De 7 stråler

Ånden tar bolig i sjelen som i sin tur tar bolig i personlighetens tanker, følelser og handlinger. Utvikling av bevissthet og sjelskvaliteter er beskrevet gjennom de tolv tegn i zodiaken og deres 3 herskere. I dette utdraget fra Alice Bailey sitt forfatterskap kastes det mer lys på ånden og viljens natur slik den virker gjennom de 7 stråler og dernest gjennom de tolv tegn.

VILJENS NATUR OG STRÅLENE

Summary fra kapittel 7 i Esoterisk Astrologi, Alice Bailey.
 

Ånden/Monaden/Spirit består av vilje, kjærlighet og intelligens. Denne treenighet er nedfelt i de 3 første strålene og kalles primære, mens de neste fire strålene er avledet av disse.
 

Tabell X s. 532

1. We are considering the expression of Will (1. vær, løve, steinbukk), i.e., of divine purpose, latent in the mind of God since the beginning of time and the dawn of creation. In God's mind, that idea is seen whole and complete. In manifestation it is a gradual, self-revealing evolutionary and demonstrated activity.

2. Of the love (2. tvilling, jomfru ,fisk) of that Great Thinker, we are learning slowly and its revelation has reached the stage where the human mind can contrast its mode of living activity with the visioned and sensed love of Deity, expressed as yet by the desire for right human relations and right treatment of all that is non-human.

3. We know somewhat of the intelligence aspect of God (3. kreps, vekt, steinbukk). It is revealed in the living activity of substance (matter & the law of economy).

Of the will (1) and purpose of God, humanity knows nothing, for the individual will or the collective human will which could act as interpreter, revealer and also serve as a mode of contact, is dedicated to selfishness and blind to the higher reaches of divine expression. Mankind's so-called acquiescence in the will of God is based on his wish life, on his negativity and on the visions of the saints. Their keynote was submission and their highest point of spiritual contact was still tinged with dualism and still conditioned by modes of human interpretation. Under the occult method, we must begin with the universal and the whole; in time the individual and the particular will stand revealed, but in relation to the whole. It should be possible, through a study of the seven rays and their related 12 constellations and their transmitting agents, the planets, to gain some general idea of the pouring through of the Shamballa/will energy as emerging purpose on the physical plane. In brief the 3 major expressions of the will aspect are;

1) Will, as the conditioner of the life aspect. This refers not to events, happenings and occurrence, but to the nature of the life manifestations in any cycle, through any nation or race, where humanity is concerned. This refers also to the broad and general lines which at any time upon the planet are setting the pace for the evolution of forms and which basically 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, of quality and appearance. The word "life" in this triplicity of terms refers to life as humanity understands it. The word "life" to which I here refer is the life to which H.P.B. refers as that which synthesizes spirit, soul and body. (See The Secret Doctrine, I. 81). 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."

2) Will which brings fulfillment. This is the basis of all relationships and all processes of inter-relation in our solar system and (as far as humanity is concerned) in the planet. 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. I know not how else to express this in words and having done so they prove wholly inadequate. There is a faint, dim, uncertain reflection of this will-fulfillment in the joy of achievement as registered by a human being who finds his heart's desire. Long processes of evolution precede this fulfillment and long experience of the living activity of the will of God as Life. This concentrated evolutionary effort, this undeviating purpose has called forth more than desire and more than the will-to-be-active. There is a realized achievement from the very start for this is the divine will-to-completion which precedes the creative effort. 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, if I might so formulate the idea. Remember, therefore, that all through these experiences of the divine will runs the thread of a fulfilled synthesis. This is more than cohesion in time and space; it is more than the principle of privation about which H.P.B. speaks, 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.

3) Will which conquers death. This again must not be interpreted in terms of death as it affects the form nature of manifestation. The note of synthesis and triumph—realized 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. More it is not possible to say. If Christ Himself is striving towards that knowledge, it is not possible for us to do more than speculate.

As we consider the seven rays as outlined in Tabulation X, I would have you bear in mind that we are viewing them as expressions of this threefold will. We have studied them in some detail in my other books from the angle of consciousness and from the point of view as producing changes and expansions of consciousness in man, in nations and in races. Now, as far as may be possible, we are going to consider these rays as they express the pure, living activity of Deity as it fulfils Itself in manifestation as pure incentive, directed impersonal energy, divine instinct which latter is a blend of instinctual force and intuitive energy.

1. The conditioning will is the synthesis of the life of the cosmic physical plane of which our seven planes are the seven sub-planes.

2. The will which brings fulfillment is the divine incentive (impulse is not the correct term) coming from the cosmic astral plane.

3. The will which conquers death is an outpouring from the cosmic mental plane.

From these three cosmic planes come the united energies of the three constellations which control and energize our solar system: The Great Bear, the Pleiades and Sirius; these work through the medium of the seven rays and these in turn express themselves through the twelve constellations which form the great zodiacal wheel. (Vår lille zodiac er en gjenspeiling av den større.)

The 7 Lords or ruling Powers of these twelve (zodiacal) sources of light and life "step down" the potency of these three major energies so that our solar Logos can absorb them; they "tune out" those aspects of these three potencies which are not suited to our systemic life at this point in the evolutionary process, just as the Hierarchy upon our little planet tunes out or steps down the energies from Shamballa.

These three major energies in a mysterious manner express themselves through the seven rays just as all triplicities (3) subdivide into septenates (7), yet preserve their identity. These seven energies, emanating from the major three and transmitted via the twelve constellations, are embodied in the seven sacred planets and are represented on our Earth by the seven Spirits before the throne of God (the symbol of synthesis).

In considering this process, I would have you study Tabulation X, for it is a symbolic form, embodying what I seek to convey. I would point out that the will aspect—as it is embodied in the rays and transmitted by the constellations—works out destructively when concentrated through an orthodox (ikke hellig/eksoterisk) planet and constructively when concentrated through an esoteric (hellig) planet. Here you have the secret guide to the significance of death and immortality! (dette er grunnen til hvorfor det er så viktig får oss å få tak i den esoteriske hersker av solen og ascendanten i eksamensoppgaven.) This is something which the average astrologer will be unable to prove because the cycles involved are too long; intuitively he can however grasp the probability of my proposition. May I again remind you that our theme is the divine plan, purpose and will; it is not the evolution of consciousness, or of the second aspect of divinity. It concerns spirit (1) and not soul (2). (The consciousness/soul aspect (2) is to a degree described through the 12 signs.) We are attempting in some measure to formulate the life of the Father (1), the will of the Monad and the purpose of Spirit/Ånd. We need to formulate the interpretation of the seven rays in terms of will (1) and not of love or consciousness (2). This we will now attempt to do:

RAY I. The energy of Will or Power. Vær, Løve, Steinbukk. Konjunksjonen.

This ray is outstandingly related to that aspect of will which conquers death. It is nevertheless the Ray of the Destroyer. In this connection, I would remind you that the human attitude that death is the destroyer presents a limited and erroneous point of view. The first ray destroys death because in reality there is no such thing; the concept is all part of the Great Illusion, is a limitation of the human consciousness, and is basically connected with the brain and not with the heart, strange as that may seem to you. It is in a very true sense "a figment of the imagination." Ponder on this. The abolition of death and of the destruction of (old) form (som har utspilt sin rolle) is a manifestation of Ray I, for it brings about in reality the death of negation and the inauguration of true activity. It is the energy which can be called "divine incentive"; it is the life in the seed which destroys successively all forms in order that realised fruition may eventuate. That is the clue to Ray I. It is the Will which initiates. Today, as regards humanity, its highest realization is initiation. (Kyllingen som hakker seg ut av skallet og på den måten ødelegger sin egen begresning/form og derved setter seg selv fri, ved hjelp av 1. stråle. Et mindre godt eksempel er de som forlater en trygg lønnslipp og blir selvstendig næringsdrivende.) (Når vi er inkarnert i fysisk form er vi vel kanskje mer døde enn levende.)

RAY II. The energy of Love-Wisdom. Tvilling, Jomfru, Fisk. Opposisjonen.

This basic energy is the will to unify, to synthesise, to produce coherence and mutual attraction and to establish relationships, but—remember this—relationships which are entirely apart from the consciousness of relation or the realisation of unity. It is the fact of unification as seen from the beginning and as existing ever and forever in the Mind of God Whose will embraces past, present and future and whose mind does not think in terms of evolution or of process. The process is inherent in the seed; the evolutionary urge is the inevitable accompaniment of life in manifestation. It is the Will to unification. Today, as regards humanity, its highest expression is the mystical vision. (The non-duality of mind).

 RAY III. The energy of Active Intelligence. Kreps, Vekt, Steinbukk. Trigonet.

This is the will of conditioned purpose. The factors which are working out through its medium are the forceful carrying forward of the recognised plan with a goal intelligently conceived and an active incentive which carries the process intelligently forward on the strength of its own momentum. Again I would remind you that I am dealing not with human consciousness but with the sum total of that undertaking which makes matter subservient to and adaptable to the basic idea in the mind of God. And no human being is as yet able to conceive of that idea. No one knows what is the will of God or what is the nature of His intelligent purpose. It is the Will to evolution. Today, as regards humanity, its highest expression is education, or progressive development through experience.

RAY IV. The energy of Harmony through Conflict. Tyr, Skorpion, Skytte, Kvadraturet.

This is fundamentally the will to destroy limitation. This is not the same thing as the will to destroy negation as in the case of Ray I, but is an allied aspect of that (Vulcan rules Taurus and is a 1. ray planet). I am not referring to the consciousness aspect which recognizes and profits by such struggle. I am referring to the energy, inherent in all forms and peculiarly strong in humanity (because man is self-conscious), which produces inevitably and unavoidably the struggle between life and that which it has chosen as a limitation; this eventually shatters or breaks up that limitation the moment that a point of real harmony or at-one-ment has been reached. Esoterically it might be said that the moment that form (limitation) and life balance each other a rift immediately appears and through it flows a fresh outpouring of the will. Christ had to die because He had achieved harmony with the will of God and then "the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." The significance of this fresh inflow of the Will will now appear; the stage is set anew for a fresh and renewed activity of the living principle. As far as humanity is concerned the "seeds of death" emerge through the medium of this Ray and the Grim Reaper, Death, is but an aspect of this will, conditioned by the fourth ray and emerging from the fourth plane. Death is an act of the intuition, transmitted by the soul to the personality and then acted upon in conformity to the divine will by the individual will. This is the Will to harmonisation. Today, its highest expression as regards humanity is the intuition, as it works out through group activity. Death always releases the individual into the group.

RAY V. The energy of Concrete Science or Knowledge. Løve, Skytte, Vannmann. Kvintilen.

To understand this expression of the divine will, the student should bear in mind the occult aphorism that "matter is spirit at its lowest point of manifestation and spirit is matter at its highest." Basically this is the will which produces concretion and yet at the same time constitutes the point at which spirit and matter are balanced and co-equal. That is the reason why human perfection is carried forward consciously upon the mental plane, the fifth plane; this is brought about by the fifth ray and upon this plane liberation takes place at the time of the fifth initiation. This is the will which is inherent in substance and which actuates all atoms of which all forms are made. It is closely related to the first solar system even whilst liberating members of the human family who will constitute the nucleus around which the third solar system is constructed. The energy of this ray is intelligence; it is the seed of consciousness but not of consciousness as we understand it; it is the inherent life of matter and the will to work intelligently; it is that living something for which we have no name which was the product of the first solar system. It is one of the major assets of God, the Father and also of the human Monad. This is the Will to Action. Today, as regards humanity, its highest expression is liberation—through death or initiation.

RAY VI. The energy of Devotion or of Idealism. Jomfru, Skytte, Fisk. Sekstilen.

This is the will which embodies God's idea. It provides the motive power behind the working out of whatever may be the purpose of creation. What that purpose is we have not as yet the faintest idea. An ideal is related to the consciousness aspect as far as human beings are concerned. An idea is related to the will aspect. This ray embodies a dominant potency. It expresses God's desire and is the basic energy emanating from the cosmic astral plane. It conceals the mystery which is to be found in the relationship of the will and desire. Desire is related to consciousness. Will is not. We are not, however, dealing with consciousness but with that impersonal force which drives forward through all the seven planes of our solar system and which makes the idea of God a consummated fact in the Eternal Now. Does that statement mean much to you? I would surmise that it means but little; it is a basic statement of occult fact anent energy as it expresses itself through humanity in a manner which is unique and peculiar. I would here remind you of a statement in The Secret Doctrine that "an Idea is a Being incorporeal which has no subsistence by itself but gives figure and form unto shapeless matter and becomes the cause of the manifestation." (Ref. Plato.) This statement takes you straight back to God the Father, to the Monad, to the One. It is related, consequently, to the Will and not to consciousness. Consciousness is per se the recognition of a progressive plan. The Will is the cause, the energizing Principle, Life, Being. This is the Will to Causation. Today, as regards humanity, its highest expression is idealism, the incentive and cause of human activity.

RAY VII. This is the energy of Ceremonial Order. Vær, Kreps, Steinbukk. Septilen.

It is an expression of the will which drives through into outer manifestation; it is that which embodies both the periphery and the point at the centre. It is the will to "ritualistic synthesis," if I might so word it. It is Necessity which is the prime conditioning factor of the divine nature—the necessity to express itself; the necessity to manifest in an orderly rhythmic manner; the necessity to embrace "that which is above and that which is below" and, through the medium of this activity, to produce beauty, order, perfect wholes and right relationships. It is the driving energy which Being emanates as It appears and takes form and lives. It is the Will towards Expression. Today, as regards humanity, its highest expression is organisation.

The Keynotes of the Seven Rays and the Will Aspect.

The keynotes of these seven Rays are, therefore, as they constitute the revelation of seven Great Beings: Initiation. Unification. Evolution. Harmonisation. Action. Causation. Expression. These are the keynotes for humanity at its present point of evolutionary development; as these seven energies play upon the human consciousness in an effort to produce and evoke the Will aspect in advanced man they produce: Initiation. Vision. Education. Intuition. Liberation. Idealism. Organisation.

A close study of these seven major rays and seven minor keynotes will reveal these truths and their promise. At the close of the Aquarian Age, these keynotes will vary somewhat because the recognition of the Will (leading to understanding cooperation) will produce major changes in human polarisation and human objectives—realised objectives.

Let us now see how these basic ray energies will work out in man's planetary and zodiacal relationships and why certain constellations and planets are related to certain rays and transmit into the centre which we call humanity definite and specific influences. These produce certain tendencies in humanity, evoke certain attitudes of the will, and lead consequently to certain unavoidable events as well as to definite and determined forms of Being. As we proceed with our consideration of Tabulation X, there are certain fundamental ideas which must be carefully borne in mind. Let me list them for your helping:

1. We are dealing with the effect of the seven ray energies, as they pour forth from one or other of the seven stars of the Great Bear into our solar system. These energies are the life-quality of the seven great Beings who are the Prototypes of the planetary Logoi of the sacred planets, seven in number. These latter are their reflections in time and space, as the soul is the reflector of the Monad/Spirit/Ånd where human beings are concerned.

2. The seven rays express themselves, each through three of the zodiacal constellations. The analogy (but not the correspondence) is that these three constellations are to the life of one of these ray Beings what the three aspects of monad-soul-body are to a man. (Første stråle virker gjennom vær/ånd, løve/sjel og steinbukk/kropp. Andre stråle virker gjennom tvilling/ånd, jomfru/sjel og fisk/kropp, osv. Se tabellen.) Again, it is only analogy. Forget not that analogy and correspondence are not the same. In the first case there is resemblance but not in detail. In the second, there is practically identical expression, usually on a lower level.

3. These seven great Beings express themselves in our solar system as the custodians or the exponents of the Will aspect of Deity. Their effect, therefore, is ever to convey into our solar system and eventually into our planetary life, the energy of the Will, in its plan-making, form-building nature. Esoteric books and esoteric teaching have necessarily laid the emphasis upon consciousness as it expresses quality (in the 12 signs). That is as it should be. But behind all quality lies that of which the quality is the expression of and behind that is to be found the dynamic "out-going" (if I might so express it) which is the motivation of both the quality or consciousness and the life or appearance, the precipitation of will and quality.

4. The nature of the will is as yet un-definable for only the Monad responds to its impact, and only after the third initiation does man somewhat grasp the nature of the will. All that is possible to understand in this brief summation is the effect of the will as it makes its presence felt and the result of its expression, emphasized through the three constellations.

5. The constellations in groups of three transmit the seven influences of the seven rays to our planet, via the Sun, and the relationships which I am here indicating are only those in connection with our Earth. They do not apply in relation to others of the planets in our solar system, where the configuration of the relationship is different. This is dependent upon the nature of the etheric (Gemini) web through which all transmission of energies takes place. The lines of approach might be indicated as follows:

6. This diamond shaped formation of the inter-related energies is the prototypal pattern which lies behind the etheric network and is its final, conditioning influence as far as our Earth is concerned. It is hinted at in the reference to the "diamond soul" of which the Buddha is an exponent. This is necessarily a deep mystery but the correlation is interesting and guaranteeing. The origin of the hour glass is to be found in this diagram of the inflowing energies. (Se utlevert powerpointforedrag hvor dette er illustrert.)

7. These seven ray energies, expressing the divine prototypal will in seven forms, are as follows:

Ray I.               The will to initiate.

Ray II.              The will to unify.

Ray III.            The will to evolve.

Ray IV.            The will to harmonize or relate.             

Ray V.             The will to act.

Ray VI.            The will to cause.

Ray VII.           The will to express.

When their full creative work is completed, there will emerge a "something else or other" for which we have no name but which will be the seed of the next solar system. This third solar system will express the divine will, as this is slowly developed through the experiment and experience of the divine love.

8. These seven ray aspects of the will, which are the goal of the higher initiations and which embody that which the Masters Themselves are struggling to understand, is that which flowers in the Monad when souls have reached perfected expression through humanity. They express themselves where humanity is concerned as:

Ray I.       That which incites to and produces initiation.

Ray II.      That which is the cause of vision or the power to see.

Ray III.    That which develops sensory perception into knowledge, knowledge into wisdom, and wisdom into omniscience.

Ray IV.    That which is the illumined will, the basis of buddhi or the intuition.

Ray V.     That which is the cosmic seed of liberation. This is an aspect of destruction.

Ray VI.    That which is the cause of the thoughtform building faculty, related to the creative urge.

Ray VII.  That which can be called the principle of order.

9. Just as desire has produced this "son/sun of necessity," our solar system, there lies behind all the energies of the Heart of God and all the forces which have produced the manifested universe that which is the result of divine need. It is neither the cosmic correspondence of brain or mind or focused intention, as you might surmise. It is that synthetic something which produces cohesion and results in fruition or synthesis as the effect or final result of manifestation.

It is well-nigh impossible for me to make this any clearer because I am speaking of some of the final aspects and effects of the highest initiations. I only touch upon them because they consummate and climax this study of divine psychology as it manifests through God and through man. I am simply giving faint and inadequate indications of that which emerges in the human consciousness after the third initiation (related to capricorn)—the point at which personality or form life is transcended. We can, however, gain some dim, human interpretations of divine goals by relating these rays and their transmitting constellations to our Earth and by noting how this triangular relationship can work out on our planet. Individual apprehension will be dependent upon the point of development.

Let us now take each of the seven Rays and see how they embody and transmit the three aspects of the will, via three constellations and their three rulers, to our Earth. We enter here into the realm of causes and are dealing with those transcendent purposes, incentives, urges and objectives of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. The whole story of extension from the One into the Many and of the Many into the One is contained in these macrocosmic and microcosmic diagrams.