The Work of Salvation [2 of 2]

Part 1 of 2 here.

The same conditions which blend the Law of Sacrifice with pain and sorrow and difficulty are found also on the planet Mars and on the planet Saturn. They are not found on the other planets. Those who have read The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire with understanding know that our Earth is not a sacred planet. However, Saturn, Mars and our Earth constitute, in a curious esoteric manner, the personality of a stupendous ray Life, Whose energy is that of the third Ray. There are, as has been stated elsewhere, seven sacred planets but ten planetary schemes, and in three cases, (those of the three major rays) three planets constitute the personality of each ray Life. Some esoteric thinkers believe that there are twelve planets to be considered in our solar system, and there is a basis for their conclusion. The personality of this third ray Life functions through the following planets:

1. The mental body expresses itself through the medium of the planet Saturn.
2. The astral body expresses itself through the planet Mars.
3. The physical body expresses itself through the planet Earth.

The potency of this Life is such that He requires three complete schemes – all three closely allied and interdependent – through which to express Himself. Uranus, Jupiter and Venus are similarly allied in order to manifest or express a great Life.

These facts constitute a tremendous mystery, and in no way negate the truth that Venus has a peculiar and intimate relation to the Earth. The point here being stressed is difficult to express, but of great importance. Let me be more explicit, by means of the following statements:

1. Only three planetary schemes are aware of pain and sorrow as we understand those terms; none of them know it so well or feel it so much as does our planetary Logos.
2. Pain and sorrow are the result of rebellion, and of divine discontent. The instinct to betterment, based on discontent, has necessarily involved the planetary temperament or attitude which recognizes the dualities.
3. There is a stage to be reached in the human consciousness, where that which lies behind the dualities – the stage of essential oneness – can, and will be recognized.
4. When this takes place, the consciousness of our humanity will then merge with that underlying consciousness of the whole, which recognizes no pain or sorrow and has, therefore, slipped out of the realization which predominantly governs the consciousness of the three great Lives in our solar system.
5. It is this dimly sensed truth which lies behind the highest type of metaphysical thought, such as Christian Science, Unity, Divine Science, and the emphasis laid by Christianity and the esoteric schools upon the at-one-ment.

This instinct towards betterment through sacrifice is itself diverse.

There is, first of all, the instinct towards individual betterment, which leads to selfishness, to a grasping, and to an orientation of the materially-minded towards material possessions.

There is, secondly, the instinct towards an ameliorating of the conditions of other people, first from a selfish motive (the avoiding of personal distress at the sight of suffering), and secondly, through pure, disinterested service, which is a quality of the soul.

There is, finally, the active application and the complete sacrifice of the lower separated self through the power to “stand in spiritual being” which necessarily infers that one has reached that state of consciousness which transcends what may be called, symbolically the “Earth, Saturn and Mars” state of consciousness.

Let it not, however, be forgotten that the contribution to these three great planetary Lives, as They embody pre-eminently the Law of Sacrifice, through pain and rebellion, is a major contribution to the whole, and greatly enriches the sum total. The units of divine life and the atoms of electrical energy who pass through these three planetary schemes are subject to them in order to acquire that psychic sensitivity which would otherwise be impossible. Only those units of life who are colored predominantly by the third ray of activity pass for any length of time through these three schemes. A hint is here conveyed as to the prevalence of third ray Monads among the sons of men. The ray of active intelligence, expressing itself through the seven ray types, is above everything else the ray upon which the majority of human monads will, particularly, at this time, be found. We shall, therefore, find the following psychological types coloring the bulk of our humanity, and the ray of active intelligence expressing itself through

1. Will, evoking divine purpose.
2. Love, expressing divine quality.
3. Intellect, as the reflector of the Intuition.
4. Conflict, producing harmony.
5. Knowledge or science, leading to radiance.
6. Idealism, establishing the divine pattern.
7. Ritual or organization, manifesting Deity.

Therefore, psychologically speaking, and when greater knowledge has been gained of the energies determining the type of a man, a person, for instance, whose Monad is presumably upon the third ray, his ego being on the fourth ray, and his personality on the seventh ray, will be described as a Three, IV.7. Within this simple formula there will be lesser differentiations and a seventh ray personality may have a first ray mental body, a fifth ray astral body, and a third ray physical body. The formula which would describe him would be

Three, IV. 7. (1-5-3)

This, when interpreted, means

Monad – third ray.
Ego – fourth ray.
Personality – seventh ray.
Mental body – first ray.
Astral body – fifth ray.
Physical body – third ray.

Students may find it of value to study themselves and others in conformity with the above, and to establish their personal formulae. This should be done in conjunction with a consultation of their horoscopes. This will be discussed more at length after we have considered the astrological implications of the rays, in the succeeding volume.

The Law of Sacrifice, therefore, can never be eliminated in our Earth scheme, as far as the human and subhuman reactions to sorrow and pain are concerned, nor can it be eliminated on the planets Saturn and Mars. It is relatively unknown in the other schemes. Bliss and Sacrifice are synonymous terms as far as our solar Logos is concerned, and also for the majority of the planetary Logoi. This must be remembered. A touch of this freedom from the limitations of pain and sorrow can be found among the more advanced sons of men on Earth, who know the ecstasy of the mystic, the exaltation of the initiate, and the exquisite agony of sacrifice or of any feeling which is carried forward to the point of sublimation. When this point has been reached, the mechanism of suffering and the ability to register sensuous perception is transcended, and momentarily the man escapes on to the plane of unity. Here there is no pain, no sorrow, no rebellion and no suffering. When the living, vibrating antahkarana or bridge is built, this “way of escape” becomes the normal path of life. Escape from pain is then automatic, for the center of consciousness is elsewhere. In the cases mentioned above, and where the antahkarana is not a consummated, established fact, the tiny thread of the partially constructed “way of escape”, under tremendous pressure and excitation, shoots forward like a quivering band of light, and momentarily touches the light that is the Self. Hence ecstasy and exaltation. But it does not last, and cannot be consciously recovered until the third initiation has been taken. After that the “way of escape” becomes the “way of daily livingness” (to translate inadequately the occult and ancient phrase). Then pain is steadily transcended, and the pairs of opposites – pleasure and pain – have no longer any hold over the disciple.

All this constitutes the theme of esoteric psychology and, when rightly understood, will explain

1. The Saturnian influence in human life.
2. The cessation of rebellion, of the ending of the Martian influence.
3. The building of the antahkarana, which releases the man from the control of personality life.
4. The evocation of the group consciousness.
5. The consequent negation of pain and sorrow.
6. Entrance into Nirvana, and the beginning of the real Way.

The Law of Sacrifice means also The Relinquishing of Gain.