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SECTION TWO

ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY I

Three Objectives in Studying the Rays

The study of the Rays, and a true and deep comprehension of the inner significance of the teaching, will do for us three things:

  1. It will throw much light upon the times and cycles in the unfolding panorama of history. In the last analysis, history is an account of the growth and development of man from the stage of the cave man, with his consciousness centered in his animal life, up to the present time wherein the human consciousness is steadily becoming more inclusive and mental, and so on and up to the stage of a perfected son of God. It is an account of the apprehension, by man, of the creative ideas which have moulded the race and are establishing its destiny. It gives us a dramatic picture of the progress of those Souls who are carried in or out of manifestation by the appearance or disappearance of a Ray. These Rays are in constant movement and circulation, and demonstrate an activity which is progressive and cyclic and evidences increasing momentum.

  1. A second result of the study of the Rays will be to clarify our knowledge as to the nature of man.

  1. The third effect of the study of these Rays should be twofold. Not only shall we understand somewhat the inner side of history, not only shall we gain an idea of the divine qualities emerging from the three aspects and determining the forms of expression on the Physical plane, but we shall have a practical method of analysis whereby we can arrive at a right understanding of ourselves as enSouling entities, and at a wiser comprehension of our fellowmen. When, through our study, we ascertain for instance that the tendency of our Soul Ray is that of will or power, but that the Ray governing the personality is that of devotion, we can more truly gauge our opportunity, our capacities and our limitations; we can more justly determine our vocation and service, our assets and our debits, our true value and strength. When we can add to that knowledge an analysis which enables us to realize that the physical body is reacting preeminently to the Soul Ray, whilst the emotional body is under the influence of the Personality Ray which is historically in manifestation at the time, we are then in a position to gauge our particular problem with judgment. We can then deal more intelligently with ourselves, with our children and with our friends and associates. We shall find ourselves able to cooperate more wisely with the Plan as it is seeking expression at any particular time.

It will appear, as we study, that the energies which inform the personalities and which constitute the nature of the human being fall naturally into three groups:

  1. Those energies which we call "the Spirits in men." Spirit is One, but within that essential unity the "points of fire" or "the divine sparks" can be seen and noted. These unities, within the unity, are coloured by and react qualitatively to, three types of energy, for it is scientifically true, and a Spiritual fact in nature, that God is the Three in One and the One in Three. The Spirit of man came into incarnation along a line of force emanation from one or other of these three streams, which form one stream, emanating from the Most High.

  1. These streams of energy differentiate into a major three, yet remain one stream. This is an occult fact worthy of the deepest meditation. In their turn they differentiate into seven streams which "carry into the light," as it is called, the seven types of Souls. It is with these seven that we shall deal.

  1. The energies into which the three distribute themselves, thus becoming seven, in their turn produce the forty-nine types of force which express themselves through all the forms in the three worlds and the four kingdoms in nature. You have therefore:

  1. Three Monadic groups of energies. The essential Unity expresses, through these three, the qualities of Will, Love and Intelligence.

  1. Seven groups of energies which are the medium through which the three major groups express the divine qualities.

  1. Forty-nine groups of forces to which all forms respond and which constitute the body of expression for the seven, who in their turn are reflections of the three divine qualities.

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