A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  Development of etheric vision universally. This will be due to two causes:

  First, the scientific recognition of the existence of the etheric levels, thereby freeing people from the onus of adverse public opinion, and enabling them to reveal what they have individually long realised. Etheric vision is comparatively common even now. But comment concerning it is rare, owing to the fear of criticism.

  Secondly, the increased activity of the devas of the ethers, which throws the matter of the etheric levels into more active vibration, with consequent reflex action on the eye of man.

  Increased mental activity and the spread of education (of the concrete mental kind) everywhere. This will result in:

  Increased competition between units and between groups.

  The organization of business on lines hitherto undreamt of.

  The foundation of groups and aggregations of groups whose sole purpose will be to synthesise all the lines of human endeavour, and thus bring about unification of effort, and economy of force in the scientific, business, philosophic, educational, and religious worlds.

  The foundation of schools of medicine along new lines, whose purpose will be to study the etheric body, its relation to the dense physical body, and its function [454] as the receiver, storer, and transmitter of the vital fluids of the system.

  The foundation of the new church, which will be no longer along devotional and idealistic lines but which will be an outgrowth of the old idealism, demonstrating through mental forms. It will have for its basis the scientific recognition of the unseen world and its due appreciation and apprehension by means of accurate scientific ceremonial. This ceremonial of the universal church—being founded on the mental unity of all peoples—will not be ceremonial as it is now understood, as it will be the guarded, guided, scientific utilisation of sound and color to bring about certain desired ends, such as

  The aligning of the Ego,

  The influencing of groups,

  The making of contact with the Occult Hierarchy,

  The co-operation with the devas in order to further the constructive ends of evolution,

  and many other objects which will grow out of the scientific comprehension of the constitution of man, the nature of vibration or radioactivity, and the demonstrated reality of the hitherto metaphysical hypothesis and religious dogma of the unseen world of thought and of spiritual existence.

  Increased facility in approaching the Path. This will be based on the fact that so many of the then existent humanity will have personal knowledge of the ruling powers and forces, will perhaps be on the Probationary Path, or will be initiates of the first degree. Thus the present scepticism will become non-existent. The dangers then will be along other lines—those incident to the very influence of this ray itself: the dangers of crystallisation into form so that the true spiritual devotee may become rare, and the scientific aspirant will take his place.

  [455] The true occultist is a scientist and a devotee, and where these two are not merged, we have the mystic and the man in danger of black magic, being governed by the intellect and not by selflessness; there are dangers incident also upon contact with the deva evolution and the knowledge of the powers and forces made available through their agency.

  The coming into incarnation of numbers of old magicians and occultists, and the rapid growth therefore of recognised psychic powers among the people. This psychism, being tinged with mentality and not being of a purely astral quality, will be even more dangerous than in Atlantean days, for back of it will be some degree of will, conscious purpose, and intellectual apprehension, and unless this is paralleled by the growth of spiritual realisation, and by the steady grip of the Ego upon the lower personality, a period of real danger may ensue. Hence the need of pointing out and of realising the menace, so that the truth of the inner life and the need of serving the race as an essential to advancement may be proclaimed far and wide.

  Paralleling the incoming of this large band of seventh Ray magicians (some linked to the Brotherhood and some to the purely manasic groups) is the proposed advent of certain members of the Hierarchy (initiates below the fourth Initiation) and of certain disciples and probationers, all on this Ray and all true psychics, who hope through their endeavours to offset the vibrations, and ward off the menace incident to the advent of the other group. The arranging of this and the preparing of the way for them in the different countries, specially in Europe and North America, is occupying the attention at this time of the Master R— and the Master H—. (152)

  A group of scientists will come into incarnation on the [456] physical plane during the next seventy-five years who will be the medium for the revelation of the next three truths concerning electrical phenomena. A formula of truth concerning this aspect of manifestation was prepared by initiates on the fifth Ray at the close of the last century, being part of the usual attempt of the Hierarchy to promote evolutionary development at the close of every cycle of one hundred years. Certain parts (two fifths) of that formula have worked out through the achievements of such men as Edison and those who participate in his type of endeavour, and through the work of those who have dealt with the subject of radium and radioactivity. Three more parts of the same formula have still to come, and will embody all that it is possible or safe for man to know anent the physical plane manifestation of electricity during the fifth subrace.

  All that we have here considered covers the time till the coming in of the new subrace. This race will summarise and carry to a temporary conclusion the manasic effort of the fifth rootrace of mental growth, and will cause results of stupendous import. During the sixth subrace, the emphasis will not be so much on the development of mind, as it will be on the utilisation of the concrete mind, and its acquired faculty, for the development of the powers of abstract thought. Perhaps too much importance has been attached to the statement of some occult writers that the sixth subrace will be intuitive. The intuition will be awakening, and will be more prominent than now, but the outstanding characteristic will be the ability of the units of the sixth subrace to think in abstract terms, and to use the abstract mind. Their function will be to perfect (as far as may be in this round) [457] the group antaskarana, (153) or the link between the mental and the buddhic. This bridge will be of a usable nature during the sixth rootrace in which the intuition will show real and general signs of existing. In this rootrace, units only show signs here and there of real intuition, having built the necessary bridge in their individual selves. In the sixth rootrace small groups will be intuitive.

  It is needless to say more here anent the influence of the seventh Ray upon the sons of men. More later may be available but enough has been suggested to form the basis of useful speculation.

  b. Animals and human beings and the Rays. We will now take up two points and study the effect of the incoming force on the human and animal kingdoms. These points are of profound interest to the occult student for two reasons. The topic we have now to consider is the effect of the incoming seventh Ray during the coming centuries upon the animal kingdom and the deva evolution. The profundity of the interest lies in the fact that in the one case we are dealing with the evolution immediately behind the human and from which man is not as yet wholly emancipated, and in the other we are concerning ourselves with a paralleling evolution, and one that is of vast importance in the scheme of things. Let us take up first this seventh Ray and its effect upon the animal kingdom.

  Practically little is known to man concerning this kingdom of nature, save what science has vouchsafed anent the physical organisms, and a few occult statements which have been given out at various times; the development of the animal consciousness and its immediate future is as yet but little understood.

  The most important of the occult facts concerning this [458] third kingdom as they relate to our present subject, may be enumerated as follows:

  1. The animal kingdom holds the same relation to the human kingdom as the dense physical body does to the seven principles and still finds i
ts connecting link with man through the close correspondence between their bodies of objectivity.

  2. The animal kingdom is the third of the kingdoms and is (from the esoteric point of view and as regards its relation to mankind) the mother aspect, prior to the overshadowing by the Holy Spirit, the manas aspect. Think out this resemblance, and trace the analogy between the cosmic mother, the systemic mother, and the same mother aspect as seen in the animal kingdom as a basis for the evolution of man.

  Each of the kingdoms of nature acts as the mother to the succeeding one in the evolutionary process. Any group, which may be under consideration, should in due course of evolution give birth to offspring, who will—in themselves—embody some ideal, and who receive their objective forms on some plane from the earlier group. From the third kingdom springs the fourth, and from this fourth will emerge the fifth, each receiving

  a. Germ protection,

  b. Form,

  c. Gradual development,

  d. Nourishment,

  until in each case the human child, or the Christ child, is brought to the birth. This is a very occult truth, and though the facts have been recognised and taught anent the fourth and fifth kingdoms, the work and place of the animal has not received its due recognition.

  3. During the third rootrace, animal individualisation took place, and the self-conscious unit, called Man, came into being. I have somewhat dealt with the question of [459] individualisation elsewhere and seek not here to enlarge upon it. I would only point out a correspondence that holds hid the key to the mystery of individualisation.

  In this chain, individualisation took place during the third rootrace and in the fourth round, speaking in this connection of a round through a chain of globes, and not the life force of a planetary Logos circulating through the seven chains in a scheme. It is of peculiar interest at this time that we are in the fourth round in a chain as well as in the fourth round as regards the scheme of seven chains. It has led to evolutionary possibilities of great import. On the moon chain individualisation took place during the fifth race of the third round, and in the next chain to ours on the evolutionary arc individualisation will take place during the sixth race of the second round,—in each case this refers to a planetary round through a chain of globes.

  4. In the fourth rootrace the “door” (as it is called) between the two kingdoms became closed, and no more of the animal kingdom passed into the human. Their cycle temporarily ended and—to express it in terms of fire or of electrical phenomena—the animal kingdom and the human became positive to each other, and repulsion instead of attraction supervened. All this was brought about by the swinging into power of a profoundly long cycle of the fifth Ray. This was necessitated by the need of man to develop along the manasic line, and resulted in a period of repulsion of the animal units, leaving their consciousness to be stimulated on astral lines.

  Owing to this repulsion, we have one reason (and one of the least fundamental) for the destructive war and the long cycle of cruelty that has been waged between man and the animals. It can be evidenced in the terror of man in connection with wild animals of the jungles and the deserts, and in the terrible toll of life that such animals have exacted during the centuries. This must not [460] be forgotten. For thousands of years, wild animals have—specially before the coming in of firearms—destroyed the defenseless, and during those years, had statistics been taken, the numbers of human beings killed would reach a stupendous figure. Now, in this age, the balancing is taking place and in the slaughter of animals equilibrium is being reached. I do not refer to the wanton cruelties practised under the name of science, nor to certain practices which take place under religious guise in different lands. The source of these enormities must be sought for elsewhere. It is hidden in the karma of that Being, Who for a period—during the moon chain—held office as the Entity Who is the informing evolutionary Life of the animal kingdom. This is a point of view needing careful pondering. Each of the kingdoms of nature is the expression of a Life or Being; man, for instance, being the expression of one or other of the Heavenly Men; the sumtotal of humanity (the fourth Hierarchy) being found, with the deva evolution, as the centres of the solar Logos. The animal kingdom likewise is the expression of the life of a Being Who is a part of the body of the Logos or of the planetary Logos, but not a centre of conscious energy. (A correspondence is found in the human body, which has its seven centres of force or energy, but also other organs upon which objective manifestation depends in lesser degree.) Such an Entity finds expression through the animal kingdom, of which He is the informing Soul, and He has definite place in the planetary or logoic body. This is a hint which has hitherto not been exoteric and is to be commended to the consideration of students. I would add that some of the tragedies underlying existence at this time are karmically incident upon temporarily faulty relations between an entity who dominated at one period of the third or moon-chain, and the one holding analogous position in this the fourth or earth chain. This latter is the sumtotal of the [461] lowest human principle, if we count the dense physical or animal body of man as a principle. In their lack of agreement lies the clue to the cruelties practised on animals by man.

  We have enumerated six occult statements anent the animal kingdom, the third kingdom of nature. They related to the past, and we will now add one further statement to them and then proceed to consider the present and to foretell certain eventualities that may be looked for in the future.

  As we have seen, during the third rootrace, opportunity for the animal kingdom occurred and many individualised. In the fourth rootrace this cycle of opportunity ceased temporarily, and something happened which is analogous to what will occur in the fifth rootrace in connection with man, at the so-called “Judgment Day.” In Atlantean days the lives which composed the third kingdom of nature were divided into two groups:

  A number of these lives were “passed,” and the tide of life sweeps through them, permitting of their incarnating in animal form on earth, and their gradual evolution.

  The remainder were rejected, and as a group they became temporarily quiescent, and will not manifest in physical form until the next round.

  In the fifth round, a corresponding division will take place in the fourth kingdom, and the lives in that kingdom will be subjected to an analogous test; some will be passed and will continue their evolution on this planet, while others will be rejected, and will go into temporary pralaya.

  After the rejection in the fourth rootrace of three-fourths of the animal units, the remaining triads (or one-fourth) proceeded on their way holding the promise of opportunity for all in time, and the guarantee of their [462] own attainment in the next round. Just as the human Monads, who are passed in the fifth round, will enter into the fifth kingdom, or respond to its vibration before the climax of the seventh, so the animal monads (if I may employ such a term) who were passed in this round will achieve individualisation during the fifth and enter the fourth kingdom. This will be brought about by the strong manasic impulse which will characterise the whole cycle of the fifth round, and will thus be effected normally and as the result of due evolutionary growth. An electrical stimulation of the nature of the occurrence in Lemurian days will not be required.

  Since the great division in the fourth rootrace, the animal kingdom has been primarily occupied with the stimulation and development of kama. This is the basis of the endeavour being made by the Brotherhood by the aid of man to fan the emotional instinct (or the embryo love aspect) through the segregating of the domestic animals, and the consequent play made upon the third spirilla in the animal atoms by human magnetism or radiatory energy. The sumtotal of the domestic animals—the animal units brought into closest connection with man—form the heart centre in the body of that great Entity Who is the life of the animal kingdom. From the heart flow all the influences which will eventually permeate the entire body. These units are those which will be finally separated from the group soul at the reopening of the door into the human kingdom in t
he next round.

  Let us now consider the immediate present, and the advent of this seventh ray of ceremonial magic. The effect upon the animal kingdom of the force of this ray will be far less than upon the human, for it is not yet ready to respond to the vibration of this planetary Logos, and will not be until the sixth round when His influence will bring about great events. Nevertheless, certain effects might here be noticed.

  [463] Owing to the increased activity of the deva evolution, and specially of the devas of the ethers, the lesser builders will be stimulated to build, with greater facility, bodies of a more responsive nature, and the etheric bodies of both men and animals and also their responsiveness to force or prana will be more adequate. During the sixth subrace, disease as we know it in both kingdoms will be materially lessened owing to the pranic response of the etheric bodies. This will likewise bring about changes in the dense physical body and the bodies of both men and animals will be smaller, more refined, more finely attuned to vibration, and consequently more fitted to express essential purpose.

  Owing to the recognition by man of the value of mantrams, and his gradual comprehension of the true ceremonial of evolution, coupled with the use of sound and colour, the animal kingdom will be better understood, and better trained, considered and utilised. Indications of this already can be seen; for instance, in all our current magazines at this time, stories which deal with the psychology of animals, and with their mental attitude to man, are constantly appearing, and by the means of these and through the force of the incoming Ray, man may (if he cares to do so) come to a much wider sympathy with his brothers of less degree. Thus by the turning by man of his thought force upon the animals, stimulation of their latent mentality will ensue, leading in due course of time to the crisis in the next round. More attention should be paid by occult students to the effect of the consciousness of one group upon another group, and the advancement of the lesser, by the means of the stimulating power of the greater, should be studied. The following facts should be realised: