NooSchool Blog – Charles Winborne

A touch of this freedom from the limitations of pain and sorrow can be found among the more advanced sons of men on Earth, who know the ecstasy of the mystic, the exaltation of the initiate, and the exquisite agony of sacrifice or of any feeling which is carried forward to the point of sublimation.

When this point has been reached, the mechanism of suffering and the ability to register sensuous perception is transcended, and momentarily the man escapes on to the plane of unity. Here there is no pain, no sorrow, no rebellion and no suffering. When the living, vibrating antahkarana or bridge is built, this “way of escape” becomes the normal path of life. Escape from pain is then automatic, for the center of consciousness is elsewhere.

In the cases mentioned above, and where the antahkarana is not a consummated, established fact, the tiny thread of the partially constructed “way of escape”, under tremendous pressure and excitation, shoots forward like a quivering band of light, and momentarily touches the light that is the Self. Hence ecstasy and exaltation. But it does not last, and cannot be consciously recovered until the third initiation has been taken. After that the “way of escape” becomes the “way of daily livingness” (to translate inadequately the occult and ancient phrase). Then pain is steadily transcended, and the pairs of opposites – pleasure and pain – have no longer any hold over the disciple.

All this constitutes the theme of esoteric psychology and, when rightly understood, will explain

• The Saturnian influence in human life.
• The cessation of rebellion, of the ending of the Martian influence.
• The building of the antahkarana, which releases the man from the control of personality life.
• The evocation of the group consciousness.
• The consequent negation of pain and sorrow.
• Entrance into Nirvana, and the beginning of the real Way.

Therefore, psychologically speaking, and when greater knowledge has been gained of the energies determining the type of a man, a person, for instance, whose Monad is presumably upon the third ray, his ego being on the fourth ray, and his personality on the seventh ray, will be described as a Three, IV.7.

Within this simple formula there will be lesser differentiations and a seventh ray personality may have a first ray mental body, a fifth ray astral body, and a third ray physical body. The formula which would describe him would be

• Three, IV. 7. (1-5-3)

This, when interpreted, means

• Monad – third ray.
• Ego – fourth ray.
• Personality – seventh ray.
• Mental body – first ray.
• Astral body – fifth ray.
• Physical body – third ray.

Students may find it of value to study themselves and others in conformity with the above, and to establish their personal formulae. This should be done in conjunction with a consultation of their horoscopes. [NOTE: The horoscopy mentioned here has very little to do with the popular-personality horoscopy that dominates publication, personal speculation, and consultation, today.]

The same conditions which blend the Law of Sacrifice with pain and sorrow and difficulty are found also on the planet Mars and on the planet Saturn. They are not found on the other planets. Those who have read The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire with understanding know that our Earth is not a sacred planet. However, Saturn, Mars and our Earth constitute, in a curious esoteric manner, the personality of a stupendous ray Life, Whose energy is that of the third Ray. There are, as has been stated elsewhere, seven sacred planets but ten planetary schemes, and in three cases, (those of the three major rays) three planets constitute the personality of each ray Life. Some esoteric thinkers believe that there are twelve planets to be considered in our solar system, and there is a basis for their conclusion. The personality of this third ray Life functions through the following planets:

• The mental body expresses itself through the medium of the planet Saturn.
• The astral body expresses itself through the planet Mars.
• The physical body expresses itself through the planet Earth.

The potency of this Life is such that He requires three complete schemes – all three closely allied and interdependent – through which to express Himself. Uranus, Jupiter and Venus are similarly allied in order to manifest or express a great Life.

• Only three planetary schemes are aware of pain and sorrow as we understand those terms; none of them know it so well or feel it so much as does our planetary Logos.
• Pain and sorrow are the result of rebellion, and of divine discontent. The instinct to betterment, based on discontent, has necessarily involved the planetary temperament or attitude which recognizes the dualities.
• There is a stage to be reached in the human consciousness, where that which lies behind the dualities – the stage of essential oneness – can, and will be recognized.
• When this takes place, the consciousness of our humanity will then merge with that underlying consciousness of the whole, which recognizes no pain or sorrow and has, therefore, slipped out of the realization which predominantly governs the consciousness of the three great Lives in our solar system.
• It is this dimly sensed truth which lies behind the highest type of metaphysical thought, such as Christian Science, Unity, Divine Science, and the emphasis laid by Christianity and the esoteric schools upon the at-one-ment.

This instinct towards betterment through sacrifice is itself diverse.

• There is, first of all, the instinct towards individual betterment, which leads to selfishness, to a grasping, and to an orientation of the materially-minded towards material possessions.
• There is, secondly, the instinct towards an ameliorating of the conditions of other people, first from a selfish motive (the avoiding of personal distress at the sight of suffering), and secondly, through pure, disinterested service, which is a quality of the soul.
• There is, finally, the active application and the complete sacrifice of the lower separated self through the power to “stand in spiritual being” which necessarily infers that one has reached that state of consciousness which transcends what may be called, symbolically the “Earth, Saturn and Mars” state of consciousness.

[NOTE: So, this experiment--wherein Sacrifice is considered--is not of minor moment. Indeed, shall one flirt with pain and sorrow? It seems to me that certain verification of the precise nature of Illusion and Glamour sets the stage for such an experiment. Only after verification has taken place might erstwhile flirtation gain the status of ceremonial play.--CW]

But the lesson needs to be learned (and it is the lesson which man is now engaged in learning) that death as the human consciousness understands it, pain and sorrow, loss and disaster, joy and distress, are only such because man, as yet, identifies himself with the life of the form and not with the life and consciousness of the soul, the solar angel, whose awareness is potentially that of the planetary Deity, Whose greater awareness (in His turn) is potentially that of the solar Deity. The moment a man identifies himself with his soul and not with his form, then he understands the meaning of the Law of Sacrifice; he is spontaneously governed by it; and he is one who will with deliberate intent choose to die. But there is no pain, no sorrow, and no real death involved.

This is the mystery of illusion and glamour. From these two imprisoning factors all World Saviors are free. They are not deceived. It is well, in passing, to point out here that in the New Age, we shall enlarge our concept of this term World Savior. At present we apply it predominantly to those souls who emerge upon the teaching ray, the second or Christ ray. They enact the drama of salvation. But this is an error, due to the overpowering emotional glamour of the Piscean Age. This astral influence has its roots in the past Atlantean civilization, which preceded ours. In that age, the astral body was the subject of attention. Much that happens today, and which may develop, has its roots in that aspect of energy. Seeds sown at that time are now brought to flower. This is very good and necessary, even if distressing in experience.

But the World Saviors must be recognized as coming forth to serve the race, with sacrifice of some kind along many lines and in many forms. They may be great rulers, or dictators, politicians, statesmen, scientists and artists. Their work is the work of salvage, of restitution, or renovation and revelation, and, through the sacrifice of themselves, they accomplish it. As such, they must be recognized for what they are. Now they are misunderstood, misinterpreted, and judged by their mistakes more than by their aims. But they are dedicated souls. They rescue; they lift; they integrate; they illumine; and the net result of their work, from the angle of ultimate history, is good.

[NOTE: I take the following as Theory to which I am attracted. In the sphere of such a Theory, how might one test it? As I see it, the process of such testing results in a truly religious life. Sectarianism (including religionism and sciencism) seems an infantile laboratory for conduct of such tests. The matter that follows, as I see it, constitutes the ultimate mystery.--CW)

The sacrifice of the solar angels brought the fourth kingdom in nature into being. The “returning nirvanis” (as they are called in esoteric literature), with deliberation and full understanding, took human bodies in order to raise those lower forms of life nearer to the goal. These were and are ourselves. The “Lords of Knowledge and Compassion and of ceaseless persevering Devotion” (who are ourselves) chose to die in order that lesser lives might live, and this sacrifice has made possible the evolution of the indwelling consciousness of Deity. This consciousness, having worked its way through the subhuman kingdoms in nature, needed the activity of the solar angels to make further progress possible. Herein lies

• Our service to God, through sacrifice and death;
• Our service to other souls, through deliberate self-sacrificing purpose;
• Our service to other forms of life in other kingdoms.

All this involves the death and sacrifice of a Son of God, a solar angel, for, from the angle of Deity, descent into matter, manifestation through form, the taking of a body, extension of consciousness through the process of incarnation, are all occultly considered to be death. But the angels “chose to die, and in dying, lived.” Through their sacrifice, matter is lifted up into Heaven. It is this theme which fills the pages of The Secret Doctrine, and which is discussed in greater elaboration in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. The sacrifice of the angels, the death of the Sons of God, the immolation of the mystic Christ, the crucifixion in time and space of all living entities, called souls – this is the theme of those books. This is the mystery hinted at in the world of Scriptures, and this is the secret of the ages, which is only discovered by the souls of men as each of them enters individually into conscious relation with his own soul and discovers that which he has joyously done in the past, and so arrives at the realization of that supreme sacrifice which he made with deliberation in the early dawn of time itself and which, at some point in his career as a soul on earth, he consciously and symbolically re-enacts for the benefit of other souls, in order to hasten their progress towards their goal. Then comes a life wherein, in some form or another, he portrays or works out within himself, but also before the watching world, that great symbolic drama which we call The Sacrifice of a World Savior. This is the theme of the historical romance of all those great Sons of God who down the ages, have arrived at an understanding of the significance of the divine purpose of God, of the Word incarnated through a planet, of those solar angels who are themselves, the Word incarnate through a human form. Whether they enact this drama, as did the Christ, so as to present to man the symbolism of death and sacrifice, or whether they enact this drama, as did the Buddha, so as to demonstrate to man the sacrifice and death of personal desire (to mention only two of the manifested Sons of God, the Christ and the Buddha), the theme remains the same, – the death of that which is lower in order to release that which is higher, or – on a larger scale – the death of that which is higher in the order and scale of being, in order to release that which is lower.

Appropriation and Detachment, continued:

Two sets of principles are to be found controlling human life:

• the selfish and the unselfish,
• the individual good and the group good,
• the objective goal and the subjective goal,
• the material incentive and the spiritual impulse,
• national patriotism and the world ideal,
• separative religious belief and the federation of religions,
• and all the many massed dualities which simply indicate the realism of people who are personalities (integrated and separative) or of souls (aligned and group-conscious).

Stages of Detachment:

• dispassion
• discrimination
• detachment

Mature Stages of Detachment:

• The more-mature individual learns to relinquish the fruits or gains of service and learns to serve without attachment to results, to means, to persons or to praise.
• All that has been acquired through age-long struggle and strife, through pain and pleasure, through disaster and satisfied desire, and all that the wheel of life, which has turned ceaselessly, has brought into the possession of the soul – All has to be relinquished. (Here, one becomes increasingly disinterested in the means and life of one’s historic Persona).
• Capacity to relinquish not only its tie and its gain through contact with the personal self, but it has most definitely to relinquish its tie with other personal selves. Capacity to know and to meet other people only on the plane of the soul–or, if you will–on the plane of the universal, on vision, beauty, goodness, and truth. This is especially difficult for husbands and wives, devotees, co-workers, and parent relationships with respect to their children as “other personal selves.”
  • Capacity to relinquish or sacrifice the age-old tendency to criticize and adjust another’s work, and thus preserve the inner group integrity.
  • Capacity to relinquish or sacrifice the sense of responsibility for the actions of others, and particularly of co-workers. See that your own activity measures up to theirs, and in the joy of struggle and on the way of service the differences will disappear and the general good will be achieved.
  • Capacity to relinquish the pride of mind which sees its way and its interpretations to be correct and true, and others’ false and wrong. This is the way of separation.

(NOTE: Attempt to read this without those prejudices induced by immature religious indoctrination and reaction to such indoctrination. For your own purposes, revise (if needed) the terms ”soul” and “God” to represent the truths that beckon within your own field of vocational endeavor. Try to occupy the perspective of Assessment, as distinct from Evaluation.–CW)

Stages of Appropriation:

In considering the processes of appropriation, the following phrases should be studied, as they throw a light upon the various stages from different angles:

1. The stage of concretization and materialization. The soul takes to itself what it needs and desires for form building.
2. The stage of incarnation, taken at this time blindly.
3. The period wherein satisfaction of the desires is the major goal. These range all the way from physical desire and its satisfaction to a general and undefined desire for release.
4. The processes, in detail, of appropriating
   • A body or bodies. (Physical birth, emotional birth, mental birth–CW), A sheath or sheaths, A vehicle or vehicles, A form or forms.
5. Immersion in darkness. This was the result of desire. The darkness of ignorance was chosen and man started, through desire, to work his way from darkness to light, from ignorance to knowledge, from the unreal to the Real… It is an elucidation of the Way of Relinquishment.
6. The Path of outgoing in order to possess.
7. Selfishness, the major characteristic of the self in relation to, and identified with, the not-self.
8. Love of possession, the prostitution of spiritual love.
9. Acquisitiveness, the illusion of material need.
10. The period called in the Bible, that of “riotous living” on the part of the Prodigal Son.
11. The application and use of energy for personal, selfish intent.
12. Personality life, with all that is therein implied, – ambition, selfish purpose, etc.
13. Attachment to the seen, the known, and the familiar, external, objective forms.
14. The stage wherein thought forms are built, at first ignorantly, and then with deliberate selfishness.
15. The period of engrossment in the things of the kingdom of earth.

Stages of Detachment:

1. The stage of spiritualisation and of de-materialization. The soul functions with the purpose of liberation before it, and not of further physical plane experience.
2. The relinquishment of form life.
3. The period wherein satiety is experienced; the desires have been so dominant and so often satisfied that they no longer attract.
4. The process, in detail, of liberation from:
   • A body or bodies.
   • A sheath or sheaths.
   • A vehicle or vehicles.
   • A form or forms.
5. Emergence into light, a symbolic way of expressing the reverse of immersion in darkness.
6. The Path of Return, motivated by the wish to appropriate nothing for the separated self. The beginning of group consciousness and of group work.
7. Selflessness, the major characteristic of the Soul or Self.
8. Freedom from the desire to possess, freedom from acquisitiveness, and therefore the state of desirelessness.
9. The establishing of the sense of reality as the ruling principle of the life.
10. The return of the Prodigal Son to the Father’s home.
11. The application and use of energy for group purpose and in cooperation with the Plan for the whole.
12. The life of the soul with all that is implied in that phrase.
13. Love of God in contradistinction to love of self.
14. Attachment to the unseen, the true, the subjective and the Real, which is only possible when there has been detachment from the seen, the false, the objective and the unreal.
15. Complete liberation from the control of the lower mind.
16. The period wherein the center of interest is the kingdom of God and of the soul.
17. Reality. Formlessness. God.

The developing of virtues, the cultivation of understanding, the demonstration of good character and high aims, and the expression of an ethical and moral point of view are all necessary fundamentals, preceding certain definite experiences which usher the soul into worlds of realization which are so far removed from our present point of view that any definition of them would be meaningless.

What we are engaged in is the development of those qualities and virtues which will “clear our vision”, because they produce the purification of the vehicles so that the real significance of divinity can begin to emerge in our consciousness.

The divinity of Christ, for instance, is frequently illustrated by reference to His miracles, and to those supernormal powers which He so often evidenced.

Supernormal powers are, of themselves, no evidence of divinity at all.

Great exponents of evil can perform the same miracles and demonstrate the same capacity to create and to transcend the normal faculties of man. These powers are inherent in the creative aspect of Divinity, the third or matter aspect, and are linked to an intelligent understanding of matter and to the power of the mind to dominate substance. This power is, therefore, neither divine nor non-divine. It is a demonstration of the capacity of the mind, and can be used with equal facility by an incarnated Son of God, functioning as a World Savior or Christ, and by those Beings who are on the path of destruction, and who are called (by those who know no better) Black Magicians, Evil Forces and Devils.

Roughly speaking, we may see the development of an individual follow the stages evident in the development of humanity as a whole. Consider the following developmental stages… (–CW)

1. Appropriation of the physical sheath. This takes place between the fourth and seventh year, when the soul, hitherto overshadowing, takes possession of the physical vehicle.
2. A crisis during adolescence, wherein the soul appropriates the astral vehicle. This crisis is not recognized by the general public and is only dimly sensed, from its evidenced temporary abnormalities, by the average psychologist. They do not recognize the cause but only the effects.
3. A similar crisis between the twenty-first and twenty-fifth years, wherein the mind vehicle is appropriated. The man should then begin to respond to egoic influences, and in the case of the advanced man, he frequently does.
4. A crisis between the thirty-fifth and forty-second years, wherein conscious contact with the soul is established; the threefold personality then begins to respond, as a unit, to soul impulse.
5. For the remaining years of life, there should be an increasingly strong relationship between the soul and its vehicles, leading to another crisis between the fifty-sixth or the sixty-third years. According to that crisis will depend the future usefulness of the person and whether the ego continues to use the vehicles on into old age, or whether there is a gradual withdrawal of the indwelling entity.

1. Too close attention to faults of others.
2. Too little attention to understanding/working-out one’s own duties and responsibilities.
3. Too much speech motivated by desire to shine.
4. To much speech motivated by criticism (establishment of one’s superiority).
5. Little cultivation of inner and outer silence.
6. Do not leave others to brood within their own inner silence.
7. Feverish discussion.

Ray Seven (Separative Personality)

1. Black magic, or the use of magical powers for selfish ends,
2. The power to “sit upon the fence” till the selfish values emerge,
3. Disorder and chaos, through misunderstanding of the Plan,
4. The wrong use of speech to bring about chosed objectives,
5. Untruth,
6. Sex magic. The selfish perversion of soul powers,

leading to (Integrating Personality):

1. White magic, the use of soul powers for spiritual ends;
2. The identification of oneself with reality;
3. Right order through right magic;
4. Power to cooperate with the Whole;
5. Understanding of the Plan;
6. The magical work of interpretation;
7. Manifestation of divinity.

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• The two are one. Naught more remains to grasp. The Word is manifest. The work is seen complete. The Whole is visioned. The magic work is wrought. Again the two are one. The Plan is served. No word need then be said.

Ray Six (Separative Personality)

1. Violence,
2. Fanaticism,
3. Willful adherence to an ideal,
4. Short sighted blindness,
5. Militarism and a tendency to make trouble with others and with groups,
6. The power to see no point except one’s own,
7. Suspicion of people’s motives,
8. Rapid reaction to glamour and illusion,
9. Emotional devotion and bewildered idealism,
10. Vibratory activity between the pairs of opposites.
11. Intense capacity to be personal and emphasize personalities,

leading to (Integrating Personality):

• Directed, inclusive idealism;
• Steadiness of perception through the expansion of consciousness;
• Reaction to, and sympathy with, the point of view of others;
• Willingness to see the work of other people progress along their chosen lines;
• The choosing of the middle way;
• Peace and not war;
• The good of the Whole and not the part.

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• The trumpet call goes forth: ‘The warfare is no more. The battle ends. The glamour and the clouds have disappeared. The light and glory of the Day is here. That light reveals the Plan. The Whole is with us now. The purpose is revealed. With all I have, I serve that Plan.’

Ray Five (Separative Personality)

1. The energy of ignorance,
2. Criticism,
3. The power to rationalize and destroy,
4. Mental separation,
5. Desire for knowledge. This leads to material activity,
6. Detailed analysis,
7. Intense materialism and temporarily the negation of Deity,
8. Intensification of the power to isolate,
9. The implications of wrong emphasis,
10. Distorted views of truth,
11. Mental devotion to form and form activity
12. Theology,

leading to (Integrating Personality):

1. A knowledge of reality;
2. The realization of the soul and its potentialities;
3. Power to recognize and contact the Angel of the Presence;
4. Sensitivity to Deity, to light and to wisdom;
5. Spiritual and mental devotion;
6. the power to take initiation. (This is a point of real importance.)

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• The Voice that speaks within the silence can be heard: ‘The power that reaches from the highest point has reached the lowest. The Plan can now be known. The Whole can stand revealed. The love that stretches from the heart, the life that issues forth from God, have served the Plan. The mind that gathers all with wisdom into the boundaries of the Plan has reached the outer limits of the sphere of God’s activity. That power informs my life. That love inspires my heart. That mind enlightens all my world. I therefore serve the Plan.’

Ray Four (Separative Personality)

1. Confused combat,
2. The realization of that which is high and that which is low,
3. The darkness which precedes form expression,
4. The veiling of the intuition,
5. The sensing of in harmony, and cooperation with the part and not the whole,
6. Identification with humanity, the fourth Creative Hierarchy,
7. Undue recognition of that which is produced by speech,
8. Abnormal sensitivity to that which is the Not-Self,
9. Constant points of crisis,

leading to Personality Integration:

1. Unity and harmony;
2. The evocation of the intuition;
3. Right judgment and pure reason;
4. The wisdom which works through the Angel of the Presence.

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• The Voice goes forth: ‘Harmony is restored and the beauty of the Lord of Love shines forth. Such is the Plan. Thus is the Whole revealed. The higher and the lower meet; form and the formless merge and blend, and know themselves as one. In harmony with all united souls, I serve the Plan.’

Ray Three (Separative Personality):

1. Force manipulation through selfish desire,
2. Intelligent use of force with wrong motive,
3. Intense material and mental activity,
4. The realization of energy as an end in itself,
5. Longing for glory, beauty and for material objectives,
6. Submergence in illusion, glamour, and maya,

leading to Integrating Personality:

1. The manipulation of energy in order to reveal beauty and truth;
2. The use of forces intelligently for the furtherance of the Plan;
3. Ordered rhythmic activity in cooperation with the Whole;
4. Desire for right revelation of divinity and light;
5. Adherence to right action;
6. The revelation of glory and good will.

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• Then man, who is the soul, cries forth with power: ‘I understand the Way – the inner Way, the silent Way, the manifested Way, for these three Ways are one. The Plan proceeds upon the outer Way; it shews itself. The Whole will stand revealed. That Plan I know. I will, with love and mind, to serve that Plan.’

Just as the grasping and attracting are terms applicable to the methods of the two first rays, so a process of “selective manipulation” is characteristic of this third ray. This method is totally different in its technique to that of the two mentioned above. It might be said that the note which generates the activity set up by souls on this ray, is such that atoms of the different planes are moved as if consciously responding to a selective process. The vibratory activity of the soul makes itself felt, and atoms collect from widely different points in response to a certain quality in the vibration. It is far more selective than in the case of the second ray.

Just as souls in the first case seem to grasp indiscriminately what they need, and force the substance thus grasped into the form or appearance required, imbuing it with the quality needed in a dynamic and forceful way…

and just as souls on the second ray set up a motion which gathers material out of the immediately surrounding environment, and imposes on it, through magnetic attraction, the desired quality…

so in the case of souls on the third ray the required material is chosen here and there, but that chosen already has the needed quality (note this difference) and nothing whatever is imposed.

It will be apparent, therefore, that substance itself exists in three major categories, and that these three categories are the correspondences in substance to the three Persons of the Trinity or to the three bodies of incarnated man. They are also the analogy in the third aspect of divinity (the life of the third Person of the Trinity) to the quality of the three periodical vehicles through which manifestation takes place.

One division or type of this substance is dynamically electrified and from this all first ray egos choose the material needed in the three worlds.

Another type of substance is magnetically electrified, and from it all second ray egos select what they, in time and space, require in order to manifest.

The third type of substance is diffusely electrified (I know of no better word to express the intent), and all third ray egos take from it their needed quota of substance from which to build the forms for manifestation.

As regards the methods, techniques and types of substance used by souls on the remaining four minor rays, they are necessarily qualified by the characteristics of the third major ray, which eventually synthesizes them.

The following tabulation is an attempt to define that which it is almost impossible to make intelligible in words. From the angle of the illumined occultist it is meaningless, even more than it is to the average student, because as yet the mystery of electricity and the true nature of electrical phenomena (than which there is naught else) is at this time an unrevealed secret, even to the most advanced of the modern scientists.

Ray Two (Separative Personality):

1. The power to build for selfish ends,
2. Capacity to sense the Whole and to remain apart,
3. The cultivation of a separative spirit,
4. The hidden light,
5. The realization of selfish desire,
6. Longing for material well-being,
7. Selfishness, and subordination of all soul powers to this end,

leading to (Integrating Personality):

1. Building wisely, in relation to the Plan;
2. Inclusiveness;
3. A longing for wisdom and truth;
4. Sensitivity to the Whole;
5. Renunciation of the great heresy of separativeness;
6. The revelation of the light;
7. True illumination;
8. Right speech through generated wisdom.

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• The Word goes forth: ‘I tread the Way of Love. I love the Plan. Unto that Plan, I surrender all I have. Unto the Whole, I give my heart’s deep love. I serve the Plan; I serve the Whole with love and understanding.’

Souls on this ray use the method of “gathering in” or “drawing into”. The soul sets up a vibration (little as we may yet grasp the real significance of that word) and that vibration affects its environment, and atoms of substance on all three planes are attracted to the central point of energy. The method is relatively gentle, when compared to the method of the first ray, and the process is somewhat longer whilst the overshadowing (carried forward prior to entering into the three worlds for purposes of appearance) is very much longer. This refers to that overshadowing of the substance to be built into form, and not to the overshadowing of the completed form, i.e. the child in the mother’s womb. In the first case, it might be said that souls on the first ray are sudden and rapid in their desire to incarnate, and in the methods employed. Souls on the second ray are slower in coming to that “impulsive” action (in the sense of impulse to action and not impulse in time) which leads to the occult manufacture of an appearance with which to manifest.

Souls on this ray, as they come into incarnation through desire, attract. They are magnetic more than they are dynamic; they are constructive, and they work along the line which is, for all lives and forms, the line of least resistance within our universe.

Ray One (Separative Personality)

1. Dynamic one-pointedness,
2. Destructive energy,
3. Power realized selfishly,
4. Lovelessness,
5. Isolation,
6. A longing for power and authority,
7. Desire to dominate,
8. Expressed strength and self-will,

leading to: (Personality Integration)

1. A dynamic use of energy for the furtherance of the Plan;
2. The use of destructive forces in order to prepare the way for the Builders;
3. The will to power in order to cooperate;
4. Power realized as the major weapon of love;
5. Identification with the rhythm of the Whole;
6. The cessation of isolation.

Keynote: Culmination of Soul Infusion.

• ‘I return from whence I came; from the formless to the world of form I make my way. I will to be. I will to work. I will to serve and save. I will to lift the race. I serve the Plan with will, the Whole with power.’

Souls on this ray are spoken of occultly as “crashing their way into incarnation.” They appropriate dynamically that which they require. They brook no hindrance in the satisfactions of their desires. They stand alone in a proud isolation, glorying in their strength, and their ruthlessness. These qualities have to be transmuted into that intelligent use of power which makes them powerful factors in the Plan, and magnetic centers of force, gathering workers and forces around them. An illustration of this can be seen in the work of the Master Morya, Who is the center, the magnetic attractive center, of all esoteric groups, conferring on them, by His power, the capacity to destroy that which is undesirable in the life of the disciples. Forget not that the work of stimulating that which is needed is one of the major tasks of a Master, and the power of a disciple to destroy that which limits him is greatly needed. Souls of this ray, as they come into incarnation through desire, grasp. This expresses the nature of the force demonstration employed. There is a measure of violence in their technique. They eventually “take the kingdom of heaven by force.”

Each definition may be a useful fiction,appropriated to the current scope of apprehension and application.

It is first of all the entering into a new and wider dimensional world by the expansion of a man’s consciousness so that he can include and encompass that which he now excludes, and from which he normally separates himself in his thinking and acts.

It is, secondly, the entering into man of those energies which are distinctive of the soul and of the soul alone, – the forces of intelligent love and of spiritual will. These are dynamic energies, and they actuate all who are liberated souls.

This process of entering into and of being entered into should be a simultaneous and synthetic process, an event of the first importance. Where it is sequential or alternating, it indicates an uneven unfoldment and an unbalanced condition. There is frequently the theory of unfoldment, and a mental grasp anent the facts of the initiatory process before they are practiced experimentally in the daily life and thus psychologically integrated into the practical expression of the living process on the physical plane. Herein lies much danger and difficulty, and also much loss of time…

They are those well meaning people whose mental understanding outruns the power of their personalities to practice. They are those who are in touch with forces which they are not yet able to handle and control. They have done a great deal of the needed work of inner contact, but have not yet whipped the lower nature into shape. They are, therefore, unable to express that which they inwardly understand and somewhat realize. They are those who talk too much and too soon and too self-centeredly, and who present to the world an ideal toward which they are indeed working, but which they are as yet unable to materialize, owing to the inadequacy of their equipment.

It should also be borne in mind that individual separative success is in itself an evidence of soul activity, for every individual is a living soul, actuating the lower sheaths of bodies, and proceeding to:

1. Build sheath after sheath, life after life, that will be increasingly adequate to its own expression.
2. Produce that sensitivity in the sheaths – sequentially and finally simultaneously – which will enable them to respond to an ever increasing sphere or measure of divine influence.
3. Integrate the three sheaths into a unity which for three and sometimes seven lives (occasionally eleven lives) will function as a dominant personality in some field of wide expression, using the energy of ambition to bring this about.
4. Re-orient the lower individual self so that the realm of its desires and the satisfaction of personality achievement will eventually be relegated to their rightful place.
5. Galvanize the self-assertive man into that realization of new achievements which will direct his steps on to the Path of Discipleship and eventually on to the Path of Initiation.
6. Substitute for past, necessarily self-interested and personal ambition, the needs of the group and the goal of world service.

The personality is a triple combination of forces, impressing and absolutely controlling the fourth aspect of the personality, which is the dense physical body. The three personality types of energy are the etheric body, which is the vehicle of vital energy, the astral body which is the vehicle of the feeling energy or sentient force, and the mental body which is the vehicle of the intelligent energy of will that is destined to be the dominant creative aspect… These forces constitute the lower man… The [Ego, Soul] is a dual combination of energies – the energy of love, and the energy of will or purpose – and these are the qualities of the life thread. These two, when dominating the third energy of mind, produce the perfect man.

Some characteristics of an Integrating Personality:

The free use of the mind so that focussed attention can be paid to all that concerns the personal self and its aims. This spells personality success and prosperity.

The power to control the emotions and yet have the full use of the sensory apparatus to sense conditions, to feel reactions, and to bring about contact with the emotional aspects of other personalities.

The capacity to touch the plane of ideas and to bring them through into consciousness. Even if these are later subordinated to selfish purpose and interpretation, the man can, however, be in touch with that which can be spiritually cognized. The free use of the mind pre-supposes its growing sensitivity to intuitional impression.

The demonstration of many talents, powers and the working out of genius, and the emphatic bending of the whole personality to the expression of some one of these powers. There is often an extreme versatility and an ability to do many outstanding things noticeably well.

The physical man is frequently a wonderfully sensitive instrument of the inner, emotional and mental selves, and gifted with great magnetic power; there is often resilient, though never robust, bodily health, and great charm and personal outer gifts.

[Today, the masses are occupied with the task of becoming conscious of themselves, and are developing that spirit or sense of personal integrity or wholeness which will eventuate in an increased self-assertiveness... This is well and good, in spite of the immediate complications and consequences in the world consciousness and state of being. Hence also the need for the immediate guidance of integrating personalities in every nation and their training in the life of correct vocation, with their subsequent preparation for greater inclusion. ]

[The task of the intelligent parent and of the wise teacher of the young should be that of turning out, into world activity, those conscious individuals who will undertake the work of self-assertion in the affairs of today. The mass psychology of accepting information indiscriminately, of giving prompt mass obedience to imposed limitations of personal liberty, without due understanding of the underlying reasons, and the consequent blind following of leaders, will only come to an end through the intelligent fostering of individual recognition of selfhood and the assertions of the individual as he seeks to express his own ideas.]

Speaking only for myself, I know these things without doubt.

1. I am here. Thus, Being is a component of the created universe.
2. I apprehend, process, and express. (I think). Thus, Mind is a component of the created universe.
3. I am embodied. Thus, Form is a component of the created universe.
4. I am aware of my own and another’s Being/Mind/Form. Thus, reflective Consciousness is a component of the created universe.

This is what I do not know:

1. I apparently create and destroy. Is Will is a component of the created universe?
2. I apparently respond with attraction and repulsion. Is Love a component of the created universe?

The personality consciousness is that of the third aspect of divinity, the creator aspect. This works in matter and substance in order to create forms through which the quality may express itself and so demonstrate the nature of divinity on the plane of appearances.

Man, the average human being, is a sum total of separative tendencies, of uncontrolled forces and of disunited energies, which slowly and gradually become coordinated, fused, and blended in the separative personality.

[Comment: It may the the case that "I" from a personality perspective is naught but a claim made by any number of "I"s that dominate the persona under varying-inducing circumstances.  In other words, the one who claims him/herself as "I" might rightfully be functioning as a group of "i"s. Properly speaking, one would not refer to such an "i" as an "ego." --CW]

The egoic consciousness is that of the second aspect of divinity, that of the soul, expressing itself as quality and as the determining subjective “color” of the appearances. This naturally varies, according to the ability of the soul in any form to master its vehicle, matter, and to express innate quality through the outer form.

Man, the Soul, is the sum total of those energies and forces which are unified, blended and controlled by that “tendency to harmony” which is the effect of love and the outstanding quality of divinity.

[Comment: As the personality integrates, as one becomes a consolidation of one's many "i"s, the integration takes place under the auspices of a centralized attractor--the Ego, the Soul.  As the personality becomes completely synthesized under this integrative force (the true Ego, or "I") the transparent Persona becomes--for all intent and purposes--this Ego. --CW]

The monadic consciousness is that of the first aspect of divinity, that which embodies divine life-purpose and intent, and which uses the soul in order to demonstrate through that soul the inherent purpose of God. It is this that determines the quality. The soul embodies that purpose and will of God as it expresses itself in seven aspects. The monad expresses the same purpose as it exists, unified in the Mind of God Himself. This is a form of words conveying practically nothing to the average thinker.

[Comment: As you may know, I resist such God-claims, when presented as if my interlocutor is declaring God as an objective truth. For me, this always seems presumptuous at the least, and evidence of vanity at best. I am sure that such a statement demonstrates my own idiocy to true believers and unbelievers, alike.  Having stated this, I do not resist increasingly comprehensive (personal, racial, global, systemic, cosmic) Intelligence, Will, and Being as Theory. In fact, it may be my self-defined primary task to hypothesize, test, falsify and verify with respect to such a Theory-of-Everything. --CW]

As these three expressions of the One Great Life are realized by man on the physical plane, he begins to tune in consciously on the emerging Plan of Deity, and the whole story of the creative process becomes the story of God’s realized purpose.

In the first place, as the third aspect is consciously developed, man arrives at a knowledge of matter, of substance and of outer creative activity. Then he passes on to a realization of the underlying qualities which the form is intended to reveal, and identifies himself with the ego, the soul or solar angel. This he comes to know as his true self, the real spiritual man. Later, he arrives at the realization of the purpose which is working out through the qualities, as they express themselves through the form.

The sons of men are one, and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.

Let the soul control the outer form,
And life, and all events,
And bring to light the Love
That underlies the happenings of the time.

Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail. Let all men love.

Man learns first of all to control his reactions to the planets as they rule and direct his personality affairs from their different “stations” in the twelve houses of his horoscope. There are two ways in which this is done:

First: By having the horoscope duly cast and then taking steps to determine what should be done to negate the planetary influences where it is deemed desirable to control the personality reactions. This has to be done by the applied power of thought. This necessitates complete confidence in the understanding and interpretation of the astrologer and the recognition of the exact moment of birth. One wonders if these conditions of the exact moment and the completely wise astrologer are ever to be found as yet.

Second: By consciously assuming the position of the spiritual Observer, and by cultivating the power to respond to the Soul. Then, from the angle of that Soul, the man must learn to control circumstance and the attendant reactions of the personality.

COMMENTARY:

In general, the author of the above claims horoscopy to be an important science, which is as yet in its infancy and based in illusion. At bottom of horoscopy is the desire to know those social, national, planetary, solar, and cosmic causes that EFFECT what we are.  In relation to such a motive, I have no complaint.  However, I have no personal interest in horoscopy, from a phenomenal-universe causal perspective, where objects in the apparent sky impress individuals and groups. Horoscopy as a metaphoric description system used for psychological purposes may be quite useful, however, especially in the light of the rich history of this tradition. At bottom, the matter is about the Science of Impressions/Assimilation/Transformation/Expression.

The author also claims that true horoscopy is of little interest with respect to application to Personalities–as is now the rage and the case. Rather, he claims that the horoscope is important with respect to egoic-soul expression and to humanity, as a whole.

For the time being, I put horoscopy aside, as it is. Nonetheless, the concepts of Personality-Type and Soul-Type hold interest (and is it not these that give horoscopy with their popular foundations?). These denote those aspects that horoscopy might consider in relation to systemic causes and their effects with respect to individual men and groups of men. (This relates to the FIRST point, above)

The SECOND point, which presumes “the position of the Spiritual Observer” is paramount for me, at present.  This represents a primary means by which “planetary influences” might be negated and amplified, by means of notice and experimental action. I Here, I ask you to consider” planetary influences” as a metaphor for those unuseful and useful automatic tendencies that express themselves by virtue of physical, emotional, and mental action.

I will seek to remove you, as individuals, from out of the center of your own stage and consciousness and – without depriving you of individuality and of self-identity – yet show you how you are part of a greater whole of which you can become consciously aware when you can function as souls, but of which you are today unconscious, or at least only registering and sensing the inner reality in which you live and move and have your being.

NOTE: If the nomenclature used here is unfamiliar and/or off-putting, consider the following translating concept: Many have little difficulty typifying national groups. Typification may be physical and emotional and mental, for instance. The sum total of these may indicate a National Type. Such a National Type may be assigned a lower and higher Quality. The lower Quality may be assigned the phrase “National Personality Type.”  The higher Quality may be assigned “National Genius.”

Consider these translations:

• RAY = TYPE
• SOUL = GENIUS
• SOLAR ANGEL = GENIUS (consider “Solar Angel” as a signal-source, rather than an anthropomorphic embodiment; a lighthouse, a television broadcasting station, a quasar).
• EGO = “I” as GENIUS.
• EGOIC RAY = DISTINCT TYPE OF GENIUS)
• EGO or SOUL or GENIUS may come to control the Personality (The Main Purpose of Education)

Again, the genius of Germany has often in the past manifested along the line of its fourth ray soul, and through that soul pattern has been given to the world much of the outstanding music and philosophies. When this is again manifested, and the soul pattern is more strongly impressed upon the German consciousness, we shall begin to comprehend the significance of the superman. Germany has caught a vision of this ideal. It is as yet misinterpreting it, but Germany can give us the pattern of the superman, and this is its ultimate destiny.

If England’s ideal of justice (which is the pattern of its personality ray) can be transformed and transmuted by her egoic ray of love into just and intelligent world service, she may give to the world the pattern of that true government which is the genius or the latent soul quality of the British.

If the idealism of the United States of America, which is today its personality expression and evidenced by the loudly enunciated idea of the biggest and the best, can be illumined by the law of love, then the pattern which underlies the structure of the States may be seen in lines of light, and we shall have the pattern for future racial light in contradistinction to the many separative national lines.

Thus the underlying patterns for all the nations can be seen and worked out by the intelligent reader.

 It could be noted also that the emotional pattern of the United States at this time is expressed in terms of sentiment and of personal desire. It is capable of being translated in terms of true benevolence.

The mental pattern for the States is to be seen as mass information through the schools, the radio and the newspapers. Later this can be transmuted into intuitive perception.

The soul pattern in the States today works out through the acquisitiveness of the nation and its love of possessions which it attracts to itself through the misuse of the law of love. The eventual expression of this will be the changing of the attitude which loves the material into that which loves the real, and the acquisition of the things of the spirit instead of those of the form.

One of the first lessons that humanity will learn under the potent influence of the seventh ray (Aquarian Age–CW) is that the soul controls its instrument, the personality, through ritual, or through the imposition of a regular rhythm, for rhythm is what really designates a ritual.

When aspirants to discipleship impose a rhythm on their lives they call it a discipline, and they feel happy about it. What groups do who are gathered together for the performance of any ritual or ceremony whatsoever (Church ritual, the Masonic work, the drill of the army or navy, business organizations, the proper functioning of a home, of a hospital, or of an entertainment, etc.) is of an analogous nature, for it imposes on the participants a simultaneous performance, an identical undertaking, or a ritual.

No one on this earth can evade ritual or ceremonial, for the rising and the setting of the sun imposes a ritual, the cyclic passing of the years, the potent movements of the great centers of population, the coming and the going of trains, of ocean liners and of mails, and the regular broadcasting of the radio organizations, – all of these impose a rhythm upon humanity, whether this is recognized or not. Of these rhythms the present great experiments in national standardization and regimentation are also an expression, as they demonstrate through the masses in any nation.

There is no evading the process of ceremonial living.

JEAN GEBSER: The Ever-Present Origin

Authorized Translation by Noel Barstad with AlgisMickunas

Ohio University Press, Athens, 1985

Gebser States:

The aperspective consciousness structure is a consciousness of the whole, an integral consciousness encompassing all time and embracing both man’s distant past and his approaching future as a living present. The new spiritual attitude can take root only through an insightful process of intensive awareness. This attitude must emerge from its present concealment and latency and become effective, and thereby prepare the transparency of the world and man in which spirituality can manifest itself.

COMMENT:

Are you aware of any historical personage who is, was, or claimed to be, an occupant of a consciousness structure that is characterized by consciousness of the whole? (Rumor, faith and belief have it that this (without/beyond personality perspective) is presumed to be an aspect of God).

Certainly, there are apprehended-subjective-relative “wholes,” in which each of us abide.

My reading of this indicates something quite different than relative whole: rather, it seems to indicate the possibility of conscious abidance as an absolute whole.

Taken in subjectivity, aperspective represents the ordinary and extraordinary states of successive occupancies, from apparent whole to apparent whole (A purpose of education, perhaps).

Taken as an absolute term, aperspective may be joined by any number of totalizing terms, which are oft-abused as unqualified over-statements. (all, everyone, everywhere, everything, they, we).  

Aperspective, it seems to me, might be usefully employed as a desireable-imagined abstract state in a manner similar to employment of Godhead, for instance. Confusion of imagined-occupancy with actual-occupancy may be one definition of delusion and a major source of religious fanaticism. 

I have noticed that some employ such terms as final-states-to-be-achieved–as if such a state were demonstrably so. (…He has achieved an aperspectival state of consciousness.)

Jesus the Christ may have made such a believable claim (I and my Father are One). Nonetheless, he says little about identification with his Father’s Father, or his Father’s Grandfather. These might be examples of greater-successive-wholes, as an alternative to reference to absolute wholes.

There are many systems that describe stratifications of “Consciousness.” With stratification often comes that instinctive-emotional-mental reflex, which attributes the Qualities of superiority/inferiority, higher/lower, better/worse, etc. The unmediated operation of this reflex may not be useful.

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Here, I suggest effort on behalf of discrimination of consciousness without superiority/inferiority, for instance. Such effort will be performed as experimental.

Finer/Coarser, Faster/Slower, Inertial/Adaptable, More Less-Power/More-Power, etc., are descriptors of Qualities that may be apprehended as  fundamentally devoid of superiority/inferiority–with these attributes given reflexively, unmindfully.

• When might First Person attribution of better/worse provide as a reasonable intra-personal aspect of Quality?
• When might Second Person attribution of more/less provide as a reasonable aspect Quality?
• When might Third Person attributions of more-spritual/less-spiritual, for instance, provide as a reasonable assignment of Quality?

Exercise:

(1) Observe-Without-Judgment attributions of superiority/inferiority. Observe the precise mental processes and emotional conditions whereby the attribution of relative Quality occurs.

(2) After much observation, make an effort to observe apparently superior/inferior phenomena as-it-is, without evaluation of relative Quality. What mental process and emotional conditions suffice for such a transformation?

(3) Later still,

1. determine to “see-evaluation-coming” before it arrives;  (Ah, here it comes… that sense that I am about to evaluate the relative worth of that fact, that person, that psychological state).
2. as it arrives–determine to process the object of attention as as-it-is (This will be a First Person experiment). There it is… is it really better or worse, or is it as-it-is?
3. If one can achieve a foodhold with as-it-is , ask oneself: Might this object be useful to me right now or in the future? Note that one is not attributing Quality to the object. One is determining its use, for oneself only. The object may no longer be objectively spiritual or better or faster or more-powerful. The object may be sensed and felt and thought to be subjectively more and less useful, according to one’s purposes.
4. (It may be the case that unless one has a Purpose–an Authentic Interest–that one may find it difficult to assess utility.)

The term Spiritual is used by many people to indicate many things. Here, I specify my intended meaning, which has an educational orientation (compared to religious, psychological, or philosophical orientations).

My use of “Spiritual:”

Spritual is a relative term indicating less-weighty, less-dense, less time-bound, less-powerful (less-leverage), fewer degrees of freedom.

Stated differently:

Spritual is a relative term indicating more-fine, more-light, more-eternal, more-powerful (more-leverage), more degrees of freedom.

As One Is, One may have a spiritual identity that is directionally unfolding as a result of apparent-mechanical and apparent-intentional processes.

Spiritual Impressions are those impressions that are more-fine than previously-experienced impressions.

Spiritual Expressions are those expressions that are more-comprehensive than previously-experienced expressions.

Spirituality is that process that transforms/transmutes such that relatively coarse impressions are directionally changed into relatively fine expresssions, for instance.

Example:

I stub my toe on a curb. Yesterday I cursed the curb and remained irritated for a term. Today I take silent notice, determine that I shall make effort to master curb-navigation, and proceed with the day in poise and attentiveness.  This is spiritual experience.

…what usually happens is that because these three great realms and states (waking/gross, dream/subtle, and formless/causal) are constantly available to human beings, and because as states they can be practiced to some degree independently of each other (and might even develop independently to some degree), many individuals can and do evidence a great deal of competence in some of these states/realms (such as meditative formlessness in the causal realm), yet are poorly or even pathologically developed in others (such as the frontal or gross personality, interpersonal development, psychosexual development, moral development, and so on).

FROM:

Waves, Streams, States, and Self–A Summary of My Psychological Model

Ken Wilber (PAGE 3 OF 10)

“The spiritual evolution obeys the logic of a successive unfolding; it can take a new decisive main step only when the previous main step has been sufficiently conquered: even if certain minor stages can be swallowed up or leaped over by a rapid and brusque ascension, the consciousness has to turn back to assure itself that the ground passed over is securely annexed to the new condition; a greater or concentrated speed [which is indeed possible] does not eliminate the steps themselves or the necessity of their successive surmounting” (Aurobindo, The Life Divine, II, 26).

COMMENT:  Wilbur’s overview, offered here, provides as a quick survey about what we may mean when speaking of” Consciousness Theory.”  When reviewing, it may be useful to ask: What are the implications of each Theory with respect to Practice? What is the relationship between satisfactory knowledge-acquisition and actual-abidance? Between talking-about-it/explaining-it and doing-it? Regarding transfer of abidance (schooling): by what methods might this be accomplished? (–CW)

From an Assessment of Authentic Interest perspective, formalizations such as this may help us to acknowledge interest when it displays in forms that are not-native to our own perspectives.

FROM:

AN INTEGRAL THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Ken Wilber

Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4 (1), February 1997, pp. 71-92

Copyright, 1997, Imprint Academic

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Introduction

There has recently been something of an explosion of interest in the development of a `science of consciousness’, and yet there are at present approximately a dozen major but conflicting schools of consciousness theory and research. My own approach to consciousness studies is based on the assumption that each of these schools has something irreplaceably important to offer, and thus what is required is a general model sophisticated enough to incorporate the essentials of each of them. These schools include the following:

1. Cognitive science tends to view consciousness as anchored in functional schemas of the brain/mind, either in a simple representational fashion (such as Jackendoff’s `computational mind’) or in the more complex emergent/connectionist models, which view consciousness as an emergent of hierarchically integrated networks. The emergent/connectionist is perhaps the dominant model of cognitive science at this point, and is nicely summarized in Alwyn Scott’s Stairway to the Mind (1995), the `stairway’ being the hierarchy of emergents summating in consciousness.

2. Introspectionism maintains that consciousness is best understood in terms of intentionality, anchored in first-person accounts — the inspection and interpretation of immediate awareness and lived experience — and not in third-person or objectivist accounts, no matter how `scientific’ they might appear. Without denying their significant differences, this broad category includes everything from philosophical intentionality to introspective psychology, existentialism and phenomenology.

3. Neuropsychology views consciousness as anchored in neural systems, neurotransmitters, and organic brain mechanisms. Unlike cognitive science, which is often based on computer science and is consequently vague about how consciousness is actually related to organic brain structures, neuropsychology is a more biologically based approach. Anchored in neuroscience more than computer science, it views consciousness as intrinsically residing in organic neural systems of sufficient complexity.

4. Individual psychotherapy uses introspective and interpretive psychology to treat distressing symptoms and emotional problems; it thus tends to view consciousness as primarily anchored in an individual organism’s adaptive capacities. Most major schools of psychotherapy embody a theory of consciousness precisely because they must account for a human being’s need to create meaning and signification, the disruption of which results in painful symptoms of mental and emotional distress. In its more avant-garde forms, such as the Jungian, this approach postulates collective structures of intentionality (and thus consciousness), the fragmentation of which contributes to psychopathology.

5. Social psychology views consciousness as embedded in networks of cultural meaning, or, alternatively, as being largely a byproduct of the social system itself. This includes approaches as varied as ecological, Marxist, constructivist, and cultural hermeneutics, all of which maintain that the nexus of consciousness is not located merely or even principally in the individual.

6. Clinical psychiatry focuses on the relation of psychopathology, behavioural patterns, and psychopharmacology. For the last half century, psychiatry was largely anchored in a Freudian metapsychology, but the field increasingly tends to view consciousness in strictly neurophysiological and biological terms, verging on a clinical identity theory: consciousness is the neuronal system, so that a presenting problem in the former is actually an imbalance in the latter, correctable with medication.

7. Developmental psychology views consciousness not as a single entity but as a developmentally unfolding process with a substantially different architecture at each of its stages of growth, and thus an understanding of consciousness demands an investigation of the architecture at each of its levels of unfolding. In its more avant-garde forms, this approach includes higher stages of exceptional development and wellbeing, and the study of gifted, extraordinary, and supranormal capacities, viewed as higher developmental potentials latent in all humans. This includes higher stages of cognitive, affective, somatic, moral, and spiritual development.

8. Psychosomatic medicine views consciousness as strongly and intrinsically inter-active with organic bodily processes, evidenced in such fields as psychoneuro- immunology and biofeedback. In its more avant-garde forms, this approach includes consciousness and miraculous healing, the effects of prayer on remarkable recoveries, light/sound and healing, spontaneous remission, and so on. It also includes any of the approaches that investigate the effects of intentionality on healing, from art therapy to visualization to psychotherapy and meditation.

9. Nonordinary states of consciousness, from dreams to psychedelics, constitute a field of study that, its advocates believe, is crucial to a grasp of consciousness in general. Although some of the effects of psychedelics — to take a controversial example — are undoubtedly due to `toxic side-effects’, the consensus of opinion in this area of research is that they also act as a `nonspecific amplifier of experience’, and thus they can be instrumental in disclosing and amplifying aspects of consciousness that might otherwise go unstudied.

10. Eastern and contemplative traditions maintain that ordinary consciousness is but a narrow and restricted version of deeper or higher modes of awareness, and that specific injunctions (yoga, meditation) are necessary to evoke these higher and excep- tional potentials. Moreover, they all maintain that the essentials of consciousness itself can only be grasped in these higher, postformal, and nondual states of consciousness.

11. What might be called the quantum consciousness approaches view consciousness as being intrinsically capable of interacting with, and altering, the physical world, generally through quantum interactions, both in the human body at the intracellular level (e.g. microtubules), and in the material world at large (psi). This approach also includes the many and various attempts to plug consciousness into the physical world according to various avant-garde physical theories (bootstrapping, hyperspace, strings).

12. Subtle energies research has postulated that there exist subtler types of bio- energies beyond the four recognized forces of physics (strong and weak nuclear, electromagnetic, gravitational), and that these subtler energies play an intrinsic role in consciousness and its activity. Known in the traditions by such terms as prana, ki, and chi — and said to be responsible for the effectiveness of acupuncture, to give only one example — these energies are often held to be the `missing link’ between intentional mind and physical body. For the Great Chain theorists, both East and West, this bioenergy acts as a two-way conveyor belt, transferring the impact of matter to the mind and imposing the intentionality of the mind on matter.

… we shall then have the entire race expressing a developed synthesis of intellect-intuition, preparatory to that advanced stage which will come at the close of the next root race, the sixth. This takes us to a period ten million years hence, when the intellect will have in its turn slipped below the threshold of consciousness, as did the instinct. It will then work automatically as does man’s instinctual nature, and the race will be intuitive. This will really mean that the fifth kingdom in nature will be manifesting on earth, and that the kingdom of God (as the Christian calls it) will have arrived. This will constitute an event of an importance equal to that of the advent of the fourth kingdom, when men made their appearance on earth.

[I bring this text to attention in order to gain some perspective. First, it allows for reconsideration of claims made by certain religious personages. Second, it gives a timetable for what I call "mechanical evolution." Third, it implicates the possibility of "conscious evolution," whereby individuals and groups might gain achievement in advance of those times indicated by evolutionary mechanics.--CW]

Is it less likely that instances of God-Volition and God- Intelligence might qualify the Universe than it is likely that Volition and Mind might qualify a human frame?

If it seems clear that volition and mind are IN the Universe, by means of human instrumentality, might it not be argued that we do not know the extent of these qualities? To the extent that ORDER might evidence volition and mind, might we extend these attributes to those macroscopic and microscopic systems that demonstrate ORDER?

“Rays” –for the moment–will not be understood as astrological emanations or influences. Rather, the Rays should be considered as those influences associated with consciousness and being, which arise in the world of energies and forces substanding our own Sun and the larger system of which our Sun forms as one of seven main components. To be clear, the term substanding is intended to implicate being, consciousness, and mind.

From this perspective, each human being is influenced by a complex of apparent Ray sources. A complete psychology will come to an awareness of each, along with their inter-relations. These are tabulated as:

I see these as colors on a palette. One takes the color of the canvas, adds a primary, tints with a complement, and further tints the tint, glazes, and applies with a variety of brushes and strokes, etc. This gives rise to a realm of satisfactory complexity that might accomplish any desired idea or mood, for instance. It is not difficult to imagine a musician, a chemist, or a sophisticated businessman accomplishing something similar, but with palettes suiting their vocations.

[For educational purposes, I have suggested the importance of continuous effort on behalf of Discernment of Type(s) or (Ray(s). Additionally, I have suggested the importance of discernment of Refinement-of-Type; I have referred to this second aspect of Assessment as definition of Circle of Exclusive Self Preference; additionally, I have referred to this aspect as Possibility of Conscious Evolution. Thes following "stages" may be useful when conceptualizing "Refinement of Type." Here, we counterpose the "possibility of conscious evolution" with "mechanical/Darwinian evolution." --CW]

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The stages by which man arrives at capacity for Conscious Adaptation may be enumerated as follows: [Not only the assessment of individuals is implicated here, but also the assessment of Educational Systems, their administrators and their teachers. Remember, this is not done with an eye to superiority/inferiority, but rather to "providing learning opportunities that fit."--CW]

[1]     That unconscious adaptation to his environment of the man who is primarily an unintelligent animal. Low grade savages are in this class, and many purely agricultural peasants who have not been subjected to modern education. The man at this stage is little better (more evolved–CW) than an animal and is governed entirely by instinct.

[2]    An unconscious adaptation to environment carried on by the man who is beginning to evidence some faint flickers of mental perception. This is partly instinctual and is based on a growing self-love. There is more of the “I” consciousness in him, and rather less of group instinctual awareness (as found in the Animal Kingdom, for instance–CW). You find this growing self-realization in the low grade slum dwellers, for instance, and in the petty criminal who is instinctual enough and bright enough to live by his wits and to show quickness in reactions and deftness manually. It is the stage of animal cunning.

[3]    A conscious and purely selfish adapting of oneself to the environment. In these cases, the man is definitely aware of his motives; they are consciously thought out and recognized, and the man makes “the best of his circumstances.” He forces himself to live as far as possible harmoniously in his surroundings. In this there is really good motive, but principally the man is governed by a desire for comfort – physical, emotional and mental – to such a degree that he will discipline himself into such a condition that he fits wherever he may be and can get on with anyone.

[4]    From this stage on the differentiations become so numerous that they are difficult to follow, being mixtures of pure selfishness (developed often to the nth degree), of a growing recognition of the group, of an awakening realization of the right of other people to a similar degree of comfort and harmony, and of a steady effort to adapt conditions of character and personality life, so that the purely selfish interests do no real damage to others, until we arrive at…

[5]   The average really good man who is struggling to adapt himself to his surroundings, to his group relations and responsibilities in such a way that some measure of love can be seen. I refer not here to that instinctual love for family and children and herd which men share in common with the animals and which often breaks down when the loved individuals assert themselves. The tie is not strong enough to hold, and the motive is too selfish to resist the pull. I refer to that motivated love which recognizes the rights of others and consciously strives to adapt itself to those recognized rights whilst tenaciously holding on to the rights of the personality.

[6]  Then we have the work of adaptation as carried on by the aspirants of the world who are theoretically convinced of their group relation, of its paramount importance, and of the need of every personality to develop its powers to the fullest capacity in order to bring real value to the group and to serve adequately the group need. In true esotericism, there is no such motive as “killing the personality,” or of disciplining it to such an extent that it becomes a dead poor thing. The true motive is to train the threefold lower nature, the integrated personality, to the highest demonstration of its powers, latent or developing, in order that those powers may be brought to the helping of the group need, and the personality of the aspirant may be integrated into the group. Thereby the group life is enriched, the group potency is increased, and the group consciousness is enhanced.

[Recall here the effort to continually assess on behalf of "Authentic Interest," where Mastery is considered in relation the the identification-of and pursuit-of individual standards, along with capacity of relative-subjective Mastery to contribute to Group endeavor.]

[Consider here that "aspiration" is not an emotional attitude, but rather an orientation to a scientific process that governs evolution. Think about this statement....--CW]

What is therefore to be seen going on in the life of the true aspirant today (his developing recognition of group responsibility) can also be seen going on in groups, in organizations and nations. Hence the many experiments. A process is going forward whereby these groups, large or small, are being subjected to a house-cleaning, to a discarding of the rubbish of old and worn-out ideas, and to a period of disciplining and training which must precede all real group life. When this process is over, we shall have these groups approaching each other in a new and real spirit of cooperation, of religious fusion, and in an international attitude which will be new indeed. Then they will have something of a surer and greater value to offer to the whole.

Within all these groups which are struggling towards this newer realization and integration, and which express what we might call “the sixth stage of adaptation,” are those who are already at the seventh stage.

[7]  Here we have complete unselfish adaptation to the group need and purpose. Those who have reached this point in their evolution are decentralized as regards their own personality life. The focus of their mental attention is in the soul and in the world of souls. Their attention is not directed towards the personality at all, except in so far as is needed to force it to adhere to group or soul purpose. These servers who are expressions of soul radiance and attractive power are knowers of the Plan, and in every organization they constitute the new and slowly growing group of World Servers. In their hands lies the salvation of the world.

[8]  The final group in this scale of adaptation is that of the higher initiates, the perfected Elder Brethren and Great Companions. They are perfectly adapted to Their personalities, to each other and to world conditions; but as a group They are learning how to adapt the forces of nature, the energies of the rays and the potencies of the zodiacal signs to the world need and the world demand in a practical manner and at any particular time. It is here that the work of the disciples of the world, and of the higher types of aspirants, proves helpful as a field of experiment, and it is in the new group of World Servers that the process of adaptation goes on.

I have endeavored to outline these stages of the process of adaptation in terms of consciousness, viewing the subject therefore philosophically and psychologically. It should be remembered that this process, as it goes on in consciousness, produces (surely and inevitably) corresponding changes in mechanism and structure, and in sense perception through the apparatus of the body.

Proposed: Sex, for most, is problematic.

Proposed: The sex problem is fundamentally centered at the psycho-physical relationships between animal-man, intelligent man, and soul-man. This relationship can be restated as that friction between instinctive-pleasure-seeking and intelligent-purposeful-creativity.

Proposed: Problematic sex relations will ameliorate as (1) men increasingly realize women (and themselves) as purposeful, genderless souls, (2) as men and women increasingly abide in the significance of Love, and as (3) men and women increasingly expand relationship to include all of humanity.

Proposed: As problematic sex relations are thus ameliorated, the importance of group relations will become apparent, as the importance of individual satisfaction diminishes.

Proposed: As sex increasingly comes under the influence of group relations progeny will incarnate who are increasingly refined and responsive to Life on Earth, to the Possibility of Conscious Evolution (Light), and to Love.

With these proposals in mind, a PRACTICUM emerges, which can be engaged by each of us, at the moment of sexual encounter (Perhaps this practice is already occurring during the course of your own relations):

• Will this action increase my own and my mate’s possibilities of conscious evolution, or rather increase identification with instinctive impulse, emotional attachment, or mental justification? (–CW)
• Will this action of mine tend to the group good?
• Will the group be hurt or suffer if I do thus and so?
• Will this benefit the group and produce group progress, group integration, and group unity?

Action which fails to measure up to the group requirements will then automatically be discarded. In the deciding of problems, the individual and the unit will slowly learn to subordinate the personal good and the personal pleasure to group conditions and group requirements. You can see, therefore, how the problem of sex will also yield to solution. An understanding of the Law of Rebirth, a good-will towards all men, working out as harmlessness, and a desire for group good-will will gradually become determining factors in the racial consciousness, and our civilization will adjust itself in time to these new conditions.

Psychology is only just come into its own, and only now is its function beginning to be understood; in one hundred years time [written in 1936--CW], however, it will be the dominating science and the newer educational systems, based on scientific psychology, will have completely superseded our modern methods.

The emphasis in the future will be laid upon the determining of a man’s life purpose. This will be brought about through an understanding of his ray [read: Type-CW], through an analysis of his equipment (and of this, vocational psychology is the faint first beginning), through a study of his horoscope, and through giving him a sound grounding in mind control [read: Control of Mental Attention-CW], as well as training his memory to the impartation of information. The processes by which he can integrate his personality and raise and purify his living qualities will receive careful attention, and all to the end of making him group-conscious and useful to his group. This is the factor of importance.

Synthesis, physical purity, decentralization and group good will be the keynotes of the teaching imparted. Emotional control [read: Control of Emotional Attention-CW] and right-thinking will be inculcated, and where these are present a knowledge of spiritual realities will be automatically acquired and the life subordinated to the group purpose.  Man’s relations to others will then be intelligently directed, and his relation to the other sex will be guided not only by love and desire, but by an ordered intellectual appreciation of the true significance of marriage.

The above applies to the intelligent, well-intentioned majority whose standards will have developed as the decades pass, so that they will embody the dreams and ideals of the most advanced visionaries of today. The unthinking, the idle and the stupid will still be found, but evolution proceeds apace and order is on its way.