A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  1. The fourth Creative Hierarchy The human.

  2. The fourth scheme Our earth scheme.

  3. The fourth chain The earth chain.

  4. The fourth globe Our planet.

  5. The fourth kingdom The human.

  6. The fourth round The first strictly human round.

  7. The four Kumaras Embodiers of humanity.

  8. The fourth plane The buddhic, the human goal.

  9. The fourth ether The physical correspondence of the buddhic plane.

  One fundamental sound is responded to by all these varied factors; it is the note that is the cause of their existence and the basis of their being. This note, if sought for and found, will bring into close alliance all of these factors till they are blended into a great occult unity; it will bring likewise into co-operation the band of devas who are the essences of the fourth human principle.

  b. Synthesis. We have seen that during the coming races and subraces certain very definite development may be looked for in connection with manasic unfoldment; and it is worth while to note particularly that as far as the evolution of manas in this round is concerned its highest efflorescence may be looked for during the next five hundred years. The coming in of the two final root races marks the point of synthesis, and the gradual utilisation of that which has been manasically achieved; this will be brought about by a development of abstract thought, and of intuitive recognition. In other words, manas has (during the past three root races) been principally applied to the understanding of objective existence, to the adaptation of the Dweller in the form to his [499] environment on the physical plane. From now on the trend of activity will be towards the understanding of the subjective side of manifestation, and towards the comprehension of the psyche of the individual life, divine, planetary, or human. In the next round, all the previous stages will be recapitulated, and manas will demonstrate in ways inconceivable as yet to the half awakened consciousness of man. In that round three-fifths of the human family will be fully aware, functioning with uninterrupted continuity of recollection on the physical, astral, and lower mental planes. The emphasis of manasic evolution will be laid upon the achievement of causal consciousness, and upon the scientific construction of the bridge which should unite the causal vehicle and the permanent manasic atom on the abstract levels.

  During the sixth and seventh rounds we shall again have the synthesising process at work in a manner analogous to that which lies ahead in the sixth and seventh root races of this round.

  To express the whole matter in larger terms: The Heavenly Man will be achieving the consciousness of his causal body on cosmic levels, with a consequent reaction, repolarisation and alignment of His body of manifestation. Under the law this will work out as demonstrated quality, and ordered intelligent purpose in every kingdom of nature, and will produce unifying results within those kingdoms of a kind inexplicable to man at his present stage of manasic development. We need not, therefore, give further time to the consideration of them, for the mental concept of man could not measure up to the magnitude of the theme.

  In summing up what I have written anent this matter of the discriminative faculty, the intelligent activity, the adaptability nature, and the transmutative power of manas, I would like to point out that so far-reaching are these developments that every department of nature, macrocosmic [500] and microcosmic, will show forth these aspects, and show them forth in a ninefold manner before the consummation is achieved, and man has found his course.

  Let us, therefore, look for a brief moment at the microcosmic manifestation, leaving the student as far as he is able to work out analogous ideas in relation to the Heavenly Man and the solar Logos:

  Manasic characteristics and the planes

  I. On the Physical Plane: Here this quality demonstrates as:

  a. The selective power of the atoms of the body.

  b. The adaptability of the physical form to its environment and to its circumstances.

  c. The ordered purpose of the informing Life, as it affects the physical form and atoms.

  d. The transmutative power, inherent in man though as yet unrecognised by him, which has brought him to his present stage of physical existence from that of animal man. It concerns also the transference of the life on to manasic levels.

  II. On the Astral Plane:

  a. The discriminative power of man to choose between the pairs of opposites.

  b. His adaptability to emotional conditions, and his power to attain eventual equilibrium.

  c. The power of man, through conscious purpose, to clear his astral body of foreign matter, and to ensure its translucence.

  d. The transmutative inherent power which transmutes, or transfers the life into buddhic forms eventually.

  III. On the Mental Plane:

  a. In the selective power of man to choose the form through which to manifest. [501]

  b. His adaptability to mental currents and vibration, and his utilisation of them to control the lower forms.

  c. The working out of purpose through the medium of the two lower vehicles. Impulse emanates from the mental plane.

  d. The transmutative power which transforms the entire lower threefold man into a new form, the causal body. This process of transmutation is carried on through the entire series of incarnations.

  IV. On the Abstract Levels of the Mental Plane.

  a. The ability of the Ego to discriminate as to time and space in the three worlds.

  b. Egoic adaptation of matter and circumstance of time and environment to the specific need under the Law of Karma.

  c. The ‘Intelligent Purpose’ which lies back of all physical objectivity, and which is seen working out in every life.

  d. The transmutation or transference into the Triad of the life of the Ego as it functions in the causal body. This results in dissociation from manifestation in the three worlds. To effect this transmutation (which is a point at times overlooked) the Thinker in the causal vehicle has to do three things:

  1. Build and equip the causal body.

  2. Bring about conscious connection or control of the threefold lower nature through the agency of the permanent atoms.

  3. Bridge the interlude between the causal body on its own level, and the manasic permanent atom. [502]

  V. On Buddhic Levels:

  a. Discriminative power here demonstrates as ability to distinguish between the abstract and the concrete, and to arrive at conclusions apart from the ordinary apparatus—the mental body and the physical brain.

  b. Adaptability to Hierarchical enterprise shown by the Initiate or Master, and His receptivity to life impulses and spiritual currents emanating from the planetary Logos of His Ray—a thing at this stage impossible of conscious realisation.

  c. In the ordered purpose which guides the choice by a Master of one of the seven Paths of endeavour. Thus choice is based on KNOWLEDGE and not on desire.

  d. In the conscious transmutation He undertakes in the work of evolution, and in the gradual transference of His own life, and the life of His group, into the monadic aspect which is reflected in the buddhic.

  VI. On Atmic Levels:

  a. In the selective work of the adept as it relates to planetary manifestation, and the discriminative power which guides all action relating to His own planet, and the two others associated with the Earth, as a systemic triangle.

  b. The adaptation of groups (deva and human) to certain types of influence, and vibration, which emanate extra-systemically, and which from high cosmic levels play upon groups, fostering certain attributes for which we have, as yet, no terminology.

  c. The synthesising work of the Brahma aspect as it works out in the blending of the four minor rays into the third major. [503]

  d. The transmutation which results in planetary obscuration in connection with five of the Heavenly Men and which—as in the previous work of synthesis—concerns microcosmic evolution and is participated in by man. I would call attention to an interesting point: as more and more of the M
onads are resolved back into their source it produces a gradual obscuration of the particular Heavenly Man in Whose body they are the cells. Though this may look to human vision as extending over a profoundly long period, from the point of view of universal or group consciousness it is occurring NOW. For instance, such an event as the obscuration of the manifestation of the Logos of our Earth scheme is already in process and began in Lemurian days.

  VII. As regards monadic discrimination, adaptability, purpose and transmutative power it is needless to enlarge.

  All these ideas and concepts are of value only in so far as they produce within the Thinker a more intelligent appreciation of the grandeur of the divine plan, an appropriation of the energy and force which is his by right of participation in the processes of manifestation, and a wise co-operation in the furtherance of the evolutionary plan as it affects him individually and his groups.

  DIVISION C - THE EGOIC RAY AND SOLAR FIRE

  [504] I. THE NATURE OF THE CAUSAL BODY

  1. It is formed by the contact of the two fires of Spirit and matter.

  2. It is produced at individualisation.

  II. THE NATURE OF THE PERMANENT ATOMS

  1. Their purpose.

  a. They are force distributors.

  b. Conservers of faculty.

  c. Assimilators and transmuters.

  d. Vehicles of memory.

  2. Their place in the Egoic Body.

  a. The astral permanent atom.

  b. The atomic triangle.

  3. The Spirillae and the Egoic Ray.

  a. The composition of the permanent atoms.

  b. The planes and fiery energy.

  c. The three fires.

  4. Summary.

  III. THE EGOIC LOTUS

  1. Wheels or centres of energy.

  a. Centres of force.

  b. The causal body, the monadic heart centre. [505]

  2. The twelve-petalled Lotus.

  a. The knowledge petals.

  b. The love petals.

  c. The sacrifice petals.

  3. Summary.

  I. THE NATURE OF THE EGOIC OR CAUSAL BODY

  The subject of the egoic Ray and its relation to the second fire is one of vital import to three types of people: Those who are interested in the true psychology, or in the evolution of the psyche; those who are on or nearing the Path, and hence are coming more and more into touch with their own Ego; those who work with the souls of men, the servers of the race.

  The reason for this is because in the due comprehension of this subject, that of the Ego functioning in the causal body, comes the ability to work scientifically with the problem of one’s own evolution, and to do good work in aiding the evolution of one’s brother.

  1. Egoic manifestation is produced through the medium of two fires.

  Let us therefore consider somewhat the subject of the egoic Ray and the causal body, viewing it from the standpoint of the microcosm, and leaving the student to work out for himself the analogies where the Logos is concerned, conjuring him to bear in mind that the analogy must ever be drawn with due emphasis upon the fact that all that the human unit can comprehend is the manifestation of the solar Logos in a physical body.

  In all manifestation, as we well know, we have duality producing triplicity. Spirit meets and contacts matter; the result of that contact is the birth of the Son, or the Ego, the consciousness aspect. The egoic manifestation is therefore the middle aspect, the place of at-one-ment, [506] and (after due evolutionary cycles) the place of balance, or of equilibrium. It should be noted that the analogy between the Logos and man is not accurate, for man has to undergo the whole process within the solar periphery, whilst the Logos (within that periphery) goes through the stage analogous to that which the man undergoes when his astral sheath clothes itself with etheric matter and he takes physical incarnation, which was touched upon when considering the subject of “Fire by friction.” It will consequently be apparent that, in considering the manifestation of the Ego, we are dealing with the point of central emphasis in man’s threefold manifestation. We are concerning ourselves with that division of his nature which concerns the process of making him the perfect six-pointed star during the preliminary stage (the threefold personality and the threefold Triad merged and blended and perfectly produced through the intermediate point the causal body) and which, when the physical body is eliminated, makes him the five-pointed star or perfected manasaputra.

  To state the whole in terms of fire: The causal body is produced by means of the positive life, or fire, of the Spirit (electric fire) meeting the negative fire of matter, or “fire by friction”; this causes the blazing forth of solar fire. This central blaze inevitably in due course burns up the third fire, or absorbs its essence, and is itself eventually blended with the fire of Spirit and passes out of objective display.

  I seek here to deal with the subject of the causal body in two different ways—one along the old lines and the other strictly along the lines of occult electrical phenomena.

  2. Egoic manifestation is produced at individualisation.

  The causal body is that sheath of mental substance which is formed at the moment of individualisation by [507] the contact of the two fires. The force or energy that pours through from the higher planes (the breath of the Monad, if you care so to term it) produces a vacuum, or something analogous to a bubble in koilon, and the sheath of the causal body—the ring-pass-not of the central Life is formed. Within this sheath are to be found three atoms, which have been termed the mental unit, the astral permanent atom and the physical permanent atom; they correspond individually to the seventh principle of each of the three persons of the microcosmic triad, a reflection (in the three worlds of the microcosm) of the three Persons of the logoic Trinity. H. P. B. hints at this in connection with the Logos when she speaks of the visible sun being the seventh principle of the Brahma aspect, the physical permanent atom of the Logos. (S.D., III, 143 & I, 574)

  II. THE NATURE OF THE PERMANENT ATOMS

  1. The purpose of the permanent atoms.

  The three permanent atoms are in themselves centres of force, or those aspects of the personality which hold hid the fires of substance, or of objectivity; it cannot be too strongly pointed out at this juncture that, in considering the threefold man in the three worlds, we are dealing with substance which (in connection with logoic manifestation) is considered the dense physical. Surrounding these three atoms is the causal sheath, answering the following purposes:

  It separates one unit of egoic consciousness from another unit of consciousness, yet is itself part of the gaseous body (the fifth cosmic physical subplane) in the physical body of the planetary Logos, Who is the central life of any particular group of Monads. This fact has been little appreciated, and merits careful consideration. [508] It holds hid spiritual potentialities in its inherent ability to respond to the higher vibration; from the moment of individualisation till it is discarded at initiation, the life within steadily develops these potentialities, and produces certain definite results by the utilisation of the three permanent atoms. It gradually vivifies and awakens them until, on the three planes, the central life has an adequate point of contact which can originate the necessitated vibration in the matter of the plane.

  The permanent atoms on each plane serve a fourfold purpose as regards the central or egoic life:

  They are the distributors of a certain type of force.

  They are the conservers of faculty or ability to respond to a particular vibration.

  They are the assimilators of experience and the transmuters of that experience into quality. This is the direct result of the work of the egoic Ray as it plays upon the atom.

  They hold hid the memory of the unit of consciousness. When fully vibrant they are the raison d’être for the continuity of the consciousness of the man functioning in the causal body. This distinction must be carefully made.

  We must always remember in studying these difficult matters that we are dealing with
the logoic dense physical body and that:

  The mental unit is found in logoic gaseous matter.

  The astral permanent atom in logoic liquid matter.

  The physical permanent atom in dense physical substance.

  And they therefore have their place in matter of the three lowest subplanes of the physical body of the Logos. Consequently when in the process of evolution, and through initiation, man achieves the consciousness of the Spiritual Triad, and transfers his polarisation into the three triadal [509] permanent atoms, he is simply able to function consciously in the etheric body of his particular planetary Logos. Work out the analogy in the microcosmic development and note how in order to function consciously in his individual etheric body a man has to burn through what has been called the etheric web, and study how the fires of initiation produce something analogous in the planetary etheric body, and eventually in the cosmic etheric. As each unit of consciousness, through self-induced effort, achieves the goal and crosses the ‘burning-ground,’ a microscopic portion of the etheric web of the planetary etheric body is consumed by fire; this results in a definite gain for that great Entity, the planetary Logos, through the relatively unimportant liberation of the force of one cell in His body. When all the units or cells in His body have achieved, He too is set free from dense manifestation and physically dies. This stage is succeeded by the comparatively brief one of etheric existence (covering the period of planetary obscuration), and then He is liberated from incarnation altogether.