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The Ray which governs the sum total of the human kingdom is the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. It might be symbolically stated that the Egoic Ray of the Life which informs the human family is this fourth Ray, and that the Personality Ray is the fifth Ray of knowledge through discrimination,—the Ray, as it is called, of Concrete Knowledge or Science Harmony through conflict, and the power to achieve knowledge through discriminating choice—these are the two Rays or major influences which sweep through humanity as a whole, and drive it forward towards its divine destiny. They are the predisposing factors upon which a man may count and infallibly depend. They are the guarantee of attainment, but also of turmoil and temporary duality. Harmony, expressing itself in beauty and creative power, is gained through battle, through stress and strain. Knowledge, expressing itself eventually through wisdom, is attained only through the agony of successively presented choices. These, submitted to the discriminating intelligence during the process of the life experience, produce at last the sense of true values, the vision of the ideal, and the capacity to distinguish reality behind the intervening glamour.
It might be of interest here to note that Ray six governs the Path of Probation and nourishes the fires of idealism in the aspirant. Ray two governs the Path of Discipleship and transmutes knowledge into wisdom, feeding likewise the Christ life in each disciple. Ray one governs the Path of Initiation, producing detachment from form, the destruction of all that hinders, and fostering that dynamic will in the initiate which will enable him to take the needed steps towards the Initiator.
It should here be noted that the Rays divide themselves into two groups:
The Outgoing Sixth Ray
The sixth Ray influence served to attract men's minds towards an ideal, such as that of individual sacrifice or service, and the mystical vision was the high water mark of the period; the numerous guiding mystics of the Occident and the Orient have appeared. The seventh Ray influence will in time produce the magician, but in this age the magician will be predominantly in the class of white magic (not as in Atlantean days, when the predominance was on the side of selfish or black magic).
The following relations between the sixth and seventh Rays should be held clearly in mind, and students should grasp the relation of the immediate past to the immediate future, and see in this relation the working out of God's Plan and the coming salvation of the race:
a. The sixth Ray fostered the vision. The seventh Ray will materialise that which was visioned.
b. The sixth Ray produced the mystic as its culminating type of aspirant. The seventh Ray will develop the magician who works in the field of white magic.
c. The sixth Ray, as part of the evolutionary plan, led to separations, to nationalism, and to sectarianism, due to the selective nature of the mind and its tendency to divide and separate. The seventh Ray will lead to fusion and synthesis, for its energy is of the type which blends Spirit and matter.
d. The sixth Ray activity led to the formation of bands of disciples, working in groups but not in close relation, and subject to internal dissension, based on personality reactions. The seventh Ray will train and send forth groups of initiates, working in close unison with the Plan and with each other.
e. The sixth Ray brought the sense of duality to a humanity which regarded itself as a physical unity. Of this attitude the academic materialistic psychologists are the exponents. The seventh Ray will inaugurate the sense of a higher unity; first, that of the integrated personality for the masses, and secondly, that of the fusion of Soul and body for the world aspirants.
f. The sixth Ray differentiates that aspect of the universal electrical energy which we know as modern electricity, produced to serve man's material needs. The seventh Ray period will familiarise man with that type of electrical phenomena which produce the coordination of all forms.
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