PREVIOUS | HOME | TOC | ABR | NEXT
Forget not that when we make these distinctions it is nevertheless one Soul that is functioning, acting through vehicles of varying capacities, of differentiated refinements and of greater and lesser limitations, in just the same sense as a man is one identity, working sometimes through a physical body and sometimes through a feeling body or a mental body, and sometimes knowing himself to be the Self—a rare and unusual occurrence for the majority.
The seven Rays are the sum total of the divine Consciousness, of the universal Mind; They might be regarded as seven intelligent entities through Whom the plan is working out. They embody divine purpose, express the qualities required for the materialising of that purpose, and They create the forms and are the forms through which the divine idea can be carried forward to completion. Symbolically, They may be regarded as constituting the brain of the divine Heavenly Man. They correspond to the ventricles of the brain, to the seven centers within the brain, to the seven centers of force, and to the seven major glands which determine the quality of the physical body. They are the conscious executors of divine purpose; They are the seven Breaths, animating all forms which have been created by Them to carry out the plan.
It may perhaps be easier to understand the relation of the seven Rays to Deity if we remember that man himself (being made in the image of God) is a seven-fold being, capable of seven states of consciousness, expressive of the seven principles or basic qualities which enable him to be aware of the seven planes upon which he is, consciously or unconsciously, functioning. He is a septenate at all times, but his objective is to be consciously aware of all the states of being, to express consciously all the qualities, and to function freely on all the planes.
The seven Ray Beings, unlike man, are fully conscious and entirely aware of the purpose and the Plan. They are "ever in deep meditation," and have reached the point where, through Their advanced stage of development, They are "impelled toward fulfillment." They are fully self-conscious and group-conscious; They are the sum total of the universal mind; They are "awake and active." Their goal and Their purpose is such that it is idle for us to speculate about it, for the highest point of achievement for man is the lowest point for Them. These seven Rays, Breaths and Heavenly Men have the task of wrestling with matter in order to subjugate it to divine purpose, and the goal—as far as one can sense it—is to subject the material forms to the play of the life aspect, thus producing those qualities which will carry the will of God to completion. They are therefore the sum total of all the Souls within the solar system, and Their activity produces all forms; according to the nature of the form so will be the grade of consciousness. Through the seven Rays, the life or Spirit aspect flows, cycling through every kingdom in nature and producing thus all states of consciousness in all fields of awareness.
For the purpose of this treatise students will have to accept the hypothesis that every human being is swept into manifestation on the impulse of some Ray, and is coloured by that particular Ray quality, which determines the form aspect, indicates the way he should go, and enables him (by the time the third initiation is reached) to have sensed and then to have cooperated with his Ray purpose. After the third initiation he begins to sense the synthetic purpose towards which all the seven Rays are working; but as this treatise is written for aspirants and disciples, and not for initiates of the third degree, it is needless to speculate upon this ultimate destiny.
The human Soul is a synthesis of material energy, qualified by intelligent consciousness, plus the Spiritual energy which is, in its turn, qualified by one of the seven Ray types. Thus the human being emerges, a son of God incarnate in form, with one hand holding firmly to the rock of matter and with the other hand plunged into a sea of love.
The Rays concern energy and consciousness, and determine expression, but where the matter utilised and the vehicle informed is as yet imperfectly evolved, there is then limitation and the "tuning out" automatically of much of the energy. The effect of Ray force, working through imperfect forms, must be distorted and curtailed and misapplied.
We come now to a technical statement which must be accepted for the sake of argument, being incapable of proof. All the Lords of the Rays create a body of expression, and thus the seven planets have come into being.
129