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It is with the seven groups of Souls (or Soul energies) that we shall deal, and with the threefold forms in the fourth kingdom of nature which they create, and through which they have to express the quality of their Ray group and the energy of that one of the three essential groups to which their Soul Ray is related. We shall therefore, if possible, endeavour to add to modern psychology and enrich its content with that esoteric psychology which deals with the Soul or self, the enSouling entity within the form.

The career of the Monad can be roughly divided into three parts, leading to a fourth:

1. A lower realisation of a unity which is the unit of the form nature. In this unity, the Soul is so closely identified with the matter aspect that it sees no distinction, but is the form, and knows not itself as Soul. This often reaches its height in some life of full personality expression, wherein the Soul is completely centered in personality reactions; the lower life is so strong and vital that a powerful and material expression eventuates.

2. A subsequent and painful differentiation of the consciousness into a realized duality. In this condition, the man is distinctly aware of what is termed his essential duality; he knows he is Spirit-matter, is form-life, and is the Soul in manifestation. During this stage, which covers many lives and carries the man along the path of probation and discipleship as far as the third initiation, the center of gravity (if I may so express it) shifts steadily out of the form side and centers itself more and more in that of the Soul.

Remember that the entire story of evolution is the story of consciousness, and of a growing expansion of the "becoming-aware" principle, so that from the microscopic interest of the self-conscious man— for we shall retain the parable within the confines of the fourth kingdom in nature—we have a slowly developing inclusiveness which finally leads him into the consciousness of the cosmic Christ.

3. The higher realisation of unity follows upon this sense of duality, and in this final stage the sense of being Soul and body is lost. The consciousness identifies itself with the indwelling Life of the planet and of the solar system. When this happens, there is the registering of a state of being which lies beyond word, mind and form expression of any kind.

LIFE – QUALITY - APPEARANCE

In our study of the Rays it must therefore be remembered that we are dealing with life-expression, through the medium of matter-form. The highest unity will be cognised only when this dual relation is perfected. The theory of the One Life may be held, but I deal not basically with theory but with that which may be known, provided there is growth and intelligent application of truth. I deal with possibility and with that which is capable of achievement. Many these days like to talk and think in terms of that One Life, but it remains but speech and thought, whilst the true awareness of that essential Unity remains a dream and an imagining. Whenever this reality is put into words duality is emphasised and the Spiritual controversy is enhanced.

The seven Rays are the first differentiation of the divine triplicity of Spirit-Consciousness-Form, and they provide the entire field of expression for the manifested Deity. We are told in the scriptures of the world that the interplay, or the relation between, Father—Spirit and Mother—Matter produces eventually a third, which is the Son, or the consciousness aspect. That Son, the product of the two, is esoterically defined as "the One Who was third but is the second." The reason for this wording is that there first existed the two divine aspects, Spirit-Matter, or matter impregnated with life, and it was only when these two realized their mutual unity (note the necessary ambiguity of that phrase) that the Son emerged.

The esotericist, however, regards Spirit-Matter as the first unity, and the Son therefore is the second factor. This Son, Who is divine Life incarnate in matter, and consequently the producer of the diversity and immensity of forms, is the embodiment of divine quality. We might therefore utilise—for the sake of clarity—the terms Life-Quality-Appearance as interchangeable with the more usual trinity of Spirit-Soul-Body, or Life-Consciousness-Form.

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