Source Text
Foreword THE LORD BUDDHA HAS SAID that we must not believe in a thing said merely because it is said; nor traditions because they have been handed down from antiquity; nor rumors, as such; nor writings by sages, because sages wrote them: nor fancies that we may suspect to have been inspired in us by a Deva (that is, in presumed spiritual inspiration); nor from inferences drawn from some haphazard assumption we may have made; nor because of what seems an analogical necessity; nor on the mere authority of our teachers or masters. But we are to believe when the writing, doctrine, or saying is corroborated by our own reason and consciousness.
Chart IMAGE_CH2-PG1-1 Chart THE CONSTITUTION OF MAN
I. The Monad, or pure Spirit, the Father in Heaven. This aspect reflects the three aspects of the Godhead: 1. Will or Power The Father. 2. Love-wisdom The Son. 3. Active Intelligence The Holy Spirit.
and is only contacted at the final initiations, when man is nearing the end of his journey and is perfected. The Monad reflects itself again in II. The Ego, Higher Self, or Individuality. This aspect is potentially 1. Spiritual Will Atma. 2. Intuition Buddhi, Love-wisdom, the Christ principle. 3. Higher or abstract Mind Higher Manas.
The Ego reflects itself in III. The Personality, or lower self, physical plane man.
This aspect is also threefold: 1. A mental body lower manas. 2. An emotional body astral body. 3. A physical body the dense physical and the etheric body.
“our solar system is builded out of matter already existing, out of matter already gifted with certain properties …” (page 48) . This matter, therefore, we deduce, held latent certain faculties that were forced to demonstrate in a peculiar way, under the law of Cause and Effect, as does all else in the universe.
(b) All manifestation is of a septenary nature, and the Central Light which we call Deity, the one Ray of Divinity, manifests first as a Triplicity, and then as a Septenary. The One God shines forth as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and these three are again reflected through the Seven Spirits before the Throne, or the seven Planetary Logoi. The students of occultism of non-Christian origin may call these Beings the One Ray, demonstrating through the three major Rays and the four minor, making a divine Septenary. The Synthetic Ray which blends them all is the great Love-Wisdom Ray, for verily and indeed “God is Love.” This Ray is the indigo Ray, and is the blending Ray. It is the one which will, at the end of the greater cycle, absorb the others in the achievement of synthetic perfection.
(c) The seven planes of Divine Manifestation, or the seven major planes of our system, are but the seven subplanes of the lowest cosmic plane. The seven Rays of which we hear so much, and which hold so much of interest and of mystery, are likewise but the seven sub-rays of one cosmic Ray. The twelve creative Hierarchies are themselves but subsidiary branches of one cosmic Hierarchy. They form but one chord in the cosmic symphony. When that sevenfold cosmic chord, of which we form so humble a part, reverberates in synthetic perfection, then, and only then, will come comprehension of the words in the Book of Job: “The morning stars sang together.”
We can do no more than sense a fraction of some wonderful whole, utterly beyond the reach of our consciousness,—a whole that the highest Angel or Perfected Being is but beginning to realise. When we recognise the fact that the average man is as yet fully conscious only on the physical plane, nearly conscious on the emotional plane, and only developing the consciousness of the mental plane, it is obvious that his comprehension of cosmic data can be but rudimentary.
AI Summary
Initiation, Human and Solar by Alice A. Bailey presents key insights from the Christian Mysticism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.