PREVIOUS | HOME | TOC | ABR | NEXT
All the above takes place progressively upon the Path of Initiation. This same truth can also be expressed in terms of the Rays:
At the stage of Individualisation, the Rays governing the physical and emotional bodies are dominant. The
Soul Ray is scarcely felt and only flickers with a dim light at the heart of each lotus.
At the stage of Intellection, the Ray of the mental body comes into activity. This second process is itself
divided into two stages:
At each of these latter two stages, the Rays of the lower nature become increasingly powerful. Self- consciousness is developed, and then the personality becomes clearer and clearer, and the three elementals of the lower nature, the force of the so-called "three lunar Lords" (the triple energies of the integrated personality) come steadily under the control of the Ray of the Personality. At this stage, therefore, four Rays are active in the man, four streams of energy make him what he is and the Ray of the Soul is beginning, though very faintly, to make its presence felt, producing the conflict which all thinkers recognise.
At the stage of Discipleship, the Soul Ray comes into increased conflict with the Personality Ray and the great battle of the pairs of opposites begins. The Soul Ray or energy slowly dominates the Personality Ray, as it in its turn has dominated the Rays of the three lower bodies.
At the stage of Initiation, the domination continues and at the third initiation the highest kind of energy which a man can express in this solar system—that of the Monad, begins to control.
At the stage of Individualisation, a man comes into being; he begins to exist. At the stage of intellection, the personality emerges with clarity and becomes naturally expressive. At the stage of discipleship, he becomes magnetic. At the stage of initiation, he becomes dynamic.
THE ‘DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD’
There is a higher duality to which it is necessary that we refer. There is, for the disciples, the duality which becomes obvious when the Dweller on the Threshold and the Angel of the Presence face each other. This constitutes the final pair of opposites.
The Dweller on the Threshold is oft regarded as a disaster, as a horror to be avoided, and as a final and culminating evil. I would here remind you, nevertheless, that the Dweller is "one who stands before the gate of God", who dwells in the shadow of the portal of initiation, and who faces the Angel of the Presence open-eyed, as the ancient Scriptures call it. The Dweller can be defined as the sum total of the forces of the lower nature as expressed in the personality, prior to illumination, to inspiration and to initiation. The personality per se, is, at this stage, exceedingly potent, and the Dweller embodies all the psychic and mental forces which, down the ages, have been unfolded in a man and nurtured with care. It can be looked upon as the potency of the threefold material form, prior to its conscious cooperation and dedication to the life of the Soul and to the service of the Hierarchy, of God, and of humanity.
The Dweller on the Threshold is all that a man is, apart from the higher Spiritual self; it is the third aspect of divinity as expressed in and through the human mechanism. This third aspect must be eventually subordinated to the second aspect, the Soul. The two great contrasting forces, the Angel and the Dweller, are brought together—face to face—and the final conflict takes place. Again, you will note, that it is a meeting and battle between another and a higher pair of opposites. The aspirant, therefore, has three pairs of opposites with which to deal as he progresses towards light and liberation:
THE PAIRS OF OPPOSITES FACED UPON THE PATH OF INITIATION
Upon the Physical plane: The dense and Etheric forces. These are faced upon the Path of Purification.
Upon the Astral plane : The well-known dualities. These are faced upon the Path of Discipleship.
Upon the Mental plane: The Angel of the Presence and the Dweller on the Threshold.
202