The Destiny of the Nations

by Alice A Bailey

  The etheric levels are also the field of expression for the soul, whether it is the human soul or the soul as an expression of the higher triad, the monadic life. I wonder whether any of you have the faintest idea what will happen to humanity when the inner subjective reality, functioning through the etheric and pouring its forces unimpeded through the centres in that body, will have made its major controlling integration with the dense physical apparatus, reducing it to complete submission as a result of the higher integration, consummated between the soul and the personality.

  We are, therefore, at a most interesting and crucial period in racial and planetary history — a period unlike any which has preceded it and for the reason that the evolutionary process has been definitely successful in spite of all failures, mistakes, and delays; of these latter there have been many owing to the refusal (curious and difficult to understand in your eyes) of the Energies, concentrated at Shamballa, to impose the force of will on matter and on form until such time as this can be done with the cooperation of the human family. This has never been possible hitherto, owing to the unpreparedness of man for the task [120] and his ignorance as to the Plan. The Lord of Shamballa and His Helpers have had to wait until at least the dim outlines of the Plan had penetrated through into the consciousness of the race; this is beginning to happen with increasing frequency, and from day to day more and more intelligent men and women are coming (or are being brought) into touch with the emerging ideas of the Hierarchy. We can look, therefore, for the steady appearance, gradually and cautiously applied, of the will energy of the highest centre (Shamballa) which is to be found upon our planet. This centre corresponds to the monadic centre which makes its power felt in the consciousness of the disciple who is ready for the third initiation. Once the second initiation has been taken, the watching Hierarchy can begin to note the constant reorientation of the soul towards the monad, and the attractive power of that highest aspect over the initiate. Today, so many members of the human family — in incarnation or out of incarnation — have taken the first two initiations that the attention of Shamballa is being increasingly turned to humanity, via the Hierarchy, whilst simultaneously the thoughts of men are being turned to the Plan, to the use of the will in direction and guidance, and to the nature of dynamic force. The quality, for instance, of the explosive and dynamic nature of war in this century is indicative of this, for the will energy in one of its aspects is an expression of death and destruction; the first ray is the ray of the destroyer. What can, therefore, be seen occurring is the effect of the Shamballa force upon the forms in nature, due to the misuse of the incoming energy by man. War in the past, speaking generally and esoterically, has been based consistently upon the attractive power of possessions and this has led to the aggressive and grasping character of the motives which have led to war. Gradually [121] there has been a change coming about and war has lately been founded upon somewhat higher motives and the acquisition of more land and territorial possessions has not been the true and the main motive. War has been prompted by economic necessity, or it has been in the nature of the imposition of the will of some nation or group of nations and their desire to impose some ideology or other upon some nation or to rid itself of a worn out system of thought, of government, of religious dogma which is holding back racial development. This is being now consciously done and is an expression of the Shamballa or will force and is not so definitely the desire force of the past.

  The seventh ray is one of the direct lines along which this first ray energy can travel and here again is another reason for its appearance at this time, because, in the releasing of the life into the new and improved forms, the old ways of living, of culture and of civilisation have to be destroyed or modified. This is, all of it, the work of the first Ray of Will expressing itself predominantly at this present time through the seventh Ray of Organisation and Relationship.

  When we studied the sixth ray, we considered first of all the effect of the ray upon the work and training, the life and the plans of the disciple, conditioning as it inevitably must his activities and life output. Then we considered the motivating principle of desire in this connection and finally touched upon the three modes of the prevalent ray activity. Let us follow the same procedure now, thus gaining some idea of the relationship between the sixth and the seventh rays and the manner in which the potency of the sixth ray has prepared humanity for the imminent happenings with which it is faced.

  What I have now to say will not be followed with ease [122] or with due appreciation by the sixth ray disciple, because the methods employed by Those Who are handling and directing the new energies are not comprehensible by him, grounded as he is in the methods of the past; hence the appearance of the fundamentalist schools, found in every field of thought — religious, political and even scientific. Again, when the sixth ray disciple attempts to use the new incoming energies, they express themselves for him upon the astral plane and the result is astral magic, deepened glamour and pronounced deception. To this fact must be ascribed today the appearance of teachers, claiming to teach magic, to bring about certain magical results, to work with rays of differing colours and to utilise Words of Power, to pronounce decrees and to be repositories of the hitherto unrevealed wishes and secrets of the Masters of the Wisdom. It is all a form of astral glamour, and the contacting upon the astral plane of that which will later precipitate upon earth. But the time is not yet and the hour for such usages has not arrived. The sense of time and the understanding of the correct hour for the carrying out of the Plan in its future detail has not been learnt by these sincere, but deluded, people and — focussed as they are upon the astral plane and undeveloped as they are mentally — they misinterpret to themselves and for others that which they there psychically sense. They know far too little and yet believe that they know much. They speak with authority, but it is the authority of the unexpanded mind. The expression of old magical patterns, the digging up of hints and indications of crystallised and worn-out methods from the ancient past is all too prevalent at this time and it is responsible for much deception of the masses and consequent mass delusion.

  White magic — as I would have you remember — is concerned [123] with the unfoldment of the soul in form and its gaining needed experience thereby. It is not concerned with direct work upon the form but with the indirect influence of the soul, functioning in any form in every kingdom in nature as it brings the form under its control, thereby effecting needed and developing changes in the apparatus of contact. The white magician knows that when the proper and correct ray stimulation is applied to the centre which we call the soul in any form but not to the form itself, that then the soul, thus stimulated, will do its own work of destruction, of attraction, of rebuilding and of a consequent renewed life manifestation. This is true of the soul of man, of the soul of a nation and of the soul of humanity itself. Bear this in mind, for I have here stated a basic and fundamental rule by which all white magic is agelessly governed.

  It is for this reason that the seventh ray is spoken of as governing the mineral kingdom and also as manifesting through its mediumship that significant soul characteristic and quality which we call radiation. That word effectively describes the result of soul stimulation upon and within every form. The life of the soul eventually radiates beyond the form and this radiation produces definite and calculated effects. The sixth ray is, as you know, very closely related to the animal kingdom and its effect there is to produce in the higher forms of animal life the quality and expression of domesticity, and the adaptability of the animal to human contact. The rays controlling the animal kingdom are the seventh, the third and the sixth. Hence you can easily see that the relation which exists between the higher animals and man is a ray relation and, therefore, useful under the evolutionary law and inevitable in its results. The rays governing the vegetable kingdom are the sixth, the second and the fourth and here again there is an interlocking [124] relation through the medium of the sixth ray. The human kingdom is governed by
the fourth, the fifth and again the fourth and this again indicates relationship. Some day these relations and inter-connected lines of force will be better understood and scientifically studied and the lines of related energies investigated. This interlocking directorate of energies will engage the attention of some of the best minds and when that takes place much will be learnt. This information is, however, of negligible use at this time and will remain so until such time as men are sensitive to the vibration of the different rays and can isolate a ray rhythm in their consciousness. When this sensitivity is developed, then many rapid, significant and revolutionary discoveries will be made.

  One of the inevitable effects of seventh ray energy will be to relate and weld into a closer synthesis the four kingdoms in nature. This must be done as preparatory to the long fore-ordained work of humanity which is to be the distributing agency for spiritual energy to the three subhuman kingdoms. This is the major task of service which the fourth kingdom, through its incarnating souls, has undertaken. The radiation from the fourth kingdom will some day be so potent and far-reaching that its effects will permeate down into the very depths of the created phenomenal world, even into the mineral kingdom. Then we shall see the results to which the great initiate, Paul, refers when he speaks of the whole creation waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God. That manifestation is that of radiating glory and power and love.

  Incidentally I might point out here that the seventh ray influence will have three definite effects upon the fourth and third kingdoms in nature. These are as follows: [125]

  1. All animal bodies will be steadily refined and in the case of humanity consciously refined, and so brought to a higher and more specialised state of development. This is today proceeding with rapidity. Diet and athletics, open air and sunshine are doing much for the race and in the next two generations fine bodies and sensitive natures will make their appearance and the soul will have far better instruments through which to work.

  2. The relation between the human and the animal kingdoms will become increasingly close. The service of the animal to man is well recognised and of ceaseless expression. The service of man to the animals is not yet understood though some steps in the right direction are being taken. There must eventually be a close synthesis and sympathetic coordination between them and when this is the case some very extraordinary occurrences of animal mediumship under human inspiration will take place. By means of this, the intelligent factor in the animal (of which instinct is the embryonic manifestation) will be rapidly developed and this is one of the outstanding results of the intended human-animal relationship.

  3. There will be, as a consequence of this quickened evolution, the rapid destruction of certain types of animal bodies. Very low grade human bodies will disappear, causing a general shift in the racial types towards a higher standard. Many species of animals will also die out and are today disappearing, and hence the increasing emphasis upon the preservation of animals and the establishing of game preserves.

  In this comparative, even if inadequate, study of the old and of the new types of discipleship, one of the problems [126] facing the Hierarchy is how to bring about the necessary changes in technique and method of development which the seventh ray type will require and yet at the same time so condition these changes that there can be smooth process of adjustment and interplay between the Hierarchy and the world aspirants. This adjustment must include the two groups (one at present large and the other still small) of sixth and seventh ray disciples. The problems of the Hierarchy are, of course, no real concern of those who have not achieved liberation and cannot, therefore, look at life through the eyes of those who are no longer held by the forces of the three worlds, but it might serve a useful purpose if disciples occasionally gave some thought to the relation as it exists upon the Master’s side and gave less thought to their own individual and peculiar difficulties.

  One of the major characteristics of the seventh ray disciple is his intense practicality. He works upon the physical plane with a constant and steady objective in order to bring about results which will be effective in determining the forms of the coming culture and civilisation; towards the end of the seventh ray cycle he will work equally hard to perpetuate what he has brought about. He wields force in order to build the forms which will meet his requirements and does this more scientifically than do disciples on other rays. The sixth ray devotee is far more abstract and mystical in his work and thought, and seldom has any real understanding of the right relation between form and energy. He thinks almost entirely in terms of quality and pays little attention to the material side of life and the true significance of substance as it produces phenomena. He is apt to regard matter as evil in nature and form as a limitation, and only lays the emphasis upon soul consciousness as of true importance. It is this failure to work intelligently, and I would [127] like to add, lovingly with substance and so bring it into right relation with the dense outer form that has made the last two thousand years produce so disastrously a mismanaged world and which has brought the population of the planet into its present serious condition. The unintelligent work upon the physical plane, carried forward by those influenced by the sixth ray force, has led to a world which is suffering from cleavage in as true a sense as an individual person can suffer from a “split personality.” The lines of demarcation between science and religion are a striking instance of this and have been clearly and forcefully drawn. The cleavage to which I refer has been drawn by the churchmen of the past and by no one else; the lines have been determined by the mystics, impractical and visionary, and by the fanatical devotees of some idea who were, nevertheless, unable to see the broad implications and the universal nature of these recognised ideas. I am generalising. There have been many devoted and holy sons of God who have never been guilty of the above stupidities and separative tendencies. At the same time as we recognise this, we must also recognise that orthodox religion has temporarily separated the two great concepts of spirit and matter in their thought and teaching, thereby pushing apart religion and science.

  The task of the new age workers is to bring these two apparent opposites together, to demonstrate that spirit and matter are not antagonistic to each other and that throughout the universe there is only spiritual substance, working on and producing the outer tangible forms.

  When a form and an activity is what you call evil, it is only so because the motivating energy behind the form and responsible for the activity is wrongly oriented, selfishly impulsed and incorrectly used. Here again the two basic truisms of modern occultism (there are others which will [128] be imparted when these two are mastered and rightly applied) are of importance:

  1. Energy follows thought.

  2. Right motive creates right action and right forms.

  These two statements are of very ancient origin but are as yet but little understood. Hence the first thing which every disciple has to learn is the nature, control and direction of energy; he does this by working with initiating causes, by learning the nature of the realm of causes and by developing the capacity to get behind the effect to the cause which generated or produced it. In the case of the individual disciple and in the preliminary stage of his training, this involves the constant investigation of his motives until he has discovered what they are and has so directed his thought that those motives can, in every case, be depended upon to work automatically and dynamically under soul direction.

  The sixth ray disciple, in the majority of cases, carries his work down as far as the astral plane and there lies the focus of his attention, his life and his thought. Automatically and of necessity, his physical nature responds to the impulse sent from the astral plane, motivated from the mental and — at times — directed by the soul. But the potency of this desire and his determination to see the fruit of his labour has produced much difficulty in the past by arresting the true expression of the originating impulse. It is arrested upon the astral plane. This has been balanced by the cyclic intervention of other ray forc
es or otherwise the situation would be much worse than it is. The seventh ray disciple will bring the energy which he is wielding right down on to the physical plane, thereby producing integration; and the dualism which characterises it will be that of a centre of energy upon the mental plane and one upon the [129] physical plane. The dualism of the sixth ray worker is that of the pairs of opposites upon the astral plane.

  It will be apparent, therefore, that, having established the two points of energy (mental and physical), the next task of the worker in magic will be to produce a synthesis upon the physical plane of the available energies, to concretise them, and invest that which has been constructed with the potency of activity and persistence. The energy thus employed will, in the majority of cases, be of three kinds:

  1. The energy of the mind. This will be the dominant controlling energy used during the period of accepted discipleship and until the second initiation.

  2. The energy of the soul. This will be wielded, used and creatively employed from the second until the third initiation.

  3. The energy of soul and mind, blended and synthesised. This combination is of tremendous potency. After the fourth initiation, this will be augmented by energy coming from the Monad.

  I would have you bear in mind that, though all is energy yet at the same time in correct esoteric teaching the higher impulsive activity is called energy and that which is conditioned by and swept into activity through its agency is called force. The terms are therefore relative and movable. For the bulk of humanity, for instance, astral impulse is the highest energy to which they normally aspire and the forces upon which astral energy plays will then be the etheric and physical forces. Higher energies may intermittently control, but as a general rule the life incentive or impulse is astral, and this can either be called desire or aspiration, according to the objective. The latter may simply [130] be mental ambition or desire for power and the term “aspiration” should not be confined only to so-called religious impulses, mystical longings and the demand for liberation.