17. ALICE BAILEY - The Destiny of the Nations - 08. SPIRITUAL LIFE IN THE NEW AGE. - Part 2

SPIRITUAL LIFE IN THE NEW AGE. - Part 2

The keynote, governing the development of the sixth ray disciple, was expressed for him in the words of Christ when He said:  "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men."  The emphasis of all sixth ray work is Attraction and Repulsion — hence division and cleavage, producing eventually a realisation of the necessity for a consciously undertaken synthesis and integration, mentally motivated and produced.  The history of Christianity (which is the history of Europe) will stand illumined if the Law of Attraction and Repulsion is studied in connection with its eventful past.  The use and misuse of this law and its constant interpretations in terms of material desire, personal ambitions, and territorial control produced the many schisms and cleavages and will account for much that happened.  Under the seventh ray influence, these cleavages will end and synthesis will eventually take place.

The keynote of the seventh ray disciple is "Radiatory Activity."  Hence the emergence in world thought of certain new ideas — mental radiation or telepathy, the radiatory use of heat, the discovery of radium.  All this connotes seventh ray activity.

The divine principle with which the seventh ray humanity will be mainly concerned is that of life as it expresses itself through the medium of the etheric body.  It is for this reason that we find a growing interest in the nature of vitality; the function of the glands is being studied and before long their major function as vitality generators will be noted.  Esoterically, they are regarded as externalisations upon the physical plane of force centres in the etheric body and their aliveness or their lack of activity are indicative of the condition of those centres.  The shift of the world interest is also into the realm of economics which is definitely the realm of life sustenance.  Much is, therefore, bound to happen in all these spheres of interest, and once the etheric body becomes an established scientific fact and the centres — major and minor — are recognised as the foci of all energy as it expresses itself through the human body upon the physical plane, we shall see a great revolution take place in medicine, in diet and in the handling of daily life activity.  This will produce great changes in the mode of work and labour and above everything else in the leisure activities of the race.

This thought brings to our attention the three methods of activity as employed by all the ray workers and which differ for each ray.  Those which will eventually control the seventh ray types will gradually bring about changed attitudes to life and very different methods of daily living.  These three are:

1. Group activity for the scientific relation of substance and energy.

2. The stimulation of etheric forms through rightly directed force.

3. The correct distribution, through scientific study, of vital energy.

We are entering a scientific age, but it will be a science which passes out of the impasse which it has now reached and which — having penetrated as it has into the realm of the intangible — will begin to work far more subjectively than heretofore.  It will recognise the existence of senses which are super-sensory and which are extensions of the five physical senses, and this will be forced upon science because of the multitude of reliable people who will possess them and who can work and live in the worlds of the tangible and the intangible simultaneously.  The mass of reputable testimony will be incontrovertible.  The moment that the subjective world of causes is proven to exist (and this will come through the indisputable evidence of man's extended senses) science will enter a new era; its focus of attention will change; the possibilities of discovery will be immense and materialism (as that word is now understood) will vanish.  Even the word "materialism" will become obsolete and men in the future will be amused at the limited vision of our modern world and wonder why we thought and felt as we did.

I would have you bear in mind in connection with the five rays which we have seen are influencing or beginning to influence humanity at this time (the first, second, third, sixth and seventh rays) that their effect varies according to the ray type or ray quality of the individual concerned and according to his position upon the ladder of evolution.  Such points are often forgotten.  If a man is, for instance, upon the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, it may be expected that the influence of that ray and of the sixth (which is along the second ray line of power) will be easily effective and will necessarily constitute the line of least resistance.  This situation may, therefore, produce undue sensitivity and an unbalanced unfoldment of characteristics.  It is our characteristics which influence our conduct and our reactions to circumstance.  It will mean also that the influence of the first, third and seventh rays will be fundamentally unsettling and will call out resistance or — at the very least — an attitude of non-receptivity.  In the world today, the rays which are along the line of energy which is that of the first Ray of Will or Power (including the third and the seventh) are in the ratio of three to two (as regards present manifestation) and, therefore, we can look for a fuller expression of the first ray attributes and happenings than would otherwise be the case.  This will be particularly so because the sixth ray is fast going out of manifestation.  All the above constitutes a piece of information which is of small value at this time.  Its implications will become increasingly apparent as time goes on and I am, therefore, including them in my teaching.