371. Esoteric Psychology - Volume I - 14. Section Two - CHAPTER I - The Seven Creative Builders, the Seven Rays 2. The Present Ray Plan and the Workers - A. BAILEY

Section Two - CHAPTER I - The Seven Creative Builders, the Seven Rays

2. The Present Ray Plan and the Workers

The work of the first and second rays is primarily instrumental in the work of materialising the Plan of God for our world and causing its manifestation.  It would be of interest at this point to consider the Plan as it is at present working out, for the reason that these two types of ray force, that of power-will and that of love-wisdom, are predominantly operative at this time.  All the workers along other lines of force—whether manifesting objectively or active subjectively—have temporarily subordinated their interests and to some degree cancelled their previous arrangements, in order to meet the need of the world.  There is a Plan now coming into effect, and this has demanded the attention and called for the loyal cooperation of all departments of the world government.  In all organised endeavour and in all wide schemes of construction and of work there must ever be the subordination of certain factors to other factors, and never more so than in the working out, at this time, of the Hierarchical Plan.

If the teachings in this treatise are to achieve the purpose for which they are intended, it is essential that scattered through the occult generalities and the universal concepts there should be those points of immediate and imperative interest which will make this treatise of practical usefulness and of living application.

In A Treatise on White Magic I outlined one of the first steps taken by the Hierarchy in the work of inaugurating the new Plan.  This Plan was tentatively formulated in 1900, at one of the great quarterly meetings of the Hierarchy.  In 1925, at the next great meeting for cooperation, the new Plan was discussed in greater detail, certain necessary changes [171] (growing out of the results of the World War) were negotiated, and the members of that important Council determined two things:

First, that there should be a united effort by the collective members of the planetary Hierarchy, over a period of several years (that is until 1950), to bring about certain definite results, and that during that time the attention of the Great Ones should be turned towards a definite attempt to expand the consciousness of humanity and to institute a sort of forcing process, so that men's horizon of thought would be tremendously enlarged, and their faith, assurance and knowledge be equally increased and strengthened.  It was decided that certain areas of doubt should be cleared up.

Secondly, it was determined to link more closely and subjectively the senior disciples, aspirants and workers in the world.  To this end, all the Masters put Their personal groups of disciples in touch with each other, subjectively, intuitively, and sometimes telepathically.  Thus the New Group of World Servers came into being.

Instead, therefore, of seven groups of workers in the world, all engrossed with activities along the seven major lines of force—their place in the scheme determined by their ray—the Masters, Their disciples and the probationers grouped themselves into three main divisions, so that the political, the religious, and the educational departments of human evolution might be adequately served.

At the same time They organised the intermediate group of World Servers, who could act as liaison of officers, interpreters, and intermediaries between the inner active Hierarchy and the thinkers of the world, and also serve as agents in every country and in every group.  Thus all groups which were animated by any desire to serve, and which were (in spite of errors in technique and method) of any usefulness in [172] aiding their fellow men, were swept into a current of spiritual stimulation with the intent to increase their effectiveness.  Groups that were crystallised and sectarian as a whole would fail to respond, but in all of them, even the most dead, there were found a few who were responsive to the new impulse.

The institution of this new Plan automatically brought about an augmented training of those men and women who showed signs of being responsive to subjective influences and to the intuition.  It was found wise to bring about a forcing process, in order to make mankind more sensitive and to develop certain latent but hidden powers, and also to attempt to bring the more advanced types of men up to a standard of sensitivity and to a spiritual receptivity which had been hitherto the prerogative of the few mystics and intuitives.  During the past few years this process has been going on, and the results have proved better than had been anticipated.  The war, which devastated the world, cleared away much debris.

Roughly speaking, the Plan fell into three divisions in the minds of its organisers:

First, Political.

The objective of the work here planned was the development and the establishment of an international consciousness. This was an effort along the line of power or will, of government, or along the line of the first ray.  Disciples and aspirants working in the field of organisation, and the mass of idealists, were organised in this work, and the seventh and sixth ray workers were brought into line.  The groups therefore ranged themselves into one group in this endeavour.  It was also determined to demonstrate the need for economic synthesis, as part of the work of relating the nations to each other, so that the spirit which is evidenced by such an organisation as the Red Cross, for instance, might also be evidenced internationally [173] in the interplay of the nations with each other.  It is needless to point out that material stress and strain and the wrecking of old political parties and trade relations had to play their part.  It was determined to demonstrate the necessity of establishing a spirit of international dependence and interrelation, so that the nations would be forced to realise politically that isolation, separativeness, and the cultivation of a national egoism must go, and that a national spirit coloured by a sense of superiority, by class hatreds and racial antagonisms, constitutes a barrier to the true development of humanity. The people must be taught that the longing to increase possessions is a deterrent to real expansion.  Thus plans were laid whereby the Brotherhood of Nations, based on mutual need, mutual understanding, and mutual helpfulness, should gradually come into being.

It was the establishing of a state of mind which was the primary objective, and not the establishing of some impossible and mythical Utopia, or of those material conditions whereby one group is entirely subordinated by the will-to-power of another group which enforces a standardised and uniform condition through the use of power in some form or another.  The work indicated, and therefore set before the New Group of World Servers, is to enunciate those principles of national relations which underlie a world state or federation, and their instructions were to get the ear of the leaders in various countries, and thus slowly and gradually awaken the masses (through them) to the true significance of that easily spoken, but little understood word, Brotherhood.

This work is perhaps one of the hardest of the tasks which the Society of Organised Minds has ever set itself.  Racial hatreds and national aspirations are so strong, and the ignorance of the masses is so great, that all the resources of the workers along the line of government and power (the first [174] ray) were necessary to make the needed impact upon the public consciousness.  There has been, and there still is, much to destroy before the nations are reduced to the point where they will become sensitive to the new vision, and able to recognise their need of each other.

It has been interesting to note how the idea of the controlled and beneficently applied power of those who work with and through ideas has—during the past few years—materialised on the physical plane through the medium of the dictatorship of the proletariat, of the workers of a nation, as set up in Russia.  This has been subversive of the rule and control of the aristocracy, of the bourgeoisie and of the intelligentsia; it has glorified work and the workers, and has driven out of the country (by death or exile) some of its best elements.  Yet behind all the mistakes and cruelty, and behind the rank materialism, there lie great ideals,—the supply of the need of all, the beauty of mutual service, and the divinity of constructive work.

In Germany, you have the dictatorship of racial superiority, and the attempt to deify a race.  Without humour and real understanding, one race is preparing to dictate terms to other races, by the weight of its thought and its achievements rather than by war.  Yet the ideal of a superman is a true ideal, and it needs upholding before the world.  Temporarily, it has been forgotten that the superman is the goal for all, and that Asiatics, Nordics, Jews, Gentiles, Americans, and Anglo-Saxons, the Africans and all other world races are children of the same Father, fed from the same source of Life, and saved by the same divine Christ principle.  Therefore the superman has been and will be found emerging out of the ranks of every people, to find his way into the ranks of the Spiritual Hierarchy and the New Group of World Servers.

In America, you have the dictatorship of organised business [175] seeking to regulate and control every department of the economic life of the nation, and cutting deep down, through the trained minds in the government, to the very roots of the national existence.  That certain types of mind may regard this as an infringement of the liberty of the subject is of small importance, relatively speaking, compared to the gradually emerging synthesis which aims subjectively to kill out greed and end the exploitation of the many by the few.  In Great Britain, we find the dictatorship of empire (if such a paradoxical term may be employed), but it is an empire of the middle classes, controlling and balancing.  In Italy, in Turkey and elsewhere other great experiments are going on.

The originators of these various national movements are often ignorant of the impulses which lie back of their work, and are frequently unable to explain the ideals toward which they are working, except in terms of human ambition and power.  Nevertheless, unknown to themselves, they are really sensitive to the great ideas thrown into their minds by the Minds behind the scenes.  They respond to the idea of general good, of human equality, of the superman, of universal trade requirements, and of the distribution of wealth, but—and here is the important point—because the inner synthesis of effort is not emphasised, because there is no general knowledge as to the source of the great concepts, and no understanding of the inner Brotherhood which is guiding humanity towards an outer Brotherhood, these great principles are being widely distorted, selfishly applied, and separately utilised.  The fires of class hatreds, of racial antagonisms, and of national pride are burning intensely strong.

Such is the problem before the Great Ones at this time. What will They do to bring the nations, through the agency of the inner department of government and the political rule which we have been considering, to a realisation of their [176] essential unity, and so further that "peace on earth, good will to men" of which we all dream.

Second, Religions.

The aim before this department is to establish a universal understanding of the nature of reality, and to foster the growth of the spiritual consciousness.  Though in some ways religious differences are the hardest to bridge or heal, yet real progress has been made in this phase of the Hierarchical work.  There is today in the world a very large number of those who fundamentally believe in the brotherhood of religions.  Though the unintelligent masses everywhere have little or no idea of things spiritual, they can be more easily brought to believe in the one God and to the idea of a universal faith than to any other idea.  Many thousands of them are frankly agnostic or believe in nothing, whilst many other thousands are restive under the control of theological authority.  They have nevertheless within them that germ of the spirit of love which is normally inclusive and intuitive.  Curiously enough, along this line the seething millions of the Orient present a more serious problem to the Great Ones than do the peoples of the Occident, for ignorance is deeply prevalent among the masses of Asia as to the trend of affairs in the world of religion, owing to the widespread illiteracy of the races, and their consequent easy exploitation and control by the religious demagogues, fervent prophets and reactionaries.

Disciples or workers on the second ray are now actively handling this problem.  It is interesting to note that the reason for the success in breaking down old barriers and in bringing about a condition of spiritual readiness everywhere in the Occident, is largely due to the work of the Orientalist scholars in France, Germany and England.  They have made the literature of the East available, in all its beauty, to the West, [177] and so have linked the spiritual truths of all ages with the truth of the Christian presentation, showing them all to be of equal progressive value.  Now the masses in India, China, and northern Africa must be awakened to the inner significance of their own faiths, and to the part that Christianity plays in the same great religious programme.  This is occupying the close attention of certain second ray teachers in India, Japan and Syria.

During the next ten years the work of the Fellowship of Religions (of which the outer organisations are an externalisation) will greatly increase.  Soon we shall have the inner structure of a world-faith so clearly defined in the minds of many thousands that its outer structure will inevitably make its appearance before the end of the century.

The inner structure of the World Federation of Nations will eventually be equally well organised, with its outer form taking rapid shape by 2025.  Do not infer from this that we shall have a perfected world religion and a complete community of nations.  Not so rapidly does nature move; but the concept and the idea will be universally recognised, universally desired, and generally worked for, and when these conditions exist nothing can stop the appearance of the ultimate physical form for that cycle.

Third, scientific.

The workers along this line have definitely set themselves the goal of expanding man's consciousness and so widening his horizon that a synthesis of the tangible and the intangible will take place.  This will bring about the entrance of mankind into a new and subjective realm, and his apprehension of new states of awareness.  These developments will be brought about by the workers in the fields of education, of science, and of psychology.  Great things are on the way at this time, and the [178] activities of workers on the third and fifth rays have never been so well directed nor so potent as today.

As I told you, and as I now repeat, the workers on all the rays are organised to take part in one supreme effort,—an effort towards which the entire Christian era has been tending and for which it has been a preparation.  The seventh and sixth rays are occupied with the work of government and with the task of producing a new synthesis, and thus the force of all the workers along those lines is combining with the energy of the first ray.  The energies of the aspirants and disciples on the third and fifth rays are turned to the work of expanding the human consciousness, of bringing to light the hidden wonders of the universe, and of hastening the unfoldment of the latent powers in mankind.  These powers, when awakened, will be extensions of many of the present senses and will admit man into that world which lies behind the veil of ignorance and matter.

You will note that so strenuous is the work of breaking down national group isolation and separativeness that it takes the united energies of three groups of workers to bring about the desired results.  The seven groups of workers are organised therefore as follows:

1. In the department of politics	First, sixth and seventh rays.
2. In the department of religion	Second and fourth rays.
3. In the department of education	Third and fifth rays.

Do not forget that, though the work is being carried forward in three fields of human thought and activity, the net result is one directed effort towards the production of synthesis and a great preparatory drive towards a revelation of such wonder that I cannot yet detail it.  Recognition of its truth is dependent upon inner growth and illumination, and this growth is being speeded up, leading to an easier recognition of that which is on the way.  Remember, revelation seldom [179] comes along the expected lines.  There will be a pouring in of light upon mankind which will alter his conditions of living, change his outlook upon world affairs, and inaugurate a new age which will be distinguished by an aptitude for group synthesis and cooperation, and by new mental powers, leading to a re-orientation of the mind so that it can function with equal facility in two directions.  It will be able to turn outward into the world of manifested forms, and inward into the world of synthesis, of unity and of spirit.  There will be a fresh attitude towards life which will evidence itself in a better sense of values, for life will have a meaning hitherto unknown, and we shall have an interpretation of that meaning which will enrich our daily experience.  Towards this end all true workers are now bending every effort.

Earlier in this treatise I referred to the areas of doubt which now exist in man's mind, and I should like briefly to refer to the three major areas which—when cleared up—will facilitate the bringing in of the new age with its new civilisations, new sciences and new religion.  There are three problems which the next few years will see well on the way towards an intelligent solution in the minds of the most conservative, but which will be regarded as definitely solved by the intuitive and illumined.  These three problems might be regarded as constituting the three main objectives in the fields of science, of politics and of religion.  With their solution will come the more rapid success of the world problems of government, of faith and of matter.  Please note the distinction and significance of these last three words.

THE PROBLEM OF IDEAS

In the final analysis, the main problem of world government is the wise use of ideas.  It is here that the power of[180] speech makes itself felt, just as in the department of religion or of education the power of the written word, of the printed page, is felt.  In the field of politics, the masses are swayed by their orators, and never more so than now through the use of the radio.  Great ideas are dinned into the ear of the public without cessation—theories as to dictatorship, communism, nazism, fascism, marxism, nationalism, and democratic ideals.  Methods of rule by this or that group of thinkers are presented to the public, leaving them no time for consideration, or for clear thinking.  Racial antipathies are spread, and personal preferences and illusions find expression, bringing about the deception of the unthinking.  The man who has a golden tongue, the man who has the gift of playing with words and can voice with emphasis people's grievances, the juggler in statistics, the fanatic with a certain and sure cure for social ills, and the man who loves to fan race hatreds, can ever get a following.  Such men can with facility upset the balance of the community and lead a body of unthinking adherents to a transient success and power, or to obloquy and oblivion.

In the aggregate of this play with ideas, and in the constant impact upon the human consciousness of the great concepts which lie back of our evolutionary process, the race is developing the power to think, to choose, and to build a sure foundation.  Through the evolutionary presentation of these ideas there is a steady march towards a liberty of thought (through the old method of experiment, of discard, and of renewed effort with ever newer concepts) which will enable mankind to build true to the great thought patterns which underlie the outer structure of our world.  The attentive minds of the age are constantly being made sensitive to these patterns, so that the individual mind can recognise them and wrest them out of the darkness into the light of day.  Thus [181] will the true patterns be made available, to play their part in leading the race towards its destiny, towards those deeper realisations which mould the racial types, and to that synthesis of understanding which will result in a realisation of Brotherhood.  Thus thoughts play their part, and the problem of ideas will be increasingly understood, until the time may come when we shall have our trained intuitives and thinkers who will be able to work directly in the world of concepts and bring through (for the use of the race) the pattern ideas upon which to build.  In saying this I realise that I may be accused of romancing and of communicating the impossible; but time will demonstrate the truth of that which I predict.  The world structure emerges from and is built upon certain inner thought patterns, and it is these thought patterns which are producing the present flood of governmental experiments among all nations.  But today there is no training given upon the process of contacting the world of patterns and upon the true interpretation of ideas, and hence the problems.  Later, when the race sees its problem with clarity, it will act with wisdom and train with care its Observers and Communicators.  These will be men and women in whom the intuition has awakened at the behest of an urgent intellect; they will be people whose minds are so subordinated to the group good, and so free from all sense of separativeness, that their minds present no impediment to the contact with the world of reality and of inner truth.  They will not necessarily be people who could be termed "religious" in the ordinary sense of that word, but they will be men of good will, of high mental calibre, with minds well stocked and equipped; they will be free from personal ambition and selfishness, animated by love of humanity and by a desire to help the race.  Such a man is a spiritual man.

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THE PROBLEM OF GOD

In the world of religion we shall see the solution of the second problem, and the ridding of the human consciousness of another area of doubt.  The fact of God will be established and men's questioning in this respect will end.  Such a God will not be a national or a racial God; not Christian, Hindu or Buddhist.  Such a God will not be a figment of man's creative imagination or an extension of his own consciousness, but a Deity of essential life, who is the sum total of all energies; the energy of life itself, the energy of love, the energy of intelligence, of active experience, and that energy which produces the interplay between the seen and the unseen; a God most surely transcendent, but at the same time most assuredly immanent; a God of such immensity that the Heavens proclaim Him, and so intimate that the humblest child can recognise Him.

How can this be? you ask.  I give a simple reply to your question, and yet one so scientific and so profound in meaning that only when it is realised to be a fact in a natural process will it be appreciated with accuracy.  Out of the flesh God will be seen and known, yet with the eye of the inner vision can God be seen even when a man is occupying a body of flesh.  Not with the physical eye can Deity be seen, though the hallmark of divinity is everywhere.  There is an eye which can be developed and used, and which will enable its possessor to see God working on the inner side of Life, within Himself and within all forms, for "when thine eye is single, thy whole body is full of light."  In that light shall we see light, and so see God.  The three words: electricity, light and life, express divinity, and their synthesis is God.  When we know the three as one in our own experience, then we know God.  The lowest aspect we are now using, and of it we are [183] increasingly aware.  The second aspect of light is on the point of revelation, through the right understanding of electrical phenomena.  There lies the clue to the new age, the age of light, of illumination and of revelation.  The esotericists of the world will understand a little of that to which I refer, and in their hands lies the training of humanity so that men may use that true vision and learn to utilise the "single eye."  I would have you note, however, that the majority of true esotericists are found outside, and not within, the bulk of the schools which call themselves esoteric.

THE PROBLEM OF IMMORTALITY

The third area of doubt,—doubt as to the fact of immortality—will be solved before long in the realm of science, as the result of scientific investigation.  Certain scientists will accept the hypothesis of immortality as a working basis upon which to base their search, and they will enter upon that search with a willingness to learn, a readiness to accept and a desire to formulate conclusions based upon reiterated evidence.  These conclusions will, in their turn, form the basis for another hypothesis.  Within the next few years the fact of persistence and of the eternity of existence will have advanced out of the realm of questioning into the realm of certainty.  The problem will have shifted further back.  There will be no question in anyone's mind that the discarding of the physical body will leave a man still a conscious living entity.  He will be known to be perpetuating his existence in a realm lying behind the physical.  He will be known to be still alive, awake and aware.  This fact will be demonstrated in several ways.  The development of a power within the physical eye of a human being (a power which has always been there, but which has been very little used) will reveal the etheric body, the "double," as it is sometimes called; and men [184] will be seen occupying that body in some definite spatial area whilst their dead or disintegrating physical body has been left behind.  Then again, the growth in the number of those people who have the power to use the "single eye," sometimes called the "reawakened third eye," will also add to the demonstration of the truth of immortality, for they will with facility see the man who has discarded his etheric body as well as his physical body.  By the very weight of their numbers, and by the reputability of their position, they will carry their point.  Through a discovery also in the field of photography, now being investigated, will the fact of survival be proven.  Through the use of the radio by those who have passed over will communication be eventually set up, and reduced to a true science.

Nevertheless, certain imminent happenings will do more to annihilate the veil between the seen and the unseen than any other line of activity hitherto initiated.  Of this I may not speak beyond telling you that an illumination will be set up and a radiance revealed which will result in a tremendous stimulation of mankind and bring about an awakening of a new order.  Man will be keyed up to a perception and to a contact which will enable him to see through, which will reveal the nature of the fourth dimension, and will blend the subjective and the objective together into a new world.  Death will lose its terrors, and that particular fear will come to an end.

Men are so occupied with their demand for light, so earnest in their cry for release from the present blindness, and so anxious for relief from the surrounding chaos, that they are apt to forget that from the inner side there is also a great effort and "push" to help, on the part of the Custodians of the Plan and Their assistants.  This urge on Their part to help is more active than ever before, as human beings demand more [185] potently the privilege of light.  A demand from the race, plus a response from the waiting Hierarchy, must inevitably produce potent results.  The urge to know and the urge to teach are assuredly related and a part of the natural process of conscious development.  The next few decades will mark a happening of such profound and widespread consequences that the present era in which we live will come to be looked upon as the dark ages.  Science will penetrate deeper into the realm of the intangible, and work in mediums and with apparatus hitherto unknown.  The release of the potencies in an atom will mark a revolutionary era, and science will have much to discard and much to give as it works with energies and forms of life hitherto unrecognised.  The spiritualists will make a discovery whereby the means of contact with those who function out of the physical body will be greatly facilitated, and a group of mediums will begin to act as intermediaries for a number of scientists on the inner side of life and those who are still in physical bodies.  Through the activity of the real esoteric schools, a technique of training will be instituted which will develop the new powers that will substantiate the old truth and turn men's beliefs into certainties.  Through the stimulating and occultly scientific work of the department of religions, men will come to new knowledge and awareness, and will arrive at an uplift that will bring mankind to the Mount of Transfiguration.  Through the work of the department of government, men will come to an understanding of those ideas which are needed to carry the nations the next step forward to mutual help.

I shall try to express the deepest objective of the Brotherhood, so that you can understand and cooperate.  Humanity is intended to act as a power house through which certain types of divine energy can flow to the various forms of life found in the subhuman kingdoms.  This flow of energy must be intelligently [186] apprehended and intelligently directed, and thus will be brought to an end conditions of decay and of death now prevalent everywhere.  Thus mankind can link the higher and the lower manifestations of Life, but this will be possible only when men themselves have (within themselves) linked their higher and their lower aspects.  This is, and should be, one of the objectives of all esoteric training.  Men are intended to acquire the facility to function freely in either direction, and so with ease contact the life of God as it flows through those forms we call superhuman, and those which are subhuman.  Such is the emerging goal.

The next few years will mark an intensive effort on the part of the hierarchy and on the part of the New Group of World Servers.  There is a term set to their effort, and later this type of activity will end, and workers will enter into more extensive fields, if the work proves effective.  Should the spiritually minded and intellectually constituted people of the race fail at this time to initiate the Plan, to wrest it out of the unseen and carry it into the realm of the seen, then we shall see a period of difficulty and of slower growth, but no entire collapse of the fabric of civilisation as the fear-mongers indicate.  But we shall anticipate no such failure and no such setback to the carefully laid plans of the Watchers on the inner side.  The word has gone out to rally all the disciples and aspirants of the world to an intensive work, and with that appeal from the Great Ones I seek to occupy myself.  Everyone is needed and must go forward with hope and certainty.  The hierarchy is, with concentration, working and bending every effort to make the plan a success.  The New Group of World Servers are being more closely integrated, and the work they are to do is being carefully planned.  In London, in New York and in Geneva are three centres of their activity, and at Darjeeling and in Tokyo there is a mustering of forces.

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I challenge the thinkers of the world to drop their sectarianism, their nationalism, and their partisanships, and in the spirit of brotherhood to work in their particular nation, regarding it as an integral part of a great federation of nations,—a federation that now exists on the inner side but waits for the activity of the world thinkers to bring it to materialisation on the outer side.  I charge them to work in the cause of religion and in the field of that particular religion in which they, by an accident of birth or by choice, are interested, regarding each religion as part of the great world religion.  They must look upon the activities of their group, society or organisation as demanding their help, just in so far, and only so far, as the principles upon which they are founded and the techniques which they employ serve the general good and develop the realisation of Brotherhood.

I ask you to drop your antagonisms and your antipathies, your hatreds and your racial differences, and attempt to think in terms of the one family, the one life, and the one humanity.  I ask for no sentimental or devotional response to this challenge.  I would remind you that hatred and separateness have brought humanity to the present sad condition.  I would add to that reminder, however, the fact that there is in the world today a large enough number of liberated men to produce a change in the attitudes of mankind and in public opinion, if they measure up by an act of the will to what they know and believe.

I challenge you also to make sacrifices; to give yourself and your time and your money and your interest to carry these ideas to those around you in your own environment and to the group in which you find yourself, thus awakening your associates.  I call you to a united effort to inculcate anew the ideas of brotherhood and of unity.  I ask you to recognise your fellow workers in all the groups and to strengthen their [188] hands.  I ask you to seal your lips to words of hatred and of criticism, and to talk in terms of brotherhood and of group relationships.  I beg of you to see to it that every day is for you a new day, in which you face new opportunity.  Lose sight of your own affairs, your petty sorrows, worries and suspicions, in the urgency of the task to be done, and spread the cult of unity, of love and of harmlessness.

I ask you also to sever your connection with all groups which are seeking to destroy and to attack, no matter how sincere their motive.  Range yourself on the side of the workers for constructive ends, who are fighting no other groups or organisations and who have eliminated the word "anti" out of their vocabulary.  Stand on the side of those who are silently and steadily building for the new order—an order which is founded on love, which builds under the impulse of brotherhood, and which possesses a realisation of a brotherhood which is based on the knowledge that we are each and all, no matter what our race, the children of the One Father, and who have come to the realisation that the old ways of working must go and the newer methods must be given a chance.

If you cannot yourself teach or preach or write, give of your thought and of your money so that others can.  Give of your hours and minutes of leisure so as to set others free to serve the Plan; give of your money so that the work of those associated with the New Group of World Servers may go forward with rapidity.  Much time you waste on non-essentials.  Many of you give little or nothing of time.  The same is the case with money.  Give as never before, and so make the physical aspects of the work possible.  Some give of their very need, and the power they thereby release is great.  Those on the inner side are grateful for the giving by those who can give only at great personal cost.  Others give of what they can spare and only when it needs no sacrifice to give.  Let that [189] condition also end, and give to the limit, with justice and understanding, so that the age of love and light may be more rapidly ushered in.  I care not where or to whom you give, only that you give,—little if you have but little of time or money, much if you have much.  Work and give, love and think, and aid those groups who are building and not destroying, loving and not attacking, lifting and not tearing down.  Be not taken in by the specious argument that destruction is needed.  It has been needed, no doubt; but the cycle of destruction is practically over, could you but realise it, and the builders must now get busy.

I challenge you above all to a deeper life, and I implore you for the sake of your fellow men to strengthen your contact with your own soul so that you will have done your share in making revelation possible; so that you will have served your part in bringing in the light, and will therefore be in a position to take advantage of that new light and new information, and so be better able to point the way and clear the path for the bewildered seeker at that time.  Those who are not ready for the coming events will be blinded by the emerging light and bewildered by the revealing wonder; they will be swept by the living breath of God, and it is to you that we look to fit them for the event.

Before we proceed further I want to touch upon the apparent contradictions which occur (and which may continue to occur) in this treatise.  Sometimes a ray will be spoken of as being in manifestation.  At other times it may be referred to as being out of manifestation.  We may speak about its influence upon a particular kingdom in nature, and then again still another ray may be regarded as of prime importance.  These discrepancies are only apparent, and their cause lies hid in the right understanding of the Law of Cycles.  Until this basic [190] Law of Periodicity is comprehended (and this will not be possible until man has succeeded in developing fourth dimensional vision) it will not be easy to avoid what may look like contradictions.  At one time a certain ray may be in incarnation and thus of paramount influence, and yet, at the same time, still another ray may govern the major cycle,—a cycle of which the ray under consideration may be only a temporary aspect.  For instance, the seventh Ray of Ceremonial Organisation is now coming in, and the sixth Ray of Devotion is going out; yet this sixth ray is a major ray cycle and its influence will not entirely disappear for another 21,000 years.  At the same time, this sixth ray might well be regarded as the sixth sub-ray of the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, which has been in manifestation for several thousand years and will remain operative for another 40,000 years.  Yet at the same time, this fourth ray isout of manifestation as regards its minor and cyclic influence.

I fully realise that this information is of a most confusing nature to the beginner in occultism, and only those students who conform to the requirement of grasping the general outline and the broad basic propositions will be able to gather out of these instructions the true, intended perspective.  If the reader loses himself in the mass of possible analyses and intricacies of the imparted detail, he will not emerge into the realm of that clear vision which is intended.  When he eliminates the detail and deals with the general conformation of the solar Plan, he will then be enabled to cooperate with the needed intelligence.  Read therefore constructively and not critically, knowing that it is not easy to see the Plan as it exists in the minds of the Builders, Who work in the closest cooperation, conforming to the initial Plan, and yet carrying forward Their individual efforts with concentration and sustained enterprise.