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Divine Will / Spiritual Will (The Will of God)

In the Esoteric Literature we are told that our goal is:

..Illumination of the Mind

..Revelation of Love

..Evocation of Will

We can assume that achieving one without the others would either not be advisable, such as Will without Love, or as we are dealing at the level of the Spiritual Triad, it would be highly unlikely.

A view of the Will, within the triplicity, could be seen as follows:

Starting at the level of the Cosmos:

..First there was the Breath – 1^st aspect – Will -

..Then there was the Word – 2^nd aspect – Love

..Then there was the Universe – 3^rd aspect – Manifestation

(the Word includes the Breath and the Universe includes Breath and Word, or otherwise the 2^nd aspect includes the 1^st and the 3^rd aspect the 1^st and 2^nd, in order to exist and evolve)

..Life 1^st aspect

..Quality 2^nd aspect

..Appearance 3^rd aspect

..Directional Impulse 1^st aspect (from Martin Muller, Prelude to the new man)

..Formation 2^nd aspect

..Exteriorizing, Dynamization 3^rd aspect.

..Head Centre – 1^st aspect (monad – life)

..Heart Centre – 2^nd aspect (soul – consciousness)

..Ajna Centre – 3^rd aspect (personality – substance)

..I wish to take a vacation .. 1^st aspect

..I go to a travel agent and format the vacation.. 2^nd aspect

..I go on the vacation.. 3^rd aspect

(From the Cosmos to everyday life, this originating impulse pervades our existence)

As we view the Spiritual Will from the triad, we can see it as:

..Atma — Spiritual Will – Ray 1 — From Monad to Soul

..Buddhi — Spiritual Love – Ray 2 — From the Heart Centre

..Manas — Intelligence - Ray 3 — Animation of form

The Spiritual Will (gwp 269) and its three aspects as shown above, must be brought into play before the Divine Will (Cosmic Plane) can control.

The Tibetan attempts to explain the various aspects of the ‘Will’ using language which he says is simply not able to convey the actual truth. Regardless, an overview of his explanations (EA 589 –) is in order to assist in laying our foundation.

We are considering the expression of the Shamballa force in terms of Will, i.e., of divine purpose, latent in the mind of God since the beginning of time and in Gods mind that idea is seen whole and complete, yet for those in manifestation, it is a gradual, self-revealing evolutionary and demonstrated activity. At this point in time we know something of the intelligence aspect of God and it is revealed in the living activity of substance. Of the love of God, we are slowly learning as we can currently contrast its mode of living activity with the visioned and sensed love of Deity, expressed at this point as the desire for right human relations and the correct treatment of all that is sub-human. Of the Will of God we are told that we know nothing as our individual instruments or ‘collective human will’ which could handle this interpretation for us, is currently focused on selfishness and a sort of self-imposed submission to a higher power, yet still based on the wish-life.

Under the occult method we are told to begin with the universal and the whole, as the ‘individual’ will work themselves out in time, as a component of the whole. A thorough study of the rays and constellations and planets would help us gain further understanding of the pouring through of Shamballa energy as emerging purpose on the physical plane, although this paper is not intended to contain this level of detail.

We are given three major expressions of the will aspect, (Divine Will) and we need to recall that the Tibetan is referring to the universal and the whole, not the individual. First there is ‘will as the conditioner of the life aspect’. This does not refer to events or happenings, but to the nature of the life manifestations in any cycle, through any or all nations/races, where humanity is concerned. It also refers to the broad and general lines which play at any time upon the planet and are setting the pace for the evolution of forms and concerns the force and endurance of the life as it manifests through and creates those external conditions which are qualified and expressed in terms of life, quality, appearance. He say’s that the word ‘life’ in this triplicity of terms refers to life as humanity understands it.. the expression. What he is actually here referring to is the ‘life’ which synthesises spirit, soul and body. He say’s it is in reality that ‘fourth something’ which hovers behind all manifestation and behind all objects, all qualified expressions of divinity and which is hinted at in the Bhagavad Gita in the words: ‘Having pervaded this whole universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain’.

Next we have the ‘will which brings fulfillment’ and this energizes the basis of all relationships and all processes of interrelation in our solar system and as far as humanity is concerned, in the planet itself. It is the prime factor in bringing about the inevitability of the divine consummation; it is the cause of all fruition of all forms on all planes and of divine intention; it is that which lies back of consciousness itself. Also, there is a faint and dim reflection of this will-fulfillment in the joy of achievement and as registered by a human being who finds his heart’s desire. This concentrated evolutionary effort, this undeviating purpose has called forth more than desire and more than the will to be active… there is a realised achievement from the very start for this is the divine will to completion which precedes the creative effort. Overall, it is the synthesis of creation, or persistent endeavour, adherence to vision and complete sacrifice, and all of these in terms of divine ‘experienced experiment’.

All through these experiences of the Divine Will runs the thread of a fulfilled synthesis and this is more than cohesion in time and space; it is more than the principle of privation and more than self-imposed limitation. It is the end seen from the beginning; it is alpha and omega producing the completed whole and the perfect fruition of the divine will.

Lastly, it is the ‘will which conquer death’ and this is not to be interpreted in terms of death from the point of view of the manifestation of the form nature. The note of synthesis and triumph – realised and complete – persists behind all that we can recognise as death. This will is the principle of victory, of the ultimate goal of life when fruition is achieved; it is the final united success or unified conformity to a long foreseen purpose of spirit-matter, life-form, plus that something which is the dream and goal of the highest initiates in the Hierarchy to contact.. the secret revelation of Shamballa itself and the Christ himself is striving towards this knowledge. In this we can see that the Hierarchy strives towards Shamballa, just as we strive towards the Hierarchy.
So, this level of the Will emerges from the Cosmic planes and these powers (from the Great Bear; Pleiades; Sirius) work through the seven rays and these in turn express themselves through the twelve constellations; and the Lords of the twelve constellations step these three major energies down so our solar Logos can take them in. Shamballa then tunes them for the Hierarchy and so forth.

1. The conditioning ‘will’ is the synthesis of the life of the cosmic plane of which our seven planes are the seven subplanes. Until humanity’s consciousness is far more expanded, it is not possible for us to understand this synthetic realisation.
2. The ‘will’ which brings fulfillment is the divine incentive coming from the cosmic astral plane.
3. The ‘will which conquers death is an outpouring from the cosmic mental plane.

There we have it.. the source of Divine Will.

The Divine Will made its first direct impact (EH 668) on humanity from Shamballa (stepped down from the before mentioned three cosmic planes) within the last couple of hundred years and this produced great men, such as Roosevelt, Lincoln, Churchill and also evil men, such as Hitler (and his entourage) and Stalin. It is apparent that this higher level of pure Will is very difficult for us to correctly manifest and when it is apprehended the disciple must be of a pure nature and active heart to work with it correctly. It would seem that the three aspects of the triad must be at least somewhat alive in the man to rightly handle this energy.

It is only at the higher initiations that we can properly perceive the light of Buddhi and the light of Atma which are the light of Pure Reason, which is the sublimation of the intellect, and the light of Spiritual Will, which is the revelation of the unfolding purpose. Also, Manas is essentially Will working out on the physical plane.

The Conflict

Back down here on physical Earth existence, many of us are not able to correctly recognize or apprehend the high level of Spiritual or most certainly, Divine Will.

The Divine / Spiritual Will and what it implies and how we misinterpret it:

..Divine Will of and from the Cosmic plane

..Monadic Will and the Ego is a reflection of it (spiritual Will)

..Self will is then the distortion (will power) determination to achieve some goal

It is stated in the Esoteric literature that so called victory descends from above and cannot really be worked up from the lower, or below. The higher contains the vibration and life of the lower as well, yet the lower does not encompass the higher, so we are faced with the fact that we must somehow include the higher and work from the highest possible point to attain any real movement or progress. There is nothing truly lost or to loose, only to gain. Notice Direction is again implied in gaining.

The initial conflict is of course all around the will of the personality vs. the Will of the Soul.

The Tibetan tells us relative to the ‘seven techniques of integration’ (EPII 345), and prior to the fusion of the personality into a unity with the soul, that it is here that we will deal with the inevitable integration of the threefold lower nature into an active and conscious personality. It is at this point that we are dealing with the consciousness aspect of manifestation and once apprehended and appreciated, the knowing of this high purpose and truth, brings into a direct conflict the will of personality and Will of Soul.

We can better understand this conflict when we review (EPII 220) the seven rules for ‘inducing Soul control’ and simply review the first rule that states ‘the tendency innate and ineradicable, to blend and synthesise’. This knowing of ‘purpose and truth’ at the soul level will lead to pain and sorrow as we experience the distinctions and miss-apply the consciousness at this level and it is the result of an act of the Will, caused by the impetus surrounding the sensed and innate purpose of God. Our will coloured by desire distorts the truth and impetus of the higher Will, leading to the inevitable ‘train wreck’, at the personality level.

At some point, in a life prior to the second initiation, we face dilemmas, emergencies and general desperation that lead us to call upon the Soul and submit to its influence and powers. This ‘touch of acquiescence’ then marks the acceptance by the soul of the demand of the personality for help as the conflict has proven too difficult.

We now realize that we do need to somehow extract some sort of vision of the plan to help bring us a sense of proportion and stability as it leads us to realize that there is purpose and objectives lying behind these difficulties.

Post ‘train wreck’, we are able to recognize the liberation, release and eventual expansion this difficult process represents. Apparently as we, even dimly, sense the Purpose of God, the resulting movement or focus towards this factor, induces an act of the Will and this also lies behind the impetus to initiation.

Background:

Most of us are all too familiar with the term ‘will-power’ as it is often used to describe a wish to act or not on the desire for something or someone, that is not in the best interests of all concerned. All around us we can see the over-weight people (diet issues), people on drugs, rampant emotionalism, those who fall to sexual or other desires, often in spite of ‘not really wanting to’ at some level, as the will-power fails to hold. These conditions should not be judged as failure.. it is simply an inability to hold the higher sensed vibration consistently. This is likely due to the ‘static’ in the system between the old familiar vibration and the new higher vibration as this produces difficulty and can cause us to stay with the old familiar mode of living, until we are fed up with it, so we gather enough determination to drop the old habits and live the new. Thus, the old familiar patterns become ‘evil’ (in a manner of speaking) and of the past and undesirable until we have utilized a measure of developed will to pass the obstacle. When we ‘view’ these issues of vibration and energy, it provides a sense of detachment or creates the position of the observer, which is useful to assist in lessening the emotional/concrete mind interplay.

It is not helpful that a certain portion of humanity, cheered on by the media, have tried to make uncontrolled behaviours acceptable. Again these behaviours in the person are not to be judged, however the resulting disasters are not a useful outcome (health, social stigma, arrested development etc.)

It is interesting to review the definition of will / will-power in Funk and Wagnall’s (1955) dictionary.

Will-Power: (noun) The ability to control oneself; determination; strength or firmness of mind. (these interpretations have a sense of desire or emotionality as well, the term ‘will-power’ has a common usage, often depicting astral struggle or battle vs. fixed purpose.) Often we have a battle waged between the mental realized goal and the desire of the astral/emotional elemental nature as humanities development is primarily in the astral area.

Will: (noun) The power of conscious, deliberate action; the faculty by which the rational mind makes choices of its ends of actions and directs the energies in carrying out its determinations. That which has been resolved or determined upon; a purpose; Power to dispose of a matter arbitrarily; discretion. (this interpretation seems to have a somewhat more directed and firm sense to it… such as the term higher Will)

From my point of view the term ‘Will’ has a matter-of-factness about it that does not evoke the lower, yet it does reach up to our higher self .. its has a sense of fixed purpose and this is captured in the Funk and Wagnall’s interpretation at least to some extent.

The importance of understanding where the higher will, the will of clear direction and purpose, can be accessed is important if we are to control and integrate the lower vehicles. The three personality types of energy (EPII 8) 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 solar angel 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. They explain the human problem, they indicate the objective before man; they account for and explain the energy of illusion; and they point out the way of psychological unfoldment, which leads man through the duality of unity and it is at this level of Soul contact that we need to access in order that we evoke the higher Will without distortion.

Disciples have the problem of expressing the duality of Love and Will through the personality.. the initiate has the objective of expressing the Will of God through the developed love and wise use of the intelligence. Self-will relates us to form, whereas the Will of God relates the soul of man to the spirit and it takes three initiations to make this clear to the disciple.

We can experience in Astrology where some of the tests, trials and triumphs are designed to change self will to divine will. It is interesting to consider some of the astrology relevant to the three great ‘Sons of God’ in relation to initiation and this ultimately corresponds to the Divine Will. (EA 204)

In Scorpio Hercules became the triumphant disciple having passed the tests of the hydra.

In Taurus the Buddha overcame desire to arrive at illumination.

In Pisces the Christ overcame death to become a world saviour.

These three constellations provide the needed experiences and proving ground to test and perfect the three aspects of the personality. We are asked to ponder on these statements and learn the lessons of appetite, of desire and of the self-will.

1. Scorpio takes the tests down into the physical plane and the tests are solved using the reasoning mind.
2. Taurus governs desire and carries the tests into the emotional and astral sphere and carries the desire-sensitivity nature up from the form side to the world of sensitive perception or intuition.
3. Pisces carries the test into the region of the mental process, which is a reflection of the will aspect of divinity and the problem of the initiate in this sign is voiced by Christ in the words: ‘Father, not my will but Thine be done’. The tests here carry the self-will of the personality up into the region of the divine will and the resulting inspiration leads to a world saviour.

Roberto Assagioli was a disciple of the Tibetans and some of the letters that the Tibetan wrote to him are contained in the DINA books. Roberto wrote a book titled ‘The Act of Will’ and I have utilized some of this work as reference in this paper due to its practicality and the fact that it seems to be aimed at an energetic level closer to many of us (speaking for myself of course).

Pg.3 – The act of will) Humanity has acquired great knowledge relative to physical plane existence and manipulation, yet our knowledge of and control over our inner being is very limited. We are ignorant of what is going on in the unconscious and unable to reach up to the supra-conscious levels to become aware of the true Self. Able to land on the moon, plumb the ocean depths and harness electricity, yet seemingly incapable of dealing with or controlling our own emotional impulses or desire. (Personally I would wonder, is this not a reflection of the success of our integration of Ray 5 and the not so successful integration of Ray 2?)

“The wide gulf or gap between man’s internal and external powers is one of the most important and profound causes of the individual and collective evils which afflict our civilization”.

The remedy to narrow this gap needs to be sought in two areas; the simplification of the outer life and the development of the inner powers.

Simplification can come from eliminating unnecessary complications (often self-inflicted due to the desire nature), re-establish closer contact with nature and practice the art of relaxing and resting. Yet, it is only through the development of our inner power that we can offset the dangers around losing control of the natural forces at our disposal and hence become the victims of our achievements. Fundamental to these powers and the power which should be prioritized is the unrealized potency of our own will. After all, the will is central to our personality and the core of our being. As well, the will is central in deciding what is to be done and our persisting in the task of seeing it through.

To access the will we need to forget the theories and intellectualistic lines of approach and discover the reality and nature of the will through its direct existential experience.

Our experience of the will should provide a firm foundation (Pg.7 The act of will) and rewarding experience to begin our task of training to enhance its qualities. It occurs in three phases, according to Assagioli, and first is the recognizing that the will actually does exist, with the second being the realization of having a will and the third discovery is that of ‘being a will’, which is different than having a will.

He gives us the example of discovering beauty and its arousing of our senses as a comparison to the discovery of will.. this is an existential experience and does not have exact words to describe it. Our discovery of will may occur during a crisis where we suddenly know exactly what to do and then do it automatically, with success.. we could almost witness the end from the beginning.

In this writing we are warned that resistance is inevitable and often comes from a Victorian attitude that the will is somehow stern and forbidding, which just serves to repress and condemn our true human nature. In reality the true function of the will is not to act against the personality drives to force the accomplishment of purpose.. the will should have a directive and regulatory function to balance and constructively utilize all of the activities and energies of the human being without repressing any of them.

Lets review a passage from Master Morya’s work, the Ray 1 master, Leaves of Morya’s Garden, Book one The Call; to help us realize that the will is not to be utilized without the love / heart aspect as well. This is also a call to service.

Into the New World My first message:

1. My Friends! Happiness lies in serving the salvation of Humanity.

Put aside all prejudices and , summoning your spiritual forces, aid mankind.

Direct the unsightly towards the path of beauty.

As the tree renews its leaves, so shall humanity flourish on the path of righteousness.

1. Direct your friends towards righteousness.

Do not conceal our communications.

Follow Our Teachings with your heart.

Strive and you will perceive the light.

I will point out the way — the heart will understand Our Token.

Behold! The Teachers will reveal a lyre, and miraculously its power will endow you with the gift of enhancement.

Behold the bliss sent unto you.

Dedication is the requisite of those who strive on the path of ascent.

Those who with a full heart fulfill Our requests will attune their ears to the harmony of the Universe.

By bringing happiness onto you We show Our Trust in your striving towards Good.

Truth is with you – be ready to receive it.

As the heavens are fathomless, so great is your strength.

Another example of Ray 1 and the notion of will with inclusiveness is taken from Daniel Krummenacher’s paper on the Rays and Qualities: “Qualities in our Actions”. Ray 1,

…. I am truthful, because I am fearless … I identify with complete freedom and I strive to release people from all forms of bondage and oppression. My summary word is ‘inclusion’ and my innate dynamics: to blend and synthesize…. (this is only a portion of his text)

And to provide some context we now look at Daniels coverage of the lower manifestation of Ray 1: everything revolves around me. I hold myself above all others and keep myself separate and isolated. I am arrogant, powerful and power-hungry. I do not have a lasting respect for forms or people…. Not thy will but my will is what counts for me (again this is a portion of his text.)

(rays and initiations 35-36) When your life is fundamentally invocative, then there will come the evocation of the will. It is only truly invocative when personality and soul are fused and functioning as a blended and focused unit. It is only in group formation that, as yet, the Shamballa force of the will can be tapped and the formulas of approach or rules are useless to the ‘individual’. So, only the group is capable of invoking Shamballa which is why Hitler, the exponent of the reversed reaction to Shamballa (and consequently the evil reaction) had to gather around him a group of like-minded people or personalities.

(An act of will- pg. 3-) Another form of resistance comes from inertia, “to let the easy-going side of one’s nature take control, to allow inner impulses or external influences to dominate the personality. It may be summed up as unwillingness to take the trouble, to pay the price demanded by a worth-while undertaking”.

Once we are certain of the existence of our will, comes the realization of the close and intimate connection between the will and the self. “I am aware of being and willing”; or “In that I am, I can will”.

We are eventually given 5 types of will and 7 qualities (pg. 7 and on) and I will briefly touch upon them here before returning to the Tibetans writings. This book, The Act of Will is a very worthwhile read and if studied with care, it is not unlike the Tibetans work in that more clarity is produced as it is re-read.

1. The Strong Will: Once we have recognized that we are the will, then the developed strong will is most easily recognized as our source of strength, yet we must remember that this strength is not the whole will. It is only one of the aspects and if it is utilized without the other aspects, then it can be ineffective and most certainly harmful. Think of Ray 1 without any Love.

To help develop the Strong Will we can initially call upon our pride and ambition to assist us in strengthening our resolve. Note: The uncomfortable position of observing ourselves in situations where we could have done better with some ‘will’ but did not, is a good exercise to help develop will, using our imagination. As well, picture all the advantages of an effective will and finally of being in possession of a strong will with the accompanying images of firmness, determination and persistence.

1. The Skillful Will: Here we have the ability to accomplish what we need to, with the least expenditure of energy. If we understand our inherent habits, patterns, desires, drives and the how they relate together, then we can at any time activate and utilize these core competencies that will produce what it is we are trying to accomplish. Skill in action means that sometimes the most direct or blunt approach is not the best.

To develop Skillfull Will we must become familiar with the fact that our psychological functions can interpenetrate and interact, yet the will itself is in the position to direct this interpenetration and interaction. So, the will has regulating power, but the power is governed by the psychological laws and if we ignore them we likely waste the power or misuse the power of the will. We are given Laws associated with the Skillfull Will.

1. Mental pictures and images and ideas tend to produce a corresponding physical condition and action that corresponds. “Every idea is an act at an initial stage”.
2. Attitudes, movements and actions can evoke corresponding images and ideas and we can experience this by playing a role in life, such as pretending to be angry and witness that it can awaken real anger.

We are given 8 more of these laws and in conclusion we can utilize them to skillfully manipulate our will to ensure that it is most effective. For instance the ability to form an ‘opposite thought’ is a skillful way of utilizing our will to build another source of ‘attraction’ and therefore let the original negative captivating thought wither away.

1. The Good Will: (No this is not the salvation army) Even if our will is strong and skillful it could still be harmful or evil which will lead to a backlash against us according to the laws of ‘action and reaction’ and ‘rhythm and equilibrium’ It is critical that we choose ‘right’ goals and harmless goals.

To develop Good Will we must realize that the individual will can strengthen itself and skillfully direct the activity of the psychological functions, yet now we must discipline the self and choose goals that are consistent with the welfare of others. To do so we need to eliminate Selfishness, Self-centeredness and Lack of understanding others. Cultivating empathy for others is an important task to develop Good Will. An exploration of Love and Will is necessary to truly understand the undertaking here.

1. The Transpersonal will: (At this point we have moved from self-will/will power to the level of Spiritual will.) The author explains that the dimensions of this level of will can be termed as ‘vertical’. This is the realm of the Transpersonal will, which is the will of the Transpersonal Self and is the field of the relationship within each individual between the will of the personal self or I, and the will of the Transpersonal Self. This relationship will ultimately lead to the fusion of the personal and transpersonal selves and eventually to the next level, the Universal Self which embodies and demonstrates the Universal, Transcendent Will. (Divine Will).

To even begin to develop the Transpersonal will we must have reached the stage of the satisfaction of the other levels of will and the life accomplishments that this signifies. Boredom, emptiness, satiety, meaninglessness are all conditions that cause us to search for the ‘other’ or ‘something more’. Viktor Frankl called it the ‘existential vacuum’ and famously Tolstoi suffered from this situation and it underscores the fundamental need to understanding the meaning of life. In this we can see that no matter our level of energetic initiation, we need to employ our will to see the meaning in whatever we do regardless of these conditions, if we are to play our part effectively.

Regardless, the sense of emptiness pushes us to reach beyond the limitations of ordinary consciousness to obtain a more expanded and intense state of awareness. We must not drop down into a state of regression, but go the way of transcendence and work to rise above ordinary consciousness. Here I believe it would be accurate to say that Meditation, Service and Study are the backbone to working towards this state of heightened consciousness.

1. The Universal will: Assagioli covers a number of angles to explain what the Universal Will is and as I have covered it earlier as the Divine Will I won’t repeat his remarks, save one. The most direct and highest statement of “The will-to-unification has been made by Christ: Not my will, but thine be done, and its achievement is in His triumphant affirmation, I and my Father am One.”

I realize that the distinction between the Spiritual Will and the Divine Will may be somewhat hard to grasp in words, yet I believe there initiation, existence and manifestation is from different planes, with the Divine Will on the higher, Cosmic plane.

Assagioli remarks that to understand and develop the will, we need to understand the ‘qualities’ of the will as follows and to have them clearly in view:

1. Energy – dynamic power, intensity.
2. Mastery – Control, discipline.
3. Concentration – One-pointedness, attention, focus.
4. Determination – Decisiveness, resoluteness, promptness.
5. Persistence – Endurance, patience.
6. Initiative – Courage, daring.
7. Organization – Integration, synthesis.

And the stages of a willed act as it works out are: Purpose, Deliberation, Decision, Affirmation, Planning and the Direction or Execution. I would say that if we are not recognizing or employing these stages then we could very well be simply acting from desire.

(EP II, 314) The whole process of moving our centre of attention from self-will/will-power to Divine Will takes place over many lifetimes. The development and aligning of our ‘bodies’ is an experience of manifestation.

The soul itself is a major centre of experience in the life of the monad; the lower bodies are centres of expression in the life of the soul. As the consciousness of the man shifts continuously into the higher bodies through which expression can become possible, the soul gradually becomes the paramount centre of experience in consciousness and the lesser centres of experience (lower bodies) assume less and less importance. The soul may experience less through them, but will use them increasingly in service.

When we look at the soul as the centre of consciousness, it uses the bodies initially as centres of conscious experience and as time progresses we become more soul conscious and so the consciousness that we experience as a soul in the lower bodies becomes of decreasing importance, until the bodies are simply instruments to contact the physical world, emotional world and mental world. We can sense that the development of the higher will follows this process in parallel.

(EPII, 316) We need to bear in mind that we are dealing with the soul as a centre of consciousness (consciousness referred to by Assagioli as the ‘I’) and the vehicles as centres of experience. Man’s consciousness is firstly centred in the three bodies and the centre of experience is usually his field of consciousness.. he is yet to identify with the real self or the conscious subject, the One Who is aware… as time goes on he will shift his identity and be less interested in the field of experience and more aware that the soul is the thinking Individual.

(EPII, 321) The higher impulses are progressive in their appearance as follows:

1. The physical nature becomes responsive to, Desire, Ambition, Aspiration.

The fusion of the sentient, astral body and the physical body then becomes complete.

1. This basic duality then becomes responsive to the lower concrete mind, the separative impulses of the selfish mental body, the intellect or synthesis of mind and instinct, then the promptings of the soul.

This produces an integration of the three energies which constitute the threefold lower man.

1. This triplicity then becomes responsive to…. Itself as an integrated personality and then the rhythm set up by the fusion of the lower energies (astral / mental) becomes dominant. The Soul, as the fundamental centre of experience provides the personality with a vision of its destiny, which is an instrument of higher force. Then responsive to the intuition and the Monad.

While all this is going on, a parallel activity in our material substance takes place which brings the ‘negative’ aspect of matter up to the positive requirement for soul use. So, the glandular equipment, the physical apparatus, and the response instrument become increasingly efficient, and an inner coordination and integration takes place. No doubt the reasoning behind interest in this work and the notion of improving our Self awareness, is to hasten development to some extent and respond to our sense of a higher calling. The higher will is integral to this process.

(Assagioli , act of will– 155) We are dominated by everything with which our self becomes identified. (and so) We can dominate, direct, and utilize everything from which we dis-identify ourselves.

The central, fundamental experience of self-consciousness, the discovery of the “I”, is implicit in our human consciousness. It is that which distinguishes our consciousness from that of the animals, which are conscious but not self-conscious. Generally this self-consciousness is indeed ‘implicit’ rather than explicit as it is experienced in a nebulous and distorted way because it is usually mixed with and veiled by the ‘contents’ of consciousness.

This constant input of influences veils the clarity of consciousness and produces spurious identification of the self with the content of consciousness, rather than with consciousness itself. If we are to make self-consciousness explicit, clear, and vivid, we must first disidentify ourselves from the contents of our consciousness. To be more specific, we tend to identify with that which is more interesting, alive or most intense.
For instance the person identified with their body; so they talk about and experience themselves mainly in terms of sensation, or otherwise they function mainly as bodies.
Others identify with feelings and describe their state of being in affective terms, and believe the feelings are central to their lives, while thoughts are perceived as more distant or separate. Those identified with mind are likely to describe themselves with intellectual constructs when asked how they feel and consider feelings and sensations as peripheral, or are largely unaware of them. This identification with only a part of our personality may seem o.k., but it prevents us from realizing the experience of the “I”, the deep sense of self-identification, of knowing who we are.

By example, if we continue to only identify with predominantly one function, we will eventually run into a sense of loss, such as the athlete who grows old and weak or the actress who ages and finds her beauty going as well, and so forth. This can represent a painful death of the old, yet herald a re-birth into something new with a broader identification and can signify a new state of ‘being’.

Possibly a less painful way of bringing in the new and discarding the old is with a deliberate exercise of disidentification and self-identification and gain the freedom and power of choice to be identified with, or disidentified from any aspect of the personality according to which is most appropriate at the time. The recognition and empowerment of the will is a key consideration here.

We will cover this exercise later in the paper when we consider the topic of ‘Resolution’.

(EPII – 327) It is interesting to note that the process of the appropriation of the bodies (incarnation), presents similar stages with respect to the evolution of the form and as well to the evolution of the indwelling life. Its interesting to review these stages when we consider that we need to more consciously access the will aspect in order to facilitate our own evolution. Concerning the so called material aspect of manifestation there are the following stages:

1. The stage of involution, or of appropriation and of construction of the vehicles of expression upon the downward arc, where emphasis is centered around the building, growth and appropriation of the bodies and not so much around the indwelling and conscious Entity.
2. The stage of evolution and refinement and development of quality, leading to liberation upon the upward arc.

We see more or less the same process in the psychological history of the human, divided into two stages, marking involution and the evolution of consciousness. Our interest here is in the process whereby the consciousness aspect of divinity is expanded, culminating in initiation and this is central to our theme of self-will to Divine Will.

These ‘similar stages’ differ for the upward arc vs. the downward arc in the area of objective, motive and scope and might be called:

..The stage of appropriation.

..The stage of Aspiration.

..The stage of Approach.

..The stage of Appearance.

..The stage of Activity.

..The stage of Ambition.

Briefly, we have the stage of appropriation where the soul registers the desire to incarnate (the will to exist, 1^st aspect), decides to make an appearance (2^nd aspect), appropriates the needed substance to appear. (3^rd aspect)

The stage where it ‘aspires’ or desires to appear and so we have a form appropriated on the mental plane, and one on the astral plane through aspiration and now the stage of approach upon the etheric levels. Next is the appearance, into the light of day and the man runs his cycle of incarnated existence, with the last two stages of activity and ambition taking place on Earth.

Interestingly, we have the man reversing these stages as he takes the path of return. In this regard we have the man working his way down through the planes and back again to the mental plane, which brings him to the stage of the coordinated personality and the full expression of the personality ray. Life after life takes place and the soul, in consciousness, passes through the stages as outlined above, yet gradually a higher sense of values supervenes; there comes a period when desire for material and ambitious personality satisfactions fades out and new and higher values take over. Now the consciousness aspect passes through all the stages upon which we have touched but in reverse order, so upon the upward arc. It expands from ambition through activity and eventually to the stage of approach to the divine reality upon the mental plane and that of the final appropriation, where the consciousness of man becomes merged with that of the soul upon its own level and appropriates in full awareness the One.

So, we begin and end with an expansion of consciousness and the first led to the inclusion of the material world and the second one includes and appropriates the spiritual world. From the conscious appropriation of form back again to the conscious appropriation of divinity is the work carried forward and the plan of Deity worked out.

We can now take a look at the co-ordination of the personality, the techniques of Integration, Fusion and Duality.

Resolution

(TWM – 573-574) We need to be mindful of the type of energy we use in our day to day contacts and its emanating source so we are fully aware of the Entity from which it has emanated.

Lets be clear about the lessons that we can learn by self-scrutiny and scrutiny by our ‘inner ruler’. We can ask, what was the type of energy that I used … what sort of force … and so forth. As we are dealing here with the will, we can use Ray 1 as an example.

What was the position that I held in my contact with my fellow man… did I hold my position mentally and were the words I spoke prompted by my desire to impose my will on others. When done correctly, I was speaking under the impulse of my ‘spiritual will’, and my words were in line with soul purpose and intent and governed by love and as a result were constructive, healing and helpful.. the attitude of detachment would be in play and there would be no desire to take prisoner the mind of the other.

However, if the words are prompted by ‘self-will’ and the resulting desire to impose my will on others and shine in their presence, or force agreement, then the method is destructive, dominating, aggressive, argumentative, forceful, rude etc…. these statements indicate the right or wrong use of Ray 1 force and the fact that we must be mindful on a daily basis of our position.

If we refer back to the points mentioned in Daniel Krummenacher’s paper on Ray 1, we can easily see the higher vs. lower approach that is covered here in TWM.

The term self-will is all about the lower will used for enhancement of the lower self and I would say that will-power is operating at a similar level even if it has a higher intention.

(LOS – 72) “To overcome the obstacles and their accompaniments, the intense application of the will to some one truth (or principle) is required”.

Here we are given 7 ways that peace may be achieved and we may have a good theoretical understanding of the obstacles and their cure, yet failure to overcome is most likely if we do not bring the will into play. And this will must be more than just so called will-power or self-will, it must be at a higher octave as covered earlier in this paper.

..Bodily disability > Wholesome, sane living

..Mental inertia > Control of the life force

..Wrong questioning > One pointed thought

..Carelessness > Meditation

..Laziness > Self discipline

..Lack of dispassion > Correct analysis

..Erroneous perception > Illumination

“Only the constant, steady, enduring effort of the will, functioning through the mind, will suffice to bring the aspirant out of darkness into light and to lead him from the condition of death into immortality”.

“All forms exist in order to express truth. By the steady application of God’s will in the Whole is truth revealed through the medium of matter. When the truth or basic principle is known, spirit will then stand revealed”.

We need to uncover the sense of our true will if we are to know how to direct our will with exactness to bring about the right conditions.

“Through the conscious utilisation of the will on each plane, the vehicle is directed constantly into an increasingly accurate expression of the one truth.”

(LOS – 9-10) “This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature and the restraint of the chitta (or mind)”.

We need to gain control of the versatile psychic nature and prevent the mind from assuming the many forms it so easily does, as these two produce the control of the emotional body and therefore of desire and control of the mental body, and therefore of lower manas or mind and these disabilities shut off the light of the soul and spiritual consciousness.

(LOS – 42) “The attainment of this stage (spiritual consciousness) is rapid for those whose will is intensely alive’.

The will, reflected in the mind, once dominant, awakens that aspect which is en rapport with the will aspect of the Logos, the first aspect. The lines of contact for the Aryan race:

..Monad, the will aspect

..Atma or spiritual will, the highest aspect of soul

..The mental body or intelligent Will, the highest aspect of the personality (here we can see why it is so important to initially develop fully aligned vehicles)

..The head centre

“The necessity for a strong energetic will becomes apparent if the path of Initiation is studied. Only an IRON will, and a steady, strong, unswerving endurance will carry the aspirant along this path and out into the clear light of day”.

(LOS – 13) “Tireless endeavour is the constant effort to restrain the modifications of the mind”.

Charles Johnston brings clarity to this statement: “the right use of the will is the steady effort to stand in spiritual being”.

(LOS – 14) “When the object to be gained is sufficiently valued, and the efforts towards its attainment are persistently followed without intermission, then the steadiness of the mind (restraint of the vrittis) is secured.

“Only intense love of the soul and of all that knowledge of the soul entails will carry the aspirant with sufficient steadiness toward his goal. The objective in view – union with the soul, and consequently the Oversoul and with all souls – must be justly appraised; the reasons for its achievement correctly judged, and the results to be gained most earnestly desired and loved before the aspirant will make the sufficiently strong effort which will give him his hold upon the modifications of the mind and consequently upon his entire lower nature. When this appreciation is true enough and his ability to go forward with the work of subjugation and control is without intermission, then the time will come when the student will know consciously and increasingly what is the meaning of restraint of the modifications”.

At this point it is clear the task ahead, and we must not ‘fool ourselves’ into a waste of time playing around the edges.

The first three initiations can be considered around the issue of the souls appropriation of the bodies. (EPII 268-269) The touch of ‘appropriation took place in the past and was known as the point of individualisation and during the stages when the soul tightens its grip upon the lower form nature leading to the first initiation.

The touch of ‘acquiescence’ is an important stage for us to consider now as it relates to our need to call in a higher will. During this stage, the urgency of the need and the problems and seemingly unsolvable dilemmas brought about by the force of opposition lead the man to seek to submit to a higher influence. In desperation he calls upon the soul and his spiritual resources contained in his Divine nature, unused to this point. This point marks the acceptance by the soul of the demand of the personality for help and light and the soul acquiesces in the plea of the personality for guidance and this in turn leads to the second initiation.

The touch of enlightenment is the point where the forces of the purified personality and the approaching soul engenders a light which will “fadeth not away” and this leads to the third initiation.

The task of building, appropriating and aligning the bodies is preliminary to the techniques of integration, fusion and duality in our quest to resolve the lower nature and become an instrument of soul.

(EPII 342) We can summarize a good deal of this initial work of building, appropriating and aligning if we simply consider that the ego appropriates to itself the forms necessary for expression on the different levels of divine manifestation. Over time these forms become embodiments of the will and purpose of the Indwelling Soul as follows:

The forms are developed over time and many incarnations which experience the activity of desire leading to the interpretation of these experiences that intensify and thus we can more correctly interpret our experiences as time passes.

1. The indwelling soul becomes more conscious and consequently more involved in the activity of evolution and shifts its focus from one ‘body’ to another and passes into higher and higher states of awareness until we hit the path of return…. Now aspiring for self-awareness, then identification with Self on its own level of consciousness, thus leaving behind the attraction of desire for the aspiration of that which is not been seen before.
2. The intermediate stage where divine attraction supersedes the lower worlds as follows:

1. Duality and lack of real control are realized.
2. Self control takes place via: decentralization, Comprehension of the task ahead, investigating the nature of form life by the divine Observer, leading to divine expression.
3. Alignment now takes place and the form subordinates to the Self and works with the Self.
4. Forms are now becoming more and more aligned and are integrating into an active and functioning personality, although swept up by their own power into a dominating personality life, then gradually controlled by Self and fused into world service and unified with Soul.
5. The personality ray and the soul ray are now blended into one united energy with the personality ray becoming a quality of and complementary to the soul and soul purpose is now active in the three worlds.

The above all takes place over a great amount of time and the great task for many of us is the integration of the threefold lower nature into an active, effective, conscious personality prior to its fusion into a unity with the soul. And in this we are dealing with the consciousness aspect of manifestation and the awareness that leads to an eventual realisation.

I wish I had a hundred dollars for every person that I have met at esoteric conferences that have told me they are 5^th initiates, or whatever.. this process of ‘integration’ of the lower into a full personality is in itself a task worthy of many of us and not to be easily disregarded as being beneath us.

As we have already studied this process of integration in our course work, I will cover it briefly and remember that we are viewing it from the angle of the seven ray techniques as they are applied to the aligning bodies of the lower man. The process is covered by the well known words of Alignment, Crisis, Light, Revelation, Integration. We seek to integrate under the focused activity of ‘contribution’, not acquisition and these ray techniques are imposed upon the personality by the soul, once a somewhat useful personality integration has taken place and is already slightly responsive to the soul.

So, we bring the bodies into Alignment.

Pass through a Crisis of evocation.

Enter a phase of Light, to see the next step.

Receive a Revelation of the plan and role.

Integrate the three bodies into one… ready for the further technique of Fusion.

It would be useful to keep in mind the prior information regarding the will, as the work requires a steadfast approach if we are to realize the achievement of Integration then Fusion and then Duality.

Integration, Ray 1:

“The love of power must dominate. There must also be repudiation of those forms which wield no power. The word goes forth from soul to form; ‘Stand up, Press outward into life. Achieve a goal. For you, there must be not a circle, but a line.

Prepare the form. Let the eyes look forward, not on either side. Let the ears be closed to all the outer voices, and the hands clenched, the body braced, and mind alert. Emotion is not used in furthering of the Plan. Love takes its place.

The symbol of a moving point of light appears above the brow. The keynote of the life though uttered not, yet still is clearly heard: ‘I move to power. I am the One. We are a Unity in power. And all is for the power and glory of the One.”

The Ray 1 man is seeking to first control his personality, then dominate the environment and he progresses first with an achieved control to that of being controlled and then on to controlling. Sort of like achieving the control over others by any means, and then being controlled by soul, leading to controlling again, but now with love.. and soul.

This person will usually begin with a ruthless approach to others and to controlling their surroundings and be seen as a destroying force. This brings a Crisis as his divine nature is not satisfied with this approach and his mis-use of power ends up destroying him and he walks alone. He now changes direction and works from the centre of his being, his heart and becomes inclusive and the Light breaks in and he sees what he has destroyed and now he works to rebuild and in the process raises the entire structure to something higher.

Ray 2:

“Again I stand ; a point within a circle and yet myself.

The love of love must dominate, not love of being loved.

The power to draw unto oneself must dominate, but into the worlds of form that power must some day fail to penetrate. This is the first step towards a deeper search.

The word goes forth from soul to form: Release thyself from all that stands around, for it has naught for thee, so look to me. I am the One who builds, sustains and draws thee on and up. Look unto me with eyes of love, and seek the path which leads from the outer circle to the point.

I, at the point, sustain. I, at the point, attract. I, at the point, direct and choose and dominate. I, at the point, love all, drawing them to the centre and moving forward with the travelling points towards that great Centre where the One Point Stands. What mean you by that Word?”

Finding no satisfaction in the familiar things, the aspirant wonders the significance of this realization. The old forms of life and desire cease to attract interest and as well, the pull or attractive power of the One at the centre also fails as it is not yet a familiar call. The aspirant is left with a deepening sense of futility, ‘pendent upon the periphery” of the divine ring pass not which he has himself established.. he must now reflect on and use the formula.

What now? We need to be using the meditation practises of the Raja Yoga system for instance, to bring in an intense inner focus and alert mental detachment to use any of these formulas with understanding. Re: alignment has been produced by the meditations and the antahkarana has been established.

The 2^nd ray crisis usually lasts far longer than the 1^st ray crisis, however once the 2^nd ray aspirant understands and takes on the opportunity as presented and can see ahead the line between himself and the centre, then the light breaks in.

First the light reveals a vision of defects, such as the soul sees the personality, then the next step ahead and if followed solves the puzzle of the next step ahead. Then he sees a vision of those who are travelling the same way and then a glimpse of the Guardian Angel whom provides as much light as he can use and a fleeting glimpse of the Angel of the Presence itself.

As well, a glimpse of the Master at first and later a contact with the Master once the needed integrations have taken place and at this moment of integration as the result of revelation, the fusion of the personality ray with the egoic ray takes place.

Ray 3:

“Pulling the threads of Life, I stand, enmeshed within my self-created glamour. Surrounded am I by the fabric I have woven. I see naught else.

The love of truth must dominate, not love of my own thoughts, or love of my ideas or forms; love of the ordered process must control, not love of my own wild activity.

The word goes forth from soul to form: Be still. Learn to stand silent, quiet and unafraid. I, at the centre, Am. Look up along the line and not along the many lines which, in the space of aeons, you have woven. These hold thee prisoner. Be still. Rush not from point to point, nor be deluded by the outer forms and that which disappears. Behind the forms, the Weaver stands and silently he weaves”.

It is through this enforced quiet (recall that these techniques are imposed by the soul) which brings about the true alignment and this is the quiet of daily living, not meditation. The aspirant on the 3^rd ray needs to deal with the immediate objective(s) and not be enthralled by the distant objective and the busyness associated with his weaving of glamorous forms and ideas.

He must offset this tendency by standing quiet at the centre and cease from any weaving; stop trying to make opportunities for himself, but do deal with the day to day opportunities that are presented and thus apply himself to the need to be met.

Through this most difficult process he will achieve a very different psychology and arrive at divine idleness. Of course a crisis will arise of deep distress as it dawns upon him just how useless his weavings and manipulations have been and the fact that this causes problems for the other weavers. As well, he uncovers the notion of living in spiritual being, a further crisis is now in play and the Tibetan explains as follows: “Cease from thy doing. Walk not on the Path until thou hast learnt the art of standing still. Study the spider, brother, entangled not in its own web, as thou are today entangled in thine own”.

This crisis will evoke understanding as an aspect of light and the aspirant begins to work with the Plan as it is, and not as he thinks it is, and as he works revelation comes and he sees clearly his task. The process takes a lot of time and usually begins with disentangling himself from his own ideas.

The 3^rd ray needs to achieve a quiet which is like that of a quiet mill pond, which he does not enjoy doing. Regardless, learning to do this brings about integration.

Keywords for the first three rays:

.. Ray 1 ..Inclusion

.. Ray 2 ..Centralisation

..Ray 3 ..Stillness

Ray 4:

“Midway I stand between the forces which oppose each other. Longing am I for harmony and peace, and for the beauty which results from unity. I see the two. I see naught else but forces ranged opposing, and I the one, who stands within the circle at the centre. Peace I demand. My mind is bent upon it. Oneness with all I seek, yet form divides. War upon every side I find, and separation. Alone I stand and am. I know too much.

The love of unity must dominate, and love of peace and harmony. Yet not that love, based on a longing for relief, for peace to self, for unity because it carries with it that which is pleasantness.

The word goes forth from soul to form. Both sides are one. There is not war, no difference and no isolation. The warring forces seem to war from the point at which you stand. Move on a pace. See truly with the opened eye of inner vision and you will find, not two but one; not war but peace; not isolation but a heart which rests upon the centre. Thus shall the beauty of the Lord shine forth. The hour is now.”

The fourth ray is the ray of humanity and so it relates to the functions, relationships and service of man… as an intermediate group or bridging group, on the planet and the function of this group is to embody a type of energy which is ‘at-one-ment’. Just by relating the meaning of this word, at-one-ment we can see that it is intended to bring all the forms to an ultimate perfection (through the power of the indwelling life) with which it becomes perfectly atoned. The relation of the human family in all this is to bring the three higher and three lower kingdoms into a close rapport and so act as a clearing house for divine energy. The service task of humanity is to produce unity, harmony, beauty in nature through the blending into one functioning, related unity the soul in all forms. At the beginning this is achieved individually and then in group and then an entire kingdom.

Once this merging takes place, and the disciple becomes aware of it in his brain, a crisis is evoked. This begins with a sense of isolation, often devastating and then a sense of despairing futility as the forces aligned against him seem too great to overcome. Next the sense of determination to at least stand in and refuse to give up (St. Paul… “having done all, to stand”) and finally a sudden recognition of the warrior within who can now begin the real work as the personality is aligned, the crisis is recognised and the will-to victory is present. This victory does not bring defeat to one side or the other… it is the triple victory of the two sides and of the One who is at the centre.

Key word: Steadfastness.

Ray 5:

“Towards me I draw the garment of my God. I see and know His form. I take that garment, piece by piece. I know its shape and colour, its form and type, its parts component and its purposes and use. I stand amazed, I see naught else, I penetrate the mysteries of form, but not the Mystery. I see the garment of my God. I see naught else.

Love of the form is good but only as the form is known for what it is – the veiling vase of life. Love of the form must never hide the Life which has its place behind, the One who brought the form into the light of day, and preserves it for His use, — The One Who lives, and loves and serves the form, the One Who Is.

The word goes forth from soul to form: Behind that form, I am. Know Me. Cherish and know and understand the nature of the veils of life, but know as well the One Who lives. Know Me. Let not the forms of nature, their processes and powers prevent thy searching for the Mystery which brought the mysteries to thee. Know well the form, but leave it joyously and search for Me.

Detach thy thought from form and find Me waiting underneath the veils, the many-sided shapes, the glamours and the thought-forms which hide my real Self. Be not deceived. Find me. Know Me. Then use the forms which then will neither veil nor hide the Self, but will permit the nature of that Self to penetrate the veils of life, revealing all the radiance of God, His power and magnetism; revealing all there is of form, of life, of beauty and usefulness. The mind reveals the One. The mind can blend and fuse the form and life. Thou art the One. Thou art the form. Thou art the mind. Know this.

“This fifth ray formula is of exceeding potency at this time and should be used often, but with care, by those upon this line of divine energy. It has most powerful integrating properties, but the person who employs it must be mindful to visualise and hold in his mind’s eye the even, balanced, equilibrised distribution of divine energy set in motion by the use of this fifth ray formula so that the three aspects of the spiritual entity concerned, the mind, the One Who uses it (the Self) and the form nature, may be equally stimulated”.

The uses of this formula will eventually produce a definite relation between the soul and its various aspects of the form, bringing about alignment and thus crisis. Actually this produces two lesser crisis, the first is the achieving of equilibrium and a ‘balanced point of view’ which causes difficulty and leads to the ‘ending of the joy-life and of desire’. This then leads to aridness in the life and a sense of loss and takes a lot of time to overcome. The second in which this balanced condition (the not-Self and the Self, the life-aspect and the form-aspect are seen as they are via the discriminating mind) leads eventually to a crisis of choice, and to the major task of the disciple’s life which is to detach himself from the grip of form experience, and consciously, rapidly, definitely and with intention, prepare for initiation.

Now the light streams forth leading to the revelation of the relationships of form to soul.. these two are seen quite differently than the man could have previously imagined. The mind quality of the fifth ray (critical, analytical, separative, over-discriminating) becomes what in the middle ages was called.. common sense.

Key word: Detachment.

Ray 6:

“I see a vision. It satisfies desire; it feeds and stimulates its growth. I lay my life upon the altar of desire – the seen, the sensed, that which appeals to me, the satisfaction of my need – a need for that which is material, for that which feeds emotion, that satisfies the mind, that answers my demand for truth, for service, and my vision of the goal. It is the vision which I see, the dream I dream, the truth I hold, the active form which meets my need, that which I grasp and understand. My truth, my peace, my satisfied desire, my dream, my vision of reality, my limited ideal, my finite thought of God; – for these I struggle, fight and die.

Love of the truth must always be. Desire and aspiration, reaching out for that which is material or soaring upward towards the vision of reality must ever find their satisfaction. For this men work, driving themselves and irking others. They love the truth as they interpret it; they love the vision and the dream, forgetting that the truth is limited by mind – narrow and set, one-pointed, not inclusive; forgetting that the vision touches but the outer fringes of mystery, and veils and hides reality.

The word goes out from soul to form: Run not so straight. The path that you are on leads to the outer circle of the life of God; the line goes forward to the outer rim. Stand at the centre. Look on every side. Die not for outer forms. Forget not God, Who dwells behind the vision. Love more your fellow men”.

The sixth ray disciple has to dissociate himself from his vision, truth, ideals and his picture of himself as a devoted follower of his Master, and stop forcing his fellow men to dedicate themselves to his vision.

He is lost in his own little world and is over occupied with himself and his tasks, activities and ideas. He is an idealist that is blind to other points of view and lacks the wide love of the 2^nd ray. The overarching problem is to detach from the thralldom of form and stand quietly at the centre to learn the breadth of vision and a right sense of proportion. He lacks these qualities until he can manage to align himself with all visions, forms of truth, and all dreams of reality until he finds God and his fellow men, behind it all. The peaceful standing still evokes a crisis.

This crisis leaves him destitute of incentive, motive, sensation, life purpose and appreciation by others. His old framework of my truths, my ideals are gone and he has nothing to replace them with. As the sixth ray is aligned with the psychic life of the astral plane and so is sensitive to his own reactions as well as the ideas of others concerning his ‘truths’, so he feels a fool and thinks that other people see him a fool as well. This difficult phase provides a complete readjustment of the Self to the self. As he stands still at the centre, fixed upon the soul, the light will break in. So, by facing the futility and himself and surrendering to the life at the centre, holding himself poised and alert, the light breaking in reveals to him that which he needs to know. He can now express inclusive love, welcomes all visions that serve to lift and comfort humanity and welcomes all truths if they bring revelation to other minds.. while poised at the centre.

The need to identity himself with the hierarchy is now fulfilled.

Key word: Restraint

Ray 7:

“I seek to bring the two together. The plan is in my hands. How shall I work? Where lay the emphasis? In the far distance stand the One Who Is. Here at my hand is form, activity, substance, and desire. Can I relate these and fashion thus a form for God? Where shall I send my thought, my power the word that I can speak?

I, at the centre, stand, the worker in the field of magic. I know some rules, some magical controls, some Words of Power, some forces which I can direct. What shall I do? Danger there is. The task that I have undertaken is not easy of accomplishment, yet I love power. I love to see the forms emerge, created by my mind, and do their work, fulfill the plan and disappear. I can create. The rituals of the Temple of the Lord are known to me. How shall I work?

Love not the work. Let love of God’s eternal Plan control your life, your mind, your hand, your eye. Work towards the unity of plan and purpose which must find its lasting place on Earth. Work with the Plan; focus upon your share in that great work.

The word goes forth form soul to form: Stand in the centre of the pentagram, drawn upon that high place in the East within the light which ever shines. From that illumined centre work. Leave not the pentagram. Stand steady in the midst. Then draw a line from that which is without to that which is within and see the Plan take form”.

The Tibetan says that as this ray is now coming into manifestation, it is very powerful and care must be taken when working with this formula.

The pentagram facing down would represent black magic and up, the white magic, so standing in the centre is to hold focus between these two, and face the east, or otherwise the light of the hierarchy. The disciple has already aligned his personality to a great extent and he now senses a deep need to willingly seek out the divine plan, and now begin to build in conformity with it.

Once he realizes his role as a relating agent, that stands in the midst of the building processes and works to ensure that the needed forms will be correctly built .. he is essentially the one who manifests the plan.

As the alignment is achieved, the disciple can be knocked off balance due to the influx of power converging on him at the mid-way point, and cause him to drop to the area of black magic and he is warned not to do this. If he can stand at the centre within the mystical pentagram, and suffer until the light pours in, then the plan will be revealed to him.

Key word: Orientation

(EPII 378-) We are also given the techniques of Fusion and Duality. The technique of Integration is applied upon the Path of Probation, the technique of Fusion is applied upon the Path of Discipleship and the technique of Duality is applied upon the Path of Initiation.

The technique of Fusion deals with the interplay of the four lower energies (physical, emotional, mental, personality) and the soul, as the qualities of the personality energy are transmuted into those of the soul and the fusion of these two takes place.

Essentially the technique of Fusion now takes place when we are sensitive to the motive of soul control in response to the sensed pull of the soul and the motive of service in response to a deep realisation of humanities need and the motive of cooperation with the Plan and is intended to evoke the three qualities of Will, Love and Intelligence, ray 1,2,3. It will bring Illumination through the evocation of the Will, Imagination through the evocation of Love and Inspiration through the evocation of the Intelligence.

This then infers that the Illumination through the evocation of the Will, relates to centre at the base of the spine which is awakened by an act of will … so the mind functioning through the brain. Also that the Imagination is stimulated so that an ever expanding all inclusive love will be expressed awakening the heart centre into full activity and that the spiritual plane life of the disciple will be so stimulated as to become inspired and creative through the full and conscious use of the Intelligence.

In summary the 1^st ray disciple (include the 5^th ray) must evoke the divine will and bring into functioning activity.. Atma. The evocation of the mind produces the Illumination of the intuition.

The 2^nd ray disciple (include the 4^th and 6^th ray) experiences an increased sentient response to the world soul through the cultivation of the creative imagination and is brought about by the evocation of the love nature. So, the technique of using imaginary thought power is scientifically developed. This creative tension of imagining brings the astral body into subordination to the soul.

The 3^rd ray disciple evokes a full functioning of the divine creative faculty, using of course right motive. An increased vital livingness and dynamic inflow of spiritual life is brought about and the disciple becomes inspired by the fire of love, invoking the service of creation.

Once this technique of Fusion is completed, the disciple is ready for the third initiation and on to the technique of Duality.

The Tibetan advises that he veils the duality techniques so they can only be comprehended by relatively advanced types.

An advanced meditation of, 1^st ray —Isolated Unity, 2^nd ray—Inclusive Reason, 3^rd ray—Presented Attributes is required to harness this technique. These keywords and their meaning have been covered in our course work and are contained on pg. 391 – EPII for your reading and study pleasure. And of course, to invoke deeper understanding, the study of these techniques would be very helpful.

Essentially, the technique of Duality highlights that we have become Spirit and Matter and no longer the triplicity of Spirit, Soul and Matter and this technique is beyond my comprehension as well as the intent of this paper.

I covered these techniques to try and provide a base of understanding around the challenge and reward of integrating the personality and then of course the integration with soul and finally Monad. The accessing of the higher will is hopefully an obvious requirement in this regard.

One of the rather basic yet critical requirements in moving from the difficulty of astral dominated will-power to the higher will, is the need to utilize some sort of technique(s) to ‘get the ball rolling’ so we can move from a dominance of the lower nature into a more integrated form. Roberto Assagioli provides an effective exercise that I believe is very useful in the ‘resolution’ of this difficulty. (Pg. 155 – Act of Will)

As a reminder, As we seem to be dominated by everything our self becomes identified with, we can certainly dominate, direct and utilize everything from which we dis-identify ourselves.

Procedure:

Place your body in a comfortable, relaxed position and take a few deep breaths to clear the astral, then make the following affirmation, slowly and thoughtfully:

“ I have a body but I am not by body. My body may find itself in different conditions of health or sickness, it may be rested or tired, but that has nothing to do with my self, my real ‘I’. I value by body as my precious instrument of experience and of action in the outer world, but it is only an instrument. I treat it well, I seek to keep it in good health, but it is not myself. I have a body, but I am not my body.

Now close your eyes and recall the general substance of this affirmation and then focus on the main concept: “ I have a body but I am not my body.” Take a minute to realize this as an experienced fact in your consciousness. Repeat these stages for the next portions.

“ I have emotions, but I am not my emotions. My emotions are diversified, changing, and sometimes contradictory. They may swing from love to hatred, from calm to anger, form joy to sorrow, and yet my essence – my true nature – does not change. ‘I’ remain. Though a wave of anger may temporarily submerge me, I know that it will pass in time; therefore I am not this anger. Since I can observe and understand my emotions, and then gradually learn to direct, utilize, and integrate them harmoniously, it is clear that they are not my self. I have emotions, but I am not my emotions.”

“ I have desires, but I am not my desires. Desires are aroused by drives, physical and emotional, and by other influences. They are often changeable and contradictory, with alternations of attraction and repulsion; therefore they are not by self. I have desires, but I am not my desires.”

“ I have a mind but I am not my mind. My mind is a valuable tool of discovery and expression, but it is not the essence of my being. Its contents are constantly changing as it embraces new ideas, knowledge, and experience. Often it refuses to obey me! Therefore, it cannot be me my self. It is an organ of knowledge in regard to both the outer and the inner worlds, but it is not my self. I have a mind, but I am not my mind.”

(Now comes the phase of identification) After the disidentification of myself, the ‘I’; from the contents of consciousness, such as sensations, emotions, thoughts; I recognize and affirm that I am a centre of pure self-consciousness. I am a centre of will, capable of observing, directing, and using all my psychological processes and my physical body.

Focus on the central realization: “ I am a center of pure self-consciousness and of will.” Realize this as an experienced fact in your consciousness!

At this point we can take a deeper look at self-identification:

“What am I then? What remains after having disidentified myself from my body, my sensations, my feelings, my desires, my mind, my actions? It is the essence of myself – a center of pure self-consciousness. It is that which gives me a sense of being, of permanence, of inner balance. I affirm my identity with this centre and realize its permanency and its energy.

“I recognize and affirm myself as a center of pure self-awareness and of creative, dynamic energy. I realize that from this center of true identity I can learn to observe, direct, and harmonize all the psychological processes and the physical body. I will to achieve a constant awareness of this fact in the midst of my everyday life, and to use it to help me and give increasing meaning and direction to my life.”

Optional add on, such as:

“I engage in various activities and play many roles in life. I must play these roles and I willingly play them as well as possible, be it the role of son or father, wife or husband, teacher or student, artist or executive. But I am more than the son, the father, mother. These are roles, specific but partial roles, which I, myself, am playing, agree to play, can watch and observe myself playing. Therefore I am not any of them. I am self-identified, and I am not only the actor, but the director or the acting.”

Conclusions

One of the struggles with the occult work is the need to stay in the present and not become overly fixated on the future possibilities, after all, much of the growth that we are after is based on our day to day and moment to moment behaviour and energy orientation. Many of these occult processes can take lifetimes to complete, so living in the present and bringing some joy to our own lives as well as others is a good and useful undertaking as well.

Most of us use or have used the term.. ‘I will’ (do the following) and since completing this paper I am determined to only use will in its capitalised form ‘WILL’; if I’m not willing to do this in any given situation, then recognize this fact and just say.. ‘I would like to’ or ‘I plan to’ (do the following). This is my commitment to bring more directed purpose to my intentions.

In completing this paper I am left with a sense of awe around the undertaking of eventually reaching the level of Divine Will, as well as a sense of comfort that all of us in this course (and many, many others as well) are undertaking the right approach with this work and are no doubt under the direction of a loving yet demanding soul.. why would we wish it to be any other way.

Larry Harrington

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