301. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - 19. INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS - Part 3 - A. BAILEY

SECTION TWO - THE FIRE OF MIND - SOLAR FIRE

INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS - Part 3

Objectively	Subjectively
1. The sea of fire	1. Our God is a consuming fire	Energising will
2. The akasha	2. The Light of God	Form aspect.
3. The aether	3. The heat of matter	Activity aspect.
4. The air	4. The illumination of the intuition.
5. Fire	5. The fire of mind.
6. The astral light	6. The heat of the emotions.
7. Physical plane electricity	7. Kundalini and prana.

Spiritually.

This is hid in a threefold mystery:

1. The mystery of electricity.

2. The mystery of the seven constellations.

3. The mystery of the ONE ABOVE THE LOGOS.

4. The Heavenly Men and Man.

The final part of question six is: Who are the Manasaputras?

This will be dealt with in greater detail in connection with our planet when taking up the subject of the coming of the Lords of Flame. It is desirable now to make certain facts clear which must form the basis of any thought upon this subject.

[270] The Divine Manasaputras, ^[cxv]13, ^[cxvi]14 Who are known in the Secret Doctrine by diverse names, are the Mind-born Sons of Brahma, the third aspect logoic.

They are the seven planetary Logoi, and are the Lords of the Rays, the seven Heavenly Men. They developed the mind aspect in the first solar system, that in which Brahma was paramount, and in Himself embodied objective existence. This He did in the same sense as that in which the second aspect (the Vishnu or Dragon of Wisdom aspect) is the sumtotal of existence in this the second system.

The cells in Their bodies are made up of the units of the human and deva evolutions in the same manner (only on a higher turn of the spiral) as the bodies of human beings are made up of living organisms, the various animated cells, or the lesser lives. This is a basic fact in occultism, and the relationship between the cells in the human vehicles, and the cells in the bodies of a Heavenly [271] Man, will be productive of illumination if carefully studied.

Just as a human being has an originating source, the Monad, and a semi-permanent vehicle, the causal body, but manifests through his lower principles (of which the dense physical is not one) so a Heavenly Man has an originating source, His Monad, a semi-permanent body on the monadic levels of the solar system, but manifests through three lower sheaths, our atmic, buddhic, and manasic levels. He is extraneous to the astral and physical planes just as a human being is to the physical. Man vitalises the physical vehicle with his force or heat but he does not occultly count it as a principle. So the Heavenly Man is extraneous to the two lower planes of manifestation though He vitalises them with His force. The human being realises his relationship (as a cell in the body) to a Heavenly Man only when he is developing the consciousness of the Ego on its own plane. If it might be so expressed, the groups of causal bodies are the lowest forms through which a Heavenly Man manifests, just as the physical body is the lowest through which a human being manifests, and this in its etheric connotation.

It should be borne in mind that the manifesting Existences embody certain planes, and have Their points of deepest involution on diverse levels:

a. A Man originates on the monadic level, has his main focal point on the fifth level, the mental, but is seeking full conscious development on the three lower planes, the mental, the astral and the physical.

b. A Heavenly Man has His source outside the solar system (as man outside the three worlds of his endeavor), has His main focal point on the second plane of the system, the monadic, and is seeking consciousness on the planes of the Triad,—this in relation to all the cells in His body. He developed consciousness on the three [272] lower planes of the three worlds during the first solar system, again in relation to the cells in His body. Man is repeating His endeavor up to the fifth Initiation which will bring him to a stage of consciousness achieved by a Heavenly Man in a much earlier mahamanvantara. In connection with the initiations this should be carefully borne in mind.

c. A solar Logos has His origin on a still higher cosmic level, has His main focal point on the cosmic mental plane but is expressing Himself through the three lower cosmic planes just as man is seeking self-expression in the three worlds. Therefore, the seven major planes of the solar system are in the same relation to Him cosmically as the physical plane is to a human being. They form His etheric and dense bodies. It might be stated that:

1. He vitalises them by His life and heat.

2. He animates them.

3. He is fully conscious through them.

4. The etheric is in time His lowest principle, but the dense physical is not counted. The dense cosmic physical body is composed of matter of the three lower planes of the solar system, the mental, the astral and the physical. The buddhic plane is consequently the fourth cosmic ether.

d. The Heavenly Men form the seven centres in the body of the Logos. Therefore, They are the spheres of fire which animate His body, and each of Them expresses one form of His force manifestation, according to Their place within the body.

e. Human beings, when centred within their groups on causal levels, form one or other of the seven centres in the body of a Heavenly Man.

f. The solar Logos forms one centre in the body of a still greater cosmic ENTITY. Human beings therefore [273] find their place within one of the forty-nine centres (not groups, for a centre may be made up of many groups, corresponding to the different parts) of the seven Heavenly Men.

A Heavenly Man, with His seven centres, forms one centre in the body of the solar Logos. I would here point out to you the close connection existing between the seven Rishis of the Great Bear and the seven Heavenly Men. The seven Rishis of the Great Bear are to Them what the Monad is to the evolving human unit.

VII. WHY IS THE PROGRESS OF EVOLUTION CYCLIC?

This question is one which necessarily appals us and makes us wonder.

Let us, therefore, deal with it as follows: Certain ideas are involved in the thought of cyclic progression, and these ideas it might pay us well to contemplate.

1. The Idea of Repetition.

This repetition involves the following factors:

a. Repetition in time: The thought of cyclic activity necessitates periods of time of differing length—greater or lesser cycles—but (according to their length) of uniform degree. A manvantara, or Day of Brahma, is always of a certain length, and so is a mahamanvantara. The cycles wherein an atom of any plane revolves upon its axis are uniform on its own plane.

b. Repetition in fact: This involves the idea of a key measure, or sound of any particular group of atoms that go to the composition of any particular form. This grouping of atoms will tend to the make-up of a particular series of circumstances and will repeat the measure or sound when an animating factor is brought to bear upon them. When the vitalising force is contacting at stated periods a certain set of atoms, it will call forth from them a specific sound which will demonstrate objectively as environing circumstances. In other words, [274] the interplay of the Self and the not-self is invariabIy of a cyclic nature. The same quality in tone will be called forth by the Self as it indwells the form, but the key will ascend by gradual degrees. It is similar to the effect produced in striking the same note in different octaves, beginning at the base.

c. Repetition in space: This concept is involved deep in the greater concept of karma, which is really the law that governs the matter of the solar system, and which commenced its work in earlier solar systems. We have, therefore,cycles in order, and repetition in an ever-ascending spiral, under definite law.

The thoughts thus conveyed might be expressed likewise as follows:

a. The solar system repeating its activity....Repetition in Space.

b. A planetary chain repeating its activity....Repetition in Time.

c. The constant consecutive reverberation of a plane note, of a subplane note, and of all that is called into objectivity by that note.....Plane Repetition.

d. The tendency of atoms to perpetuate their activity, and thus produce similarity of circumstance, of environment and of vehicle....Form Repetition.

When we carry these ideas on to every plane in the solar system, and from thence to the cosmic planes, we have opened up for ourselves infinitude.

2. Repetition of Cyclic Action is Governed by Two Laws:

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that it is governed by one law, primarily, and a subsidiary law. This leads [275] to two general types of cycles, and is involved in the very nature of the Self and of the not-self. The interplay of the two by the aid of mind produces that which we call environment or circumstance.

The general law, which produces cyclic effect, is the Law of Attraction and Repulsion, of which the subsidiary law is the Law of Periodicity, and of Rebirth. Cyclic evolution is entirely the result of the activity of matter, and of the Will or Spirit. It is produced by the interaction of active matter and moulding Spirit. Every form holds hid a Life. Every life constantly reaches out after the similar life latent in other forms. When Spirit and matter sound the same note evolution will cease. When the note sounded by the form is stronger than that of Spirit, we have attraction betweenforms. When the note sounded by Spirit is stronger than that of matter and form, we have Spirit repelling form. Here we have the basis for the battlefield of life, and its myriads of intermediate stages, which might be expressed as follows:

a. The period of the domination of the form note is that of involution.

b. The period of the repulsion of form by Spirit is that of the battlefield of the three worlds.

c. The period of the attraction of Spirit and Spirit, and the consequent withdrawal from form is that of the Path.

d. The period of domination of the note of Spirit is that of the higher planes of evolution.

To the synchronisation of the notes, or to the lack of synchronisation, may be attributed all that occurs in the world cycles. Thus we have the production of harmony; first, the basic note of matter, then the note of Spirit gradually overcoming the lower note and usurping attention [276] till gradually the note of Spirit overpowers all other notes. Yet it must be borne in mind that it is the note of the life that holds the form together. The note of the Sun, for instance, holds in just attraction the circling spheres, the planets. The notes synchronise and harmonise till the stage of adequacy is reached and the period of abstraction. Cyclic evolution proceeds. A human being, similarly, holds (by means of his note) the atoms of the three bodies together, being to them as the central sun to the planets. Primarily, nevertheless, it may be posited that the Law of Attraction is the demonstration of the powers of Spirit, whilst the Law of Repulsion governs the form. Spirit attracts Spirit throughout the greater cycle. In lesser cycles, Spirit temporarily attracts matter. The tendency of Spirit is to merge and blend with Spirit. Form repulses form, and thus brings about separation. But—during the great cycle of evolution—when the third factor of Mind comes in, and when the point of balance is the goal, the cyclic display of the interaction between Spirit and form is seen, and the result is the ordered cycles of the planets, of a human being, and of an atom. Thus, through repetition, is consciousness developed, and responsive faculty induced. When this faculty is of such a nature that it is an inherent part of the Entity's working capital, it has to be exercised on every plane, and again cyclic action is the law, and hence rebirth again and again is the method of exercise. When the innate conscious faculty of every unit of consciousness has become co-ordinated as part of the equipment of the Logos on every plane of the solar system, then, and only then, will cyclic evolution cease, will rotary movement on every plane of the cosmic physical plane be of such a uniform vibration as to set up action on the next cosmic plane, the astral.

[277] 3. The Third Idea Involved Is That of the Two Types of Cycles

1. Rotation on the axis: This is to be seen whether we are dealing with a minute atom of substance, with a planet revolving on its axis, with the rotation of the causal body, or with the rotation of a solar system.

a. In relation to the human being, this might be considered as the rotation of the various sheaths around the central consciousness during any one incarnation.

b. In relation to a Heavenly Man it might be considered as the rotation of a globe within a chain, or the period of one incarnation.

c. In relation to a solar Logos it might be considered as one complete revolution of the Sun in space, with all that is included within the ring-pass-not.

2. Rotation around an orbit. This is the revolution of a sphere of life, not only on its axis, but along a spheroidal path or orbit around a central point.

a. In connection with man this might be considered as the revolution of the wheel of life, or the passage of an entity through the three lower planes down into incarnation and back again.

b. In connection with a Heavenly Man it might be considered as the cycle which we call a round in which the life of the Heavenly Man cycles through all the seven globes.

c. In connection with the solar Logos it is the complete revolution of the solar system around its cosmic centre.

It is to be noted at this point that the ideas dealt with in connection with cyclic evolution cannot be posited apart from the concept of consciousness. The ideas of [278] time, of space, and of activity (from the point of view of the occultist), can only be conceived as relative to some conscious entity, to some Thinker.

Time to the occultist is that cycle, greater or lesser, in which some life runs some specific course, in which some particular period begins, continues, and ends, in connection with the awareness of some Entity, and is recognised only as time when the participating life has reached a considerable stage of awareness. Time has been defined as a succession of states of consciousness, ^[cxvii]15 and it therefore may be studied from the point of view of

[279] a. Logoic consciousness, or the successive states of divine realisation within the solar sphere.

b. Planetary consciousness, or the consciousness of a Heavenly Man as He cycles successively through the scheme.

c. Causal consciousness, or the successive expanding of the intelligent awareness of a human being from life to life.

d. Human consciousness, or the awareness of a man on the physical plane, and progressively on the emotional and the mental planes.

e. Animal, vegetable and mineral consciousness which differs from the human consciousness in many particulars, and primarily in that it does not co-ordinate, or deduce and recognise separate identity. It resembles human consciousness in that it covers the response to successive contacts of the units involved during their small cycles.

f. Atomic consciousness, demonstrating through successive states of repulsion and attraction. In this last definition lies the key to the other states of consciousness.

An atom revolves upon its axis. In its revolution it comes within the field of activity of other atoms. These it either attracts and swings into its own field of operation, or it repulses and drives them outside its range of activity, causing separation. One thing to be borne in mind in the concept of mutual attraction is the preservation of identity in cohesion.

A human being in objective manifestation likewise revolves upon his axis, or around his central point, his mainspring of animation; this brings him within the range of activity of other men, other human atoms. This similarly either tends to co-operation or cohesion, or to separation or repulsion. Again it must be borne in mind that even in cohesion identity is preserved.

[280] A Heavenly Man, through the form of a planetary chain, similarly revolves upon His axis, and a like phenomenon may be observed. A planet repulses a planet similarly charged, for it is a known law that like particles repel each other, but occultly it is a known law that they will eventually attract each other as the vibration becomes sufficiently strong. A negative planet will be attracted by a positive, and so on through all forms. This is the manifestation of SEX in substance of every kind, from the tiny atom in the body to the vast planetary chains, and this is the basis of activity. Radiatory activity is simply the interplay between male and female, and this can be seen in the physical atom of the scientist, among men and women, and in the vaster atom of a solar system as it vibrates with its cosmic opposite.

We might, therefore, consider time as that process of activity, or that progression in development, wherein the indwelling Consciousness is seeking its opposite, and coming under the Law of Attraction, which leads to atomic, human, planetary, spiritual, solar and cosmic marriage. This idea is comparatively simple in relation to a human being, and can be seen in daily demonstration in his contacts with other men; these contacts are governed, for instance, very largely by his likes and dislikes. All these attractions and repulsions are under law, and their cause exists in form itself. The emotion of like or of dislike is nothing else but the realisation by the conscious entity of the swinging into his magnetic radius of an atomic form which he is led, by the very law of his own being, to either attract or repulse. Only when the form is transcended, and Spirit seeks out Spirit, will the phenomena of repulsion cease. This will be the inevitable finale at the cessation of solar evolution, and it will bring about pralaya. The duration of the interplay, the period of the search of Spirit for Spirit, and [281] the vibratory process necessitated by the utilisation of the form, this we call Time, whether in connection with a man, a planetary Logos, or the Deity.

Space, again, is included in the idea of consciousness, and its utilisation of matter. Space, for the Logos, is literally the form wherein His conscious activities and purposes are worked out—the solar ring-pass-not. The space wherein a planetary Logos works out His plans is similarly as much of solar space as His consciousness is developed enough to use. Man again repeats the process and his ring-pass-not is included in the radius of his consciousness, and may be very circumscribed as in the case of the little evolved, or may be inclusive of a portion of planetary space of great extent, and even in the case of the very highly evolved may begin to touch the periphery of the sphere of influence of the planetary Logos in Whose body he is a cell.

Space for the atom (for instance, the atom in the physical body of man) will be the radius of the form in which is found the greater centre of consciousness of which it is a part and it will be both attracted and repulsed—attracted and built into the form of the greater Life, yet repulsed and thereby prevented from moving from a certain point within that form.

We have here dealt a little with time and space in their relation to a specific centre of consciousness; we have seen that they are simply forms of ideas to express the cyclic activity of an entity. The subject is exceedingly abstruse, due to the low stage of the human intelligence, which is as yet so occupied with the objective or material side of manifestation that the attraction existing between Spirit and Spirit is little more than a concept. When more of the human family have their centre of consciousness in the Ego and hence are busy with the work of repulsing matter, and with the withdrawal of [282] Spirit from form, then only will the transmutative process be comprehended, then only will time (as known in the three worlds) be transcended, and then only will space (as manifested to man through the three lower planes or the eighteen subplanes) be found to be a barrier. This same statement can be predicated of the seven Logoi and of the solar Logos, extending the idea to other planes, solar and cosmic. So also can it be narrowed down to the subhuman, and to the involutionary lives, remembering ever that as the consciousness is more confined and restricted so inertia, lack of response and limitation of radiation will be seen.

By a close scrutiny of chart V, it will be apparent wherein lies the problem of the Logos, and wherein lies the accuracy of the correspondence between Him and His reflection Man.

First. Both are in objective manifestation on the physical plane.

Second. Both are at their point of deepest involution.

Third. Both are trammelled by matter, and are developing consciousness (egoic consciousness) on the physical plane—man on the solar physical, and the Logos on the cosmic physical plane.

Fourth. Man has to bring down into conscious full control, the God within. Through that control he must dominate circumstance, make his environment his instrument and manipulate matter. On cosmic levels the Logos does likewise. Both are far from achievement.

Fifth. Both work in, with, and by, electrical force.

Sixth. Both come under the laws governing forms and hence both are controlled in time and space by KARMA, which is the Law of forms. It has to do with quality, as force has to do with vibration.

Seventh. Both work through forms made up of:

[283] a. Three main types of forms: A mental form, one aspect of manifestation; an astral form, a second aspect; and a physical form, the third aspect. The mental vibration sets the key measure and seeks to utilise and co-ordinate the physical body at Will. It deals with or links up the consciousness to the three forms in one direction; it repulses and causes separation in another. The astral vibration deals with the quality, with the attractive measure. It is the psychic element. The physical is the meeting ground of consciousness with the material form. This last is the result produced by the union of the key measure and the quality of tone.

b. Seven centres of force which hold the three forms in one coherent whole, and cause their vitalisation and their co-ordination. They put the triple unit into correlation with their main centre of consciousness on the higher planes, whether that centre is the causal body of man, of a planetary Logos, or of a solar Logos.

c. Millions of infinitesimal cells, each embodying a lesser life, each in a condition of constant activity, and each repulsing other cells so as to preserve individuality or identity, yet each held to each by a central attractive force. Thus we have produced the objective form of a crystal, a vegetable, an animal, a man, a planet, a system.

Finally, both work, therefore, in a dual manner and each demonstrates both attraction and repulsion.

Attraction of matter to Spirit and the building of a form for the use of Spirit is the result of electrical energy in the universe, which in each case brings the lesser lives or spheres into its range of influence. The magnetic force, the life of the Logos gathers together His body of manifestation. The magnetic force of the Heavenly Man, the planetary Logos, gathers out of the solar ring-pass-not that which He needs for each incarnation.

[284] The magnetic force of the Ego gathers, at each rebirth, matter within the particular sphere or scheme within which the Ego has place. So on down the scale, we find the lesser pursuing its round ever within the greater.

Therefore we have (during a period of Attraction and Repulsion, or a life cycle) that which we call Time and Space, and this holds equally true in the life cycle of a Logos or an ant, or a crystal. There are cycles of activity in matter, due to some energising Will, and then Time and Space are known. There are cycles of non-being when Time and Space are not, and the energising Will is withdrawn. But we must not forget that this is purely relative, and only to be considered from the standpoint of the particular life or entity involved, and the special stage of awareness reached. All must be interpreted in terms of consciousness.

The first type of cycle, or the period involved in one entire revolution of a sphere around its own centre of consciousness, is to the particular Entity involved (be he God or man) a lesser cycle. The second type of cycle or the period involved in the complete circling of an orbit, or the revolution of a sphere around the centre of which it is an integral part, we can consider as a greater cycle. The third type of cycle has not so much to do with the transition of the form through a certain location in space but as the cycle which includes both the greater and the lesser cycles. It has to do with the response of the ENTITY, to Whom our solar Logos is but a centre in His Body, to the contacts made on that centre and on its cosmic opposite. These two centres, for instance, our solar system and its cosmic opposite, in their interaction create a cycle period which has a relation to the "ONE WHO IS ABOVE OUR LOGOS." This is, of course, beyond human conception, but must be included in our enumeration of cycles if exactitude is to be achieved.

[285]

VIII. WHY IS KNOWLEDGE BOTH EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC?

 ^[cxviii]16

We can now take up the question next in order, which was worded: "Why do we consider certain aspects of knowledge esoteric and other aspects as exoteric?"

The answer to this practically involves the realisation that some knowledge deals with the subjective side of life, and the other type of knowledge with the objective side; that one type of knowledge is concerned with energy and force (hence the danger of undue hasty revelation) and another with that which is energised. Therefore it will be apparent that until the faculty of ascertaining subjective information is achieved, whole ranges of facts will remain outside the scope of the consciousness of the majority.

As we have been told, the goal of evolution is the attainment of consciousness on all planes; owing to the small evolutionary attainment of the race only the physical plane is as yet in any way brought under conscious control. The knowledge which deals with that plane, the information which is concerned with densest objectivity, the sumtotal of facts connected with the five lower subplanes of the physical plane are (from the occult standpoint) considered exoteric. During the next two races the other two subplanes will be mastered, and the entire mass of knowledge concerned with physical and etheric matter, with energy, form and experience on the physical plane, will be easily available to man, and concern only his five physical senses.

Information and knowledge of the life evolving through the forms will for a considerably longer time be considered esoteric, as also will the apprehension and comprehension of the matter aspect, and the laws governing energy on the astral and the mental planes. This is stated in connection with average man, the rank and file of humanity. Objective or exoteric information is largely that obtained or ascertained by men in the Hall of Learning by means of the five senses, and by experiment. Experiment in due course of time and after many cycles of incarnation is transmuted into experience, and this produces eventually that which we call instinct, or the habitual reaction of some type of consciousness to a given set of circumstances, or of environment. These two factors of the senses and of experimental contact can be seen working out in the animal and human kingdoms; the difference between the two exists in the ability of the man consciously to remember, apprehend, anticipate, and utilise the fruits of past experience, and thus influence the present and prepare for the future. He employs the physical brain for this purpose. An animal likewise has an instinctual memory, apprehension, and an embryo anticipation, but (lacking mind) he is unable to adjust them to circumstances in the sense of prearrangement, and lacks the capacity consciously to utilise, and thus reap, the benefit of past events, and to learn from experience in the manner which a man does. The [287] animal uses the solar plexus in the same way that a man uses the brain; it is the organ of instinct.

All that can be acquired by instinct and by the use of the concrete mind functioning through the physical brain can be considered as dealing with that which we call exoteric. It is thus evident how the range of fact will differ according to:

a. The age of the soul.

b. Experience developed and used.

c. Condition of the brain and the physical body.

d. Circumstances and environment.

As time progresses and man reaches a fair state of evolution, mind is more rapidly developed, and a new factor comes gradually into play. Little by little the intuition, or the transcendental mind, begins to function, and eventually supersedes the lower or concrete mind. It then utilises the physical brain as a receiving plate, but at the same time develops certain centres in the head, and thus transfers the zone of its activity from the physical brain to the higher head centres, existing in etheric matter. For the mass of humanity, this will be effected during the opening up of the etheric subplanes during the next two races. This is paralleled in the animal kingdom by the gradual transference of the zone of activity from the solar plexus to the rudimentary brain, and its gradual development by the aid of manas.

As we consider these points, it will become apparent that the esoteric aspects of knowledge are really those zones of consciousness which are not yet conquered, and brought within the radius of control of the indwelling Entity.

The point to be emphasised is that when this is realised the true significance of the esoteric and the occult will be appreciated, and the endeavor of all KNOWERS will be to draw within the zone of their knowledge other [288] units who are ready for a similar expansion of consciousness. In this thought lies the key to the work of the Brotherhood. They attract by Their force into certain fields of realisation and endeavor and by that attraction and the response of those human atoms who are ready, the group soul on the upward arc, or a particular centre of a Heavenly Man, is co-ordinated.

In the same way the animal is brought at a certain stage into the zone of influence of the lesser sons of mind—human beings who are the elder brothers of the animals, as the Masters of the Wisdom are the Elder Brothers where humanity is concerned. So the interlocking proceeds and the division of responsibility.

IX. WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN:

a. The ten planetary schemes?

b. The seven sacred planets?

c. The seven chains in a scheme?

d. The seven globes in a chain?

e. The seven rounds on a globe?

f. The seven root-races and the seven subraces?

We have in this question a vast quantity of matter to deal with and it will be impossible for us to do more than to get a broad and general idea.

The subject is so vast and the comprehensiveness of the interrelated points is so great that we shall only attain lucidity if we confine our attention to certain broad general conceptions, leaving the subsidiary points for more detailed elucidation at some later period.

1. The Inter-related Parts

Primarily I would suggest that we consider this subject only as it concerns a Heavenly Man, that we omit from our immediate calculations the consideration of the cellular composition of His body (those separated units of consciousness which we call deva and human [289] beings), and that we view the matter from what is to the human being, the group concept, and not the individual.

The entire middle section of this treatise on the Fires has to do with the development of the consciousness of a Heavenly Man, and the application by Him of the knowledge gained (through the aid of manas or mind) in a previous solar system, to the acquisition of wisdom through objectivity, and to the transmutation of the earlier acquired faculty into applied Love. This is His work in the same sense that the work of the cells within His body is to develop the mind principle. When through experience in the three worlds the human units have accomplished this, they can then gain—through the final initiations—something of the group concept, or the conscious realisation of place, and of energised activity within the ring-pass-not of their particular planetary Logos. Therefore, we might consider the following points:

First: The work of the units who go to the make-up of a particular planetary Logos. This is of a threefold nature:

a. To attain the consciousness of the realised control of their own individual ring-pass-not, or of their own sphere of activity. This covers the period of evolution up to the first Initiation, or their entrance upon the Path, and thus into the spiritual kingdom. It concerns the awakening of consciousness on the three lower planes.

b. To attain the consciousness of the particular centre in the body of one of the planetary Logoi—which centre embodies their group activity. This carries them to the fifth Initiation, and covers the period wherein consciousness is awakened on the five planes of evolution.

c. To attain to the consciousness of the centre in the Body of the Logos of which any particular planetary [290]Logos is the sumtotal. This carries them to the seventh Initiation and covers the period of the awakening of consciousness on the seven planes of the solar system.

These expansions are attained by the aid of mind, transmuted in due course of time into love-wisdom, and entail the conscious control of the entire seven planes of the solar system, or of the lowest cosmic plane.

Second: The work of the Heavenly Men Who in their totality are the seven centres in the body of the Logos. This work is again threefold:

a. To attain to full self-consciousness, or to individual consciousness on the five planes; to vibrate with conscious activity within Their Own ring-pass-not, a planetary scheme. This covers a period in the scheme of involution, and of that period during the evolutionary stage which is comprised within the first three rounds up to the entrance upon the fourth round.

b. To attain to the consciousness of the solar Logos, within Whose body They form the centres. It entails the attainment by a Heavenly Man of a group consciousness of a sevenfold nature, or the achievement of accurate vibratory relationship with the other Heavenly Men Who form the other centres. It carries with it the capacity to have full conscious control on the seven planes of the solar system, and covers that period of development which is undergone in a planetary chain during the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. It should be borne in mind that a paralleling recognition should here be given to the fact that the solar Logos holds an analogous position in the body of a cosmic Entity to that held by a Heavenly Man in the body of a solar Logos.

c. To attain to the consciousness of a greater centre on cosmic levels. This covers the period of the seventh round, and gives to a Heavenly Man (when these rounds are viewed in the light of the Eternal Now, and not from the standpoint of time and of space) the consciousness of [291] the cosmic astral, or the second lowest plane of the cosmic planes. A great deal of the problem to be seen slowly working out at this time to a solution is due to the fact that the control of the Heavenly Man, Whose body our scheme may be, is as yet but partial, and His cosmic experience is as yet but imperfect. This necessarily affects the cells in His body in the same way that lack of astral control in the case of a human being, affects his vehicle. It might here be pointed out that the evolution of the Heavenly Men is unequal, and that our planetary Logos has not the control, for instance, that the Heavenly Man of the Venus chain has achieved. In each round one subplane of the cosmic astral plane is brought under control, and the consciousness of the Heavenly Man expands to include one subplane more. The planetary Lord of Venus has dominated and controlled the five subplanes and is working on the sixth. Our planetary Logos is engaged in a similar work on the fourth and fifth. The work, as in all cycles, overlaps and it might be explained thus:

He is perfecting the control of the fourth subplane on the cosmic astral plane, and has nearly completed it. He is beginning to work at the control of the fifth subplane—a control which will be perfected in the fifth round.

He is sensing and responding to the vibration of the sixth subplane, but is not as yet fully conscious on that subplane.

We have a corresponding reflection to this in the fourth and fifth root-races on this planet, in which the astral consciousness of the Atlantean cycle is being perfected, the fifth principle is being developed, and the sixth is being gradually sensed. This deserves thoughtful consideration.

Third: The work of a solar logos is again of a corresponding nature:

[292] a. He has to attain to the full consciousness of His entire ring-pass-not, or of the seven planes of the solar system. This covers a period wherein five of the Heavenly Men, or five of His centres, and therefore, five schemes, reach a stage of accurate response to contact and stimulation.

b. He has to attain to the consciousness of the cosmic Logos within Whose body He is a centre. He must find by experience His place within the cosmic group of which He is a part, in much the same way as a planetary Logos pursues a similar course. This is achieved when all the Heavenly Men or each of the seven centres are awakened and functioning consciously and freely, with their systemic inter-relation adjusted and controlled by the Law of Action and Reaction. It brings within His control not only the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane (our seven major planes) but necessarily also the cosmic astral plane.

c. To attain to the consciousness of the centre in the body of the ONE ABOUT WHOM NOUGHT MAY BE SAID. This centre is formed by the sphere of influence of a cosmic Logos. In the body of a cosmic Logos, a solar Logos is a centre.

We must bear in mind that this enumeration is given from the standpoint of the present, and from the angle of vision (relatively limited) of the Heavenly Man of our particular scheme, and that it is therefore circumscribed by His peculiar conditions, which govern the intelligence of the cells in His body; it is given from the point of view of differentiation and not of synthesis. A synthetic absorption proceeds eventually in connection with all these Entities, and each undergoes a process, paralleling on His Own level that undergone by the Microcosm; in the case of the Microcosm the causal body or the body of the Ego acts as the synthesiser of the energy of the Quaternary or lower Self, and the spiritual