138] diaphragm steadily into activity; when it comes through, tainted by personality trends, it uses primarily the solar plexus, and then sweeps into manifestation all the astral illusions, the grandiose delusions and the glamours of egoistic phenomena, using the word "egoistic" in its usual worldly, psychological connotation.  This can easily be seen today among the leaders of various groups.

b. DISTINCTIVE METHODS OF RAY SERVICE

Does this science prove that the seven ray types employ distinctive methods in service?

As time goes on this will be proved decidedly, and each ray worker and server will be found to render his service along peculiar and specific lines.  These indicate for him the line of least resistance and, consequently, of the greatest efficiency.  These methods and techniques will constitute the inner structure of the coming Science of Service, and they will be discovered through the admission of the Ray hypothesis and an observation of the methods employed by these clearly isolated Ray types and groups.  These differing ways of service, all of them, work in conformity with the Plan, and together produce a synthetic whole.  The ray or rays in manifestation at any one time will determine the general trend of the world service, and those servers whose egoic ray is in incarnation, and who are endeavoring to work with right activity, will find their work facilitated if they understand that the trend of affairs is with them and that they are following the line of least resistance at that period.  They will work with greater facility than will the disciples and aspirants whose egoic ray is out of manifestation.  This recognition will lead to a careful study of times and seasons, thus there will be no waste effort, and real advantage can be taken of the qualifications and aptitudes of the servers available.  All will [139] be in conformity with the Plan.  A consideration of the rays in or out of manifestation, and a recognition of the disciples and servers available on the physical plane at any one time, is part of the work of the Masters in the Hierarchy.

The emergence of the New Group of World servers today is an indication that there are enough egoic ray types in physical manifestation, and that a sufficient number of personalities are responding to soul contact, so that a group can be formed that can be definitely impressed as a group.  This is the first time that such a situation has been possible.  Up till this century, individuals could be impressed, here and there, in different parts of the world, and at widely separated times and periods.  But today a group can respond and their numbers are relatively so great that there can be formed upon the planet a group composed of a number of persons of such radiatory activity that their auras can meet and contact each other.  Thus one group—subjective and objective—can be functioning.

There are today enough centres of light, scattered all over the world, and enough disciples and aspirants, that the little beams or threads of light (speaking symbolically) which radiate from each of them, can meet and interlace, and form a network of light in the world.  This constitutes the magnetic aura of the New Group of World Servers.  Each individual in the group is sensitive to the Plan, either through his own personal knowledge through contact with his soul, or because his intuition tells him that what the Group, which attracts him, accepts as its immediate work is for him true and right, and with it all that is highest and best in him can cooperate.  Each individual in that Group will work in his own particular surroundings according to his ray and type.  That again will be coloured by his race and nation.  But the work is the better carried forward as the units in the Group meet the [140] need in their own peculiar environment, in the manner that is, for them, the simplest and best way, belonging as they do by habit and training in that particular setting.  This should be remembered.

The seven ray types will work in the following ways, which I am stating very briefly for to do more than that might limit the expression of those who do not know enough to be discriminating as to their characteristics, and might unduly qualify and colour the experience of those servers who recognise (as some already do) their ray.  They might, with entirely good intention, seek to force the ray qualities of their souls into dominance before the personality ray is adequately known or controlled.  Other servers frequently confuse the two rays and deem their soul ray to be of a particular type, whereas it is only their personality ray to which they predominantly conform, and by which they are pre-eminently governed.  Is it not possible for us to observe here the care with which the Teachers of these truths and the custodians of the coming revelation, must proceed?  They have to guard the aspirants from premature knowledge, which they might theoretically grasp but which they are not yet ready practically to apply.

Ray I. Servers on this ray, if they are trained disciples, work through what might be called the imposition of the Will of God upon the minds of men.  This they do through the powerful impact of ideas upon the minds of men, and the emphasis of the governing principles which must be assimilated by humanity.  These ideas, when grasped by the aspirant bring about two developments.  First, they initiate a period of destruction and of a breaking up of that which is old and hindering, and this is later followed by the clear shining forth of the new idea and its subsequent grasping by the minds of intelligent humanity.  These ideas embody great [141] principles, and constitute the New Age ideas.  These servers, therefore, work as God's destroying angels, destroying the old forms, but nevertheless, behind it all lies the impetus of love.

With the average aspirant, however, who is on the first ray, the activity is not so intelligent.  He grasps the idea that is needed by the race, but he will seek to impose it primarily as his idea, something which he has seen and grasped and which impatiently he seeks to impose upon his fellow men for their good, as he sees it.  He inevitably destroys as fast as he builds, and finally destroys himself.  Many worthy aspirants and disciples in training for service at this time work in this sad way.

Some of the Masters of the Wisdom and Their groups of disciples are actively engaged at this time in an endeavor to impose certain basic and needed ideas upon the races of men, and much of Their work is being prepared for by a group of Destroying Disciples, and also by a group of Enunciating Disciples, for these two types of work carry forward their task as a unit.  The idea to be dominant in the future is proclaimed in writing and by the voice, by one Group.  The Group of Destroyers takes it up, and proceed to break up the old forms of truth so as to make room and way for the new emerging idea.

Ray II. Servers on this ray ponder, meditate upon and assimilate the new ideas associated with the Plan, and by the power of their attractive love, they gather together those who are at that point in their evolution where they can respond to the measure and rhythm of that Plan.  They can select, and train those who can "carry" the idea deeper into the mass of humanity.  We should not forget that the work of the Hierarchy at this time, and the task of the New Group of World Servers is primarily associated with ideas.  The disciples [142] and servers on the second Ray are "busy building habitations for those dynamic entities whose function it has ever been to charge the thoughts of men and so to usher in that new and better age which will permit the fostering of the souls of men."  So runs the Old Commentary, if I thus modernise its ancient wording.  By magnetic, attractive, sympathetic understanding, and the wise use of slow action, based on love, do the servers on this ray work.  Today their power is becoming dominant.

Ray III. The servers on this ray have a special function at this time in stimulating the intellect of humanity, sharpening it and inspiring it.  They work, manipulating ideas so as to make them more easy of comprehension by the mass of intelligent men and women who are to be found in the world at this time and whose intuition is not yet awakened.  It is to be noted how the work of the true servers is largely with the new ideas and not with the business of organisation and of criticism (for these two go hand in hand).  Ideas are taken by the third ray aspirant, as they emerge from the elevated consciousness of Those for whom the first ray works and are rendered attractive by the second ray worker (attractive in the esoteric sense) and adapted to the immediate need and rendered vocal by the force of the intellectual third ray types.  In this lies a hint for many of the third ray personalities to be found working in various fields of service at this time.

Ray IV. This ray is not in incarnation at the time and therefore few fourth ray egos are available in world service.  There are, however, many fourth ray personalities and they can learn much by the study of the work of the New Group of World Servers.  The major task of the fourth ray aspirant is to harmonise the new ideas with the old, so that there can be no dangerous gap or break.  They are those who bring [143] about a "righteous compromise", and adapt the new and the old so that the true pattern is preserved.  They are engaged with the bridging process, for they are the true intuitives and have a capacity for the art of synthesis so that their work most definitely can help in bringing forward a true presentation of the divine picture.

Ray V. The servers on this ray are coming rapidly into prominence.  They are those who investigate the form in order to find its hidden idea, its motivating power, and to this end they work with ideas, proving them either true or false.  They gather into their ranks those whose personalities are on this ray and train them in the art of scientific investigation.  From the sensed spiritual ideas, lying behind the form side of manifestation, from the many discoveries in the ways of God with man and nature, from the inventions (which are but materialised ideas) and from the witness to the Plan which law portrays, they are preparing that new world in which men will work and live a more deeply conscious, spiritual life.  Disciples working along these lines in every country today are more active than at any other time in human history.  They are, knowingly and unknowingly, leading men into the world of meaning, and their discoveries will eventually end the present era of unemployment, and their inventions and improvements, added to the steadily growing idea of group interdependence (which is the major message of the New Group of World Servers) will eventually ameliorate human conditions so that an era of peace and leisure can supervene.  You will note that I do not say "will supervene", for not even the Christ Himself can predict exactly the time limit within which changes can eventuate, nor the reaction of humanity to any given point of revelation.

Ray VI. The effect of the activity of this ray, during the past two thousand years, has been to train humanity in the [144] art of recognising ideals, which are the blue prints of ideas.  The main work of the disciples on this ray is to capitalise on the developed tendency of humanity to recognise ideas, and—avoiding the rocks of fanaticism, and the dangerous shoals of superficial desire—train the world thinkers so ardently to desire the good, the true and the beautiful, that the idea which should materialise in some form on earth can shift from the plane of the mind and clothe itself in some form on earth.  These disciples and servers work consciously with the desire element in man; they work scientifically with its correct evocation.  Their technique is scientific because it is based upon a right understanding of the human material with which they have to work.

Some people have to be galvanised into activity by an idea.  With these the first ray disciple can be effective.  Others can be reached more easily by an ideal, and will then subordinate their personal lives and wishes to that ideal.  With these the sixth ray disciple works with facility, and this he should endeavor to do, teaching men to recognise the truth, holding steadily before them the ideal, restraining them from a too energetic and fanatical display of interest, in the need for the long pull.  The sixth ray, it should be remembered, when it constitutes the personality ray of a man or a group, can be far more destructive than the first ray, for there is not so much wisdom to be found, and, as it works through desire of some kind, it is following the line of least resistance for the masses, and can therefore the more easily produce physical plane effects.  Sixth ray people need handling with care, for they are too one-pointed and too full of personal desire, and the tide of evolution has been with this type for a very long time.  But the sixth ray method of evoking desire for the materialising of an ideal is indispensable, and, fortunately, there are many aspirants and disciples on this ray available today.

[145]

Ray VII. This ray provides at this time an active and necessary grouping of disciples who are eager to aid the Plan.  Their work lies naturally on the physical plane.  They can organise the evoked ideal which will embody as much of the idea of God as the period and humanity can evidence and produce in form upon the earth.  Their work is potent and necessary and calls for much skill in action.  This is the ray that is coming into power.  None of these ray participants in the hierarchical crusade today can really work without each other, and no group can carry on alone.  The difference between the methods of the old age and that of the new can be seen expressed in the idea of leadership by one and leadership by a group.  It is the difference between the imposition of an individual's response to an idea upon his fellow men and the reaction of a group to an idea, producing group idealism and focalising it into definite form, carrying forward the emergence of the idea without the dominance of any one individual.  This is the major task today of the seventh ray disciple, and to this end he must bend every energy.  He must speak those Words of Power which are a group word, and embody the group aspiration in an organised movement, which, it will be noted is quite distinct from an organisation.  A striking instance of the use of such a Word of Power being enunciated by a group has lately been given in the Great Invocation which has been used with marked effect.  It should continue to be used, for it is the inaugurating mantram of the incoming seventh ray.  This is the first time such a mantram has been brought to the attention of humanity.

All these rays work today for the carrying out of a specific group idea of seven Masters Who, through Their picked and chosen servers, are actively participating in the work which is the initiator work of the seventh ray.  It is also linked up with the incoming Aquarian influence.  The Masters, [146] with their large group of disciples, functioning on all the five planes of human unfoldment, have studied minutely Their accepted disciples, the disciples under supervision and not yet accepted, and the aspirants of the world.  They have selected a number of them to weld together into a group upon the outer physical plane.  The basis of this selection is:—

a. Sensitivity to the Aquarian influence.

b. Willingness to work in a group as an integral part of the group, and having no idea of personal ambition or any wish to be a leader.  Where the desire to be a leader exists, that disciple is automatically (though only temporarily) disqualified for this particular endeavor.  He can still do good work, but it will be secondary work, and more closely affiliated with the old age than with the work of the New Group of World Servers.

c. A dedication that holds nothing back that can rightly be given.

d. A harmlessness which, though not yet perfected, exists as an ideal towards which the aspirant is constantly striving.

In this work many can have a part.  The Law of Service has been thus outlined in an endeavor to make one of the most esoteric influences in the solar system somewhat clearer in our minds.  I call you to service, but would remind you that the service discussed here will only be possible when we have a clearer vision of the goal of meditation, and learn to preserve, during the day, the attitude of inner spiritual orientation.  As we learn to obliterate and efface out of our consciousness ourselves as the central figure in our life drama, then and then only can we measure up to our real potentialities as servers of the Plan.

[147]

4. The Law of Repulse

We have here a most interesting law to consider.  It is one of the major divine laws with which the Pilgrim has much to do on his weary, age-long way, back to the centre.  It is the fourth law governing or controlling the life of the soul.

 


No.

Exoteric
 Name

Esoteric
 Name


Symbol


Ray Energy

 4

Law of
Repulse.

The law of
 all Destroying
 Angels.

The Angel
 with the
 Flaming Sword.

The Rejecting
Energy  of
the First Ray.

 

First of all, it is well to realise that this law has certain characteristics and basic effects which might be briefly enumerated as follows:—

1. The energy displayed is dissipating in its effect.  This law works as a dispersing agent.

2. When in active expression, it causes an active scattering or rejection of the aspects of form life.

3. It produces a discriminating contact which leads eventually to what is esoterically called "the Way of divine refusal."

4. It is, nevertheless, an aspect of the Law of Love, of the Vishnu or Christ aspect, and concerns an attitude of the soul, whose essential nature is love.

5. This law expresses itself through the mind nature, and therefore can only make its presence and influence felt upon the Path of Discipleship.

6. It is the prime pre-requisite to true self-knowledge. It reveals at the same time that it divides or scatters.

7. It works through love and for the interest of the unit,—the form and the existence which finally repulses the form.

[148]

8. It is an aspect of one of the greatest cosmic laws, the Law of the Soul, which is the cosmic Law of Attraction, for that which is attracted in time is automatically and eventually repulsed by that which attracted it in the first instance.

This law is one which primarily begins to impress the divine purpose upon the consciousness of the aspirant, and dictates to him those higher impulses and those spiritual decisions which mark his progress upon the Path.  It is the demonstration of the first ray quality (a subray influence of the second ray), for it should be remembered that to repulse a form, a situation or a condition may be the evidence of spiritual love in the agent of repulsion.  This is well pictured for us in the ancient symbol of the Angel with the flaming sword, who stands before the gate of Paradise to turn away those who seek the fancied security of that shelter and condition.  This angel acts in love, and has so acted down the ages, for that state of realisation which we call Paradise is a place of essential danger for all, save those who have earned the right to sojourn there.  The angel protects the unready aspirant (not the place which he seeks to enter) and safeguards him from the risks and perils of that initiation which must be undergone before he can pass through the five divisions of Paradise to the place where light dwells and the Masters of the Wisdom live and work.  This is the thought which lies behind the Masonic procedure whereby the Tyler stands outside the door of the Lodge with a drawn sword to protect the secrets of the Craft from the unready.

I would remind you also that as this law is an aspect of the fundamental Law of Love, it concerns the psyche or soul, and therefore its function is to further the spiritual interests of the true man, and to demonstrate the power of the second [149] aspect, the Christ consciousness, and the power of divinity.  It "rejects the undesirable in order to find that which the heart craves, and thus leads the weary pilgrim from one rejection to another, until with unerring choice he makes the Great Decision."  This is quoted from the Old Commentary.

We will divide what we have to say about the functioning and effect of the Law of Repulse into three parts:—

a. The Law of Repulse, and the function and quality of desire.

b. The Law of Repulse, as it expresses itself upon the Paths of Discipleship and Initiation.

c. The Law of Repulse, as it "drives in seven directions, and forces all that it contacts back unto the bosom of the seven spiritual Fathers."

This law works through the soul in all forms.  It does not literally affect matter, except in so far as form is affected when the soul "withdraws", or occultly "repudiates."  It will be apparent, therefore, that our understanding of its activity will depend largely upon the measure of soul force of which we may individually be aware, and the extent of our soul contact.  Our point upon the ladder of evolution will govern our manipulation of this law (if such a term may be used), and determine our capacity to be sensitive to its impact.  If we are unable to respond to its influence in any measure, that in itself is sufficient to indicate our development.  Unless the mind is active, and unless we are beginning intelligently to use the mind, there is no medium or channel through which this influence can flow or work.  Never let it be forgotten that this influence or law of our spiritual being is that which reveals the will, plan or purpose of the divine life, as it expresses itself in the individual or in humanity as a whole.  Let us never forget that unless there is a thread of light to act as [150] a channel, that which this law can convey will remain unknown, unrealised and useless.  These laws are the laws which govern predominantly the Spiritual Triad, that divine Triplicity which expresses itself through the medium of the soul, just as the three aspects of the soul, in their turn, reflect themselves through the personality.

Therefore, all that can be imparted in connection with this law can be comprehended only by the man who is beginning to be spiritually awakened.  The three laws which we have already considered deal with the specific spiritual influences which emanate from the three tiers of petals which compose the egoic lotus.  (See page 823 of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.)

 

1. The Law of Sacrifice.........................

The Petals of Sacrifice.  The sacrificial will of the Soul.

2. The Law of Magnetic Impulse..........

The Petals of Love.

3. The Law of Service..........................

The Petals of Knowledge.

 

This fourth Law of Repulse works through the first Law of Sacrifice and carries to the aspirant the quality, influence and tendency of the Spiritual Triad, the threefold expression of the Monad.  Its full force is felt only after the third initiation, in which the power of the Spirit is, for the first time, consciously felt.  Up to that time it has been the growing control of the soul which was primarily registered.  Therefore we have:—

 

1. The Law of Repulse...............................

Atma.  Spiritual Will.  This Fourth Lawinfluence comes via the egoic petals of sacrifice and the subsidiary Law of Sacrifice.

2. The Law of Group Progress...................

Buddhi.  Spiritual Love.  This Fifth Law comes via the love petals of the egoic lotus, and the subsidiary Law of Magnetic Impulse.

3. The Law of Expansive Response..........

Manas.  Higher spiritual mind.  Sixth Law.  It comes via the knowledge petals and the subsidiary Law of Service.

[151]

These higher spiritual laws reflect themselves in the three lower spiritual laws, finding their way into the lower consciousness via the egoic lotus and the antaskarana.  This statement is the second basic postulate in connection with our study of this Law of Repulse, the first postulate being the earlier statement that unless there is a thread of light to act as a channel, that which this law conveys will remain unknown and unrealised.

These six laws give us the key to the entire psychological problem of every human being, and there is no condition which is not produced by the conscious or unconscious reaction of man, to these basic influences—the natural and spiritual laws.  If psychologists would accept the three basic laws of the universe, and the seven laws through which they express their influence, they would arrive at an understanding of the human being far more rapidly than is now the case.  The three major laws are, as has been stated elsewhere:—

1. The Law of Economy.  This governs primarily the instinctual nature of man.

2. The Law of Attraction, which governs the soul aspect in man and in all forms of life, from an atom to a solar system.

3. The Law of Synthesis, which will govern man when he has arrived at the Path of Initiation, but which as yet means but little in his development.

There are, then, the seven minor Laws which produce the [152] evolutionary unfoldment of man, the person, and man, the soul.  These are:

1. The Law of Vibration, the atomic law of the solar system.

2. The Law of Cohesion, an aspect of the Law of Attraction.

3. The Law of Disintegration.

4. The Law of Magnetic Control, governing the control of the personality by the spiritual nature, via the soul nature.

5. The Law of Fixation.  By means of this law the mind controls and stabilises.

6. The Law of Love, whereby the lower desire nature is transmuted.

7. The Law of Sacrifice and Death.

(A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 569.)

These seven laws concern the form side of life.  To these ten laws must be added the seven laws of the soul which we are here considering.  These begin to play upon the man and produce his more rapid spiritual unfoldment after he has been subjected to the discipline of the Probationary Path, or the Path of Purification.  He is then ready to tread the final stages of the Path.

These seven laws are the basis of all true psychological understanding and, when their influence is better grasped, man will arrive at real self knowledge.  He will then be ready for the fourth initiation which releases him from all further need for rebirth.  This is the truth which underlies the Masonic teaching, which is given under the symbolism of the first eighteen degrees.  These can be divided into four groups of degrees:—Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, (followed by the Mark degree) Master Mason (followed by the H.R.A.) and the grouped degrees, four to seventeen, in the Scottish Rite.  These seventeen degrees prepare the man for the fourth [153] or fundamental degree, taken by a man who is a Master Mason.  It can only be taken when the Master is in possession of the true Lost Word.  He has risen from the dead; he has been entered, passed, and raised, and now can be perfected.  Herein lies a great mystery.  These seventeen degrees, leading to the first great step, (taken by the risen Master) are subjectively related to the seventeen laws which we have been considering.  There is a parallelism worth noting between:—

1. The eighteen laws:—

a. The three major laws of the universe,

b. The seven minor laws of the solar system,

c. The seven basic laws of the soul, plus what we might call the great law of Deity Itself, the law of God's synthetic purpose.

2. The eighteen subplanes through which man makes his way:—

a. The seven physical subplanes.

b. The seven astral or emotional-desire subplanes.

c. The four lower mental subplanes.

3. The eighteen degrees in Masonry, from that of the Entered Apprentice to that of the perfected initiate of the Rose Croix Chapter.

4. The eighteen centres of force with which the spiritual man has to work:

a. The seven centres in the etheric body.

b. The seven centres in the astral body.

c. The three rows of petals in the egoic lotus.

d. The "Jewel in the Lotus", at the heart of the "flower of the soul", which makes the eighteenth centre.

An understanding of these symbolic relations will do much to clarify the way of the soul in a body, and will constitute the basis of all true esoteric psychological study.

[154]

a. THE LAW OF REPULSE AND DESIRE

The section with which we have now to deal will concern itself specifically with the major problem of humanity.  We shall, however, touch upon it most briefly, and will deal particularly with the aspect of it which shifts from the problem as it concerns the aspirant to the problem of the disciple.  Underlying the entire psychological problem of humanity as a whole lies that major attitude towards existence which we characterise as Desire.  All lesser complexities are based upon, subservient to, or are emergent from, this basic urge.  Freud calls this urge "sex," which is, nevertheless, only another name for the impetus of attraction for the not-self.  Other psychologists speak of this dominant activity as the "wish-life" of humanity, and account for all allied characteristic tendencies, all emotional reactions and the trend of the mental life, in terms of the underlying wishes, longings and acquisitive aspirations as "defence mechanisms," or "ways of escape" from the inevitability of environing conditions.  To these longings and wishes and the labour incidental to their fulfillment, all men give their lives; and everything done is in an effort to meet the realised need, to face the challenge of existence with the demand for happiness, for heaven, and for the eventual fulfillment of the hoped-for ideal state.

Everything is governed by some form of urgency towards satisfaction, and this is distinctive of man's search at every stage of his development—whether it is the instinctual urge to self-preservation, which can be seen in the savage's search for food or in the economic problems of the modern civilised man; whether it is the urge to self-reproduction and the satisfaction of that appetite which works out today in the complexity of the sex life of the race; whether it is the urge to be popular, loved and esteemed; whether it is the urge for [155] intellectual enjoyment and the mental appropriation of truth, or the deep-seated desire for heaven and rest which characterises the Christian, or the aspiration for illumination which is the demand of the mystic, or the longing for identification with reality which is the "wish" of the occultist.  All this is desire in some form or another, and by these urges humanity is governed and controlled; I would say most definitely controlled, for this is only a simple statement of the case.

It is this realisation of man's fundamental bias or controlling factor that lies behind the teaching given by the Buddha, and which is embodied in the Four Noble Truths of the Buddhist philosophy, which can be summarised as follows:—

The Four Noble Truths

a. Existence in the phenomenal universe is inseparable from suffering and sorrow.

b. The cause of suffering is desire for existence in the phenomenal universe.

c. The cessation of suffering is attained by eradicating desire for phenomenal existence.

d. The Path to the cessation of suffering is the noble eightfold path.

It was the realisation of the urgency of man's need to be delivered from his own desire-nature which led Christ to emphasise the necessity to seek the good of one's neighbor in contra-distinction to one's own good, and to advise the life of service and self-sacrifice, of self-forgetfulness and love of all beings.  Only in this way can man's mind and "the eye of the heart" be turned away from one's own needs and satisfaction to the deeper demands of the race itself.

Until a man stands upon the Path of Perfection, he cannot really grasp the imperative demand of his own soul for [156] release from the search for outer, material, tangible satisfaction, and from desire.  It has been this demand which indicated the soul's need to incarnate and to function, for a needed period, under the Law of Rebirth.  As the work of purification proceeds upon the Path of Purification, this demand for release becomes stronger and clearer, and when the man steps out upon the Path of Discipleship, then the Law of Repulse can, for the first time, begin to control his reactions.  This takes place unconsciously at first, but it becomes more potent and more consciously appreciated as the disciple takes one initiation after another, with increasingly pointed understanding.

It is not our intention in this Treatise to deal with the development of the unevolved and undeveloped man in connection with these Laws of the Soul.  I seek only to clear the way of the highly intelligent man, the aspirants of the world and the world disciples.  The progress of the undeveloped and the average man can be covered by the following statements, taken sequentially and describing the stages of his progress under the promptings of desire:

1. The urge to experience, to exist, and to satisfy the instinctual nature.

2. Experience, grasping, existing, followed by renewed demand for more satisfying compliances of fate or destiny.

3. Cycle after cycle of demand for satisfaction, a period of satisfaction of a temporary nature, and then further demands.  This is the story of the race.

4. Experience, steadily sought and pursued upon the three planes of human evolution.

5. Then the same experience, but this time as an integrated personality.

[157]

6. Demand met until satiety is reached, for in time all men do eventually achieve that which they demand.

7. Then comes the demand for inner spiritual compliances, happiness and bliss.  The "heaven wish" becomes powerful.

8. A vague realisation that two things are needed; purification and the power to choose aright, which is right discrimination.

9. A vision of the pairs of opposites.

10. The realisation of the narrow path which leads between these pairs of opposites.

11. Discipleship and the repulsing or repudiation (over a long period of time), of the not-self.

Such, briefly and inadequately stated, is the story of man as he searches for happiness, for joy and for bliss, or (expressing it in terms of realisation) as he progresses from the life of the instincts to that of the intellect, and then from that intellectual apprehension to the stage of illumination and final identification with reality, when he is henceforth freed from the Great Illusion.

Two things determine the rapidity with which he can—upon the Path of Discipleship—bring the Law of Repulse into play.  One is the quality of his motive.  Only the desire to serve is adequate to bring about the necessary reorientation and subjection to the new technique of living.  The other is his willingness, at all costs, to be obedient to the light which is in him and around him.  Service and obedience are the great methods of release, and constitute the underlying causes which will bring the Law of Repulse into play, thus aiding the aspirant to attain the longed-for liberation.  Service releases him from his own thought life and self-determination.  Obedience to his own soul integrates him into the larger [158] whole, wherein his own desires and urges are negated in the interest of the wider life of humanity and of God Himself.  God is the Great Server and expresses His divine life through the Love of His heart for humanity.

Yet, when these simple truths are enunciated and we are urged to serve our brother and to obey our soul, it seems to us so familiar and so uninteresting that it can evoke but little response.  If we were told that the following of a prescribed form of meditation, the practicing of a definite formula of breathing, and regular concentration upon a specific centre would release us from the wheel of life and identify us with the spiritual self and its world of being, gladly and willingly and joyously would we follow out instructions.  But when, in the terms of the occult science, we are told to serve and obey, we are not interested.  Yet service is the mode, par excellence, for awakening the heart centre, and obedience is equally potent in evoking the response of the two head centres to the impact of soul force, and unifying them into one field of soul recognition.  So little do men understand the potency of their urges!  If the urge to satisfy desire is the basic urge of the form life of man, the urge to serve is an equally basic urge of the soul in man.  This is one of the most important statements in this section.  It is as yet seldom satisfied.  Indications of its presence are ever to be found, nevertheless, even in the most undesirable types of human beings; it is evolved in moments of high destiny or immediate urgency, and of supreme difficulty.  The heart of man is sound, but oft asleep.

Serve and obey!  These are the watchwords of the disciple's life.  They have been distorted into terms of fanatical propaganda and have thus produced the formulas of philosophy and of religious theology; but these formulas do, at the same time, veil a truth.  They have been presented to the consideration [159] of man in terms of personality devotions and of obedience to Masters and leaders, instead of service of, and obedience to, the soul in all.  The truth is, however, steadily emerging, and must inevitably triumph.  Once the aspirant upon the Probationary Path has a vision of this (no matter how slight it may be), then the law of desire which has governed him for ages will slowly and surely give place to the Law of Repulse, which will, in time, free him from the thralldom of not-self.  It will lead him to those discriminations and that dispassionate attitude which is the hallmark of the man who is on his way to liberation.  Let us remember, however, that a discrimination which is based upon a determination to be free, and a dispassion which is the indication of a hard heart, will land the aspirant in the prison of a crystallized shell, which is far harder to break than the normal prison of the life of the average selfish man.  This selfish spiritual desire is oft the major sin of so-called esotericists and must be carefully avoided.  Therefore, he who is wise will apply himself to serve and obey.

b. THE LAW OF REPULSE UPON THE PATHS OF DISCIPLESHIP AND INITIATION

When the discriminating sense (the spiritual correspondence of the sense of smell, the last of the five senses to emerge in humanity)  has been adequately developed in the aspirant, and he knows the pairs of opposites and has gained a vision of that which is neither of them, then he can pass on to the Path of Discipleship and enter upon the arduous task of cooperating with the spiritual laws, particularly with the Law of Repulse.  At first, he hardly recognises the influence of this Law.  It is as difficult for him to grasp its implications and to measure its possible effects as it would be for the average working man, with a mediocre education and a total [160] ignorance of esotericism, to grasp the significance of such an occult truth as that expressed in the words:  "The construction of the antaskarana between higher and lower manas by the divine Agnishvatta, the solar angel, functioning through the egoic lotus, is the task to be carried forward during the contemplative stage of meditation."  This statement is relatively simple to grasp intellectually by the average occult student, but is utterly meaningless to the man of the world.  The Law of Repulse is equally difficult of understanding by the disciple as he enters upon the Path.  He has to learn to recognise its influence; then he must himself learn to do three things:—

1. Through service, steadily to decentralise himself and thus begin occultly to "repulse" the personality.  He must see to it that his motive is love for all beings, and not desire for his own release.

2. Through an understanding of the pairs of opposites, he begins, esoterically, to "isolate" the "noble middle path" of which the Buddha spoke.

3. Through comprehension of the words of Christ, enjoining men to "let their light shine," he begins to construct the "path of light" which leads to the centre of life and guides him out of darkness into light, from the unreal to the real, and from death to immortality.  This is the true path of the antaskarana, which the disciple weaves from out of himself (speaking symbolically), just as the spider weaves his thread.

Service, an understanding of the Way, and the building of the true line of escape—that is the task to be carried forward upon the Path of Discipleship.  Such is the object set before all the students of the esoteric sciences at this time,—provided they desire it enough, and can train themselves to [161] work selflessly for their fellow men.  As they succeed in doing this and approximate ever more closely to that which is not the pairs of opposites (and thus achieve "the Central Way"), steadily the Law of Repulse begins to swing into operation.  When the third initiation is taken, this law will begin to hold the dominant place in the ruling of the life.