382. Esoteric Psychology - Volume I - 25. Section Two - CHAPTER III - The Rays and Man Introductory Remarks - Part 2 - A. BAILEY

Section Two - CHAPTER III - The Rays and Man

Introductory Remarks - Part 2

We must now begin what really constitutes an outline of the new psychology This will work out to its fulfillment and true usefulness in the Aquarian age.  It will then become the basic and fundamental science of that age, just as electrical science (the electricity of matter) is the basic achievement of the Piscean age.  What we are really going to consider are the influences which make a man what he is, and which determine the quality of his appearance.  This appearance must be studied in terms of the entire integrated personality, and not just from the outer and objective physical condition.  The influences which determine him are his own personal and soul rays which play upon him and affect his consciousness, finding entrance into his form equipment through the energy units of which that form is made.  Other determining influences are also the solar, cosmic and environing factors which likewise play upon him.

It might here be asked: What are the differences between the influences which are ray influences and those which are of an astrological nature, such as the rising sign, or the governing planets?

The energies which astrologically affect a human being are those which play upon him as a result of the apparent progress of the sun through the heavens, either once every twenty-five thousand years or once every twelve months.  Those that constitute the ray forces do not come from the twelve constellations of the zodiac, but emanate primarily from a world of being and of consciousness which lies behind our solar system, and which themselves come from the seven constellations which form the body of manifestation of the One About Whom Naught May Be Said.  Our solar system is one of these seven constellations.  This is the world of Deity Itself, and of it a man can know nothing until he has passed through the major initiations.  When we come later to study the zodiac and its relation to the rays we shall work this out more carefully and so make the idea clearer.  It is with the ray influences that we are dealing here, and not with the zodiacal.

One of the first things we need to grasp, as we study man and the rays, is the large number of these ray influences which play upon him, and which form him, and "enliven" him, and make him the complexity he is.  It would be wise for us to enumerate them one by one and consider them for a while.  There is no real reason for bewilderment in this connection.  As time progresses and the rays are more widely studied, man's relation to them will be subjected to careful analysis, and there will then be possible a wide checking up of information and of facts.  There will later come a tabulation and an understanding of the ray forces.  This will lead to a science of psychology of a more sure and accurate nature, instead of the speculative science it now is.  At present modern psychology concerns itself with the more apparent aspects of incarnated man and with a discussion of certain speculative subjective possibilities.

It might therefore be noted that the following rays and influences must be considered in the case of every individual man, for they make him what he is and determine his problem:

1. The ray of the solar system itself.

2. The ray of the planetary Logos of our planet.

3. The ray of the human kingdom itself.

4. Our particular racial ray, the ray that determines the Aryan race.

5. The rays that govern any particular cycle.

6. The national ray, or that ray influence which is peculiarly influencing a particular nation.

7. The ray of the soul, or ego.

8. The ray of the personality.

9. The rays governing:

a. The mental body.

b. The emotional or astral body.

c. The physical body.

There are other rays, but the above are the most powerful and have the greater conditioning power.  Let us briefly consider them: