The Law of Repulse

The Law of Repulse

We have here a most interesting law to consider. It is one of the major divine laws with which the Pilgrim has much to do on his weary, agelong way, back to the center. It is the fourth law governing or controlling the life of the soul.

Exoteric Name	Esoteric Name	Symbol	Ray Energy
4. Law of Repulse	The Law of all Destroying Angels	The Angel with the Flaming Sword	The Rejecting Energy of the First Ray

First of all, it is well to realize that this law has certain characteristics and basic effects which might be briefly enumerated as follows:

1. The energy displayed is dissipating in its effect. This law works as a dispersing agent.
2. When in active expression, it causes an active scattering or rejection of the aspects of form life.
3. It produces a discriminating contact which leads eventually to what is esoterically called “the Way of divine refusal.”
4. It is, nevertheless, an aspect of the Law of Love, of the Vishnu or Christ aspect, and concerns an attitude of the soul, whose essential nature is love.
5. This law expresses itself through the mind nature, and therefore can only make its presence and influence felt upon the Path of Discipleship.
6. It is the prime prerequisite to true self-knowledge. It reveals at the same time that it divides or scatters.
7. It works through love and for the interest of the unit, – the form and the existence which finally repulses the form.
8. It is an aspect of one of the greatest cosmic laws, the Law of the Soul, which is the cosmic Law of Attraction, for that which is attracted in time is automatically and eventually repulsed by that which attracted it in the first instance.

This law is one which primarily begins to impress the divine purpose upon the consciousness of the aspirant, and dictates to him those higher impulses and those spiritual decisions which mark his progress upon the Path. It is the demonstration of the first ray quality (a subray influence of the second ray), for it should be remembered that to repulse a form, a situation or a condition may be the evidence of spiritual love in the agent of repulsion. This is well pictured for us in the ancient symbol of the Angel with the flaming sword, who stands before the gate of Paradise to turn away those who seek the fancied security of that shelter and condition. This angel acts in love, and has so acted down the ages, for that state of realization which we call Paradise is a place of essential danger for all, save those who have earned the right to sojourn there. The angel protects the unready aspirant (not the place which he seeks to enter) and safeguards him from the risks and perils of that initiation which must be undergone before he can pass through the five divisions of Paradise to the place where light dwells and the Masters of the Wisdom live and work. This is the thought which lies behind the Masonic procedure whereby the Tyler stands outside the door of the Lodge with a drawn sword to protect the secrets of the Craft from the unready.

I would remind you also that as this law is an aspect of the fundamental Law of Love, it concerns the psyche or soul, and therefore its function is to further the spiritual interests of the true man, and to demonstrate the power of the second aspect, the Christ consciousness, and the power of divinity. It “rejects the undesirable in order to find that which the heart craves, and thus leads the weary pilgrim from one rejection to another, until with unerring choice he makes the Great Decision.” This is quoted from the Old Commentary.

We will divide what we have to say about the functioning and effect of the Law of Repulse into three parts:

1. The Law of Repulse, and the function and quality of desire.
2. The Law of Repulse, as it expresses itself upon the Paths of Discipleship and Initiation.
3. The Law of Repulse, as it “drives in seven directions, and forces all that it contacts back unto the bosom of the seven spiritual Fathers.”

This law works through the soul in all forms. It does not literally affect matter, except in so far as form is affected when the soul “withdraws”, or occultly “repudiates.” It will be apparent, therefore, that our understanding of its activity will depend largely upon the measure of soul force of which we may individually be aware, and the extent of our soul contact. Our point upon the ladder of evolution will govern our manipulation of this law (if such a term may be used), and determine our capacity to be sensitive to its impact. If we are unable to respond to its influence in any measure, that in itself is sufficient to indicate our development. Unless the mind is active, and unless we are beginning intelligently to use the mind, there is no medium or channel through which this influence can flow or work. Never let it be forgotten that this influence or law of our spiritual being is that which reveals the will, plan or purpose of the divine life, as it expresses itself in the individual or in humanity as a whole. Let us never forget that unless there is a thread of light to act as a channel, that which this law can convey will remain unknown, unrealized and useless. These laws are the laws which govern predominantly the Spiritual Triad, that divine Triplicity which expresses itself through the medium of the soul, just as the three aspects of the soul, in their turn, reflect themselves through the personality.

Therefore, all that can be imparted in connection with this law can be comprehended only by the man who is beginning to be spiritually awakened. The three laws which we have already considered deal with the specific spiritual influences which emanate from the three tiers of petals which compose the egoic lotus. (See page 823 of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire).

1. The Law of Sacrifice – The Petals of Sacrifice. The sacrificial will of the Soul.
2. The Law of Magnetic Impulse – The Petals of Love.
3. The Law of Service – The Petals of Knowledge.

This fourth Law of Repulse works through the first Law of Sacrifice and carries to the aspirant the quality, influence and tendency of the Spiritual Triad, the threefold expression of the Monad. Its full force is felt only after the third initiation, in which the power of the Spirit is, for the first time, consciously felt. Up to that time it has been the growing control of the soul which was primarily registered. Therefore we have:

1. The Law of Repulse – Fourth Law
   Atma – Spiritual Will. This influence comes via the egoic petals of sacrifice and the subsidiary Law of Sacrifice.
2. The Law of Group Progress – Fifth Law
   Buddhi – Spiritual Love. This comes via the love petals of the egoic lotus, and the subsidiary Law of Magnetic Impulse.
3. The Law of Expansive Response – Sixth Law
   Manas – Higher spiritual mind. It comes via the knowledge petals and the subsidiary Law of Service.

These higher spiritual laws reflect themselves in the three lower spiritual laws, finding their way into the lower consciousness via the egoic lotus and the antahkarana. This statement is the second basic postulate in connection with our study of this Law of Repulse, the first postulate being the earlier statement that unless there is a thread of light to act as a channel, that which this law conveys will remain unknown and unrealized.

These six laws give us the key to the entire psychological problem of every human being, and there is no condition which is not produced by the conscious or unconscious reaction of man, to these basic influences – the natural and spiritual laws. If psychologists would accept the three basic laws of the universe, and the seven laws through which they express their influence, they would arrive at an understanding of the human being far more rapidly than is now the case. The three major laws are, as has been stated elsewhere:

1. The Law of Economy. This governs primarily the instinctual nature of man.
2. The Law of Attraction, which governs the soul aspect in man and in all forms of life, from an atom to a solar system.
3. The Law of Synthesis, which will govern man when he has arrived at the Path of Initiation, but which as yet means but little in his development.

There are, then, the seven minor Laws which produce the evolutionary unfoldment of man, the person, and man, the soul. These are:

1. The Law of Vibration, the atomic law of the solar system.
2. The Law of Cohesion, an aspect of the Law of Attraction.
3. The Law of Disintegration.
4. The Law of Magnetic Control, governing the control of the personality by the spiritual nature, via the soul nature.
5. The Law of Fixation. By means of this law the mind controls and stabilizes.
6. The Law of Love, whereby the lower desire nature is transmuted.
7. The Law of Sacrifice and Death.

(A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, page 569.)

These seven laws concern the form side of life. To these ten laws must be added the seven laws of the soul which we are here considering. These begin to play upon the man and produce his more rapid spiritual unfoldment after he has been subjected to the discipline of the Probationary Path, or the Path of Purification. He is then ready to tread the final stages of the Path.

These seven laws are the basis of all true psychological understanding and, when their influence is better grasped, man will arrive at real self knowledge. He will then be ready for the fourth initiation which releases him from all further need for rebirth. This is the truth which underlies the Masonic teaching, which is given under the symbolism of the first eighteen degrees. These can be divided into four groups of degrees:

• • Entered Apprentice,
• • Fellow Craft, (followed by the Mark degree)
• • Master Mason (followed by the H.R.A.)
• • and the grouped degrees,

four to seventeen, in the Scottish Rite. These seventeen degrees prepare the man for the fourth or fundamental degree, taken by the man who is a Master Mason. It can only be taken when the Master is in possession of the true Lost Word. He has risen from the dead; he has been entered, passed, and raised, and now can be perfected. Herein lies a great mystery. These seventeen degrees, leading to the first great step, (taken by the risen Master) are subjectively related to the seventeen laws which we have been considering. There is a parallelism worth noting between:

1. The eighteen laws:
   1. The three major laws of the universe.
   2. The seven minor laws of the solar system.
   3. The seven basic laws of the soul, plus what we might call the great law of Deity Itself, the law of God’s synthetic purpose.
2. The eighteen subplanes through which man makes his way:
   1. The seven physical subplanes.
   2. The seven astral or emotional-desire subplanes.
   3. The four lower mental subplanes.
3. The eighteen degrees in Masonry, from that of the Entered Apprentice to that of the perfected initiate of the Rose Croix Chapter.
4. The eighteen centers of force with which the spiritual man has to work:
   1. The seven centers in the etheric body.
   2. The seven centers in the astral body.
   3. The three rows of petals in the egoic lotus.
   4. The “Jewel in the Lotus”, at the heart of the “flower of the soul”, which makes the eighteenth center.

An understanding of these symbolic relations will do much to clarify the way of the soul in a body, and will constitute the basis of all true esoteric psychological study.