Continuing with the line of thought initiated in the previous post with its backdrop being The Work of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, I want to look at the 'Ray of Creation' model explored in the books Tertium Organum and In Search of the Miraculous which consists of a seven-tiered plan from 'The Absolute' down to the 'Moon' (quote starting on page 79, towards the end of Chapter 4 through the beginning of Chapter 5 of ISOTM).
"Let us imagine the
Absolute as a circle and in it a number of other circles, worlds of the
second order. Let us take one of these circles. The Absolute is designated by
the number 1, because the three forces constitute one whole in the Absolute,
and the small circles we will designate by the number 3, because in a world of
the second order the three forces are already divided.
"The
three divided forces in the worlds of the second order, meeting together in
each of these worlds, create new worlds of the third order. Let us take one of
these worlds. The worlds of the third order, created by the three forces which
act semi-mechanically, no longer depend upon the single will of the Absolute
but upon three mechanical laws. These worlds are created by the three forces.
And having been created they manifest three new forces of their own. Thus the
number of forces acting in the worlds of the third order will be six. In the
diagram the circle of the third order is designated by the number 6 (3 plus 3).
In these worlds are created worlds of a new order, the fourth order. In the
worlds of the fourth order there are three forces of the world of the second
order, six forces of the world of the third order, and three of their own,
twelve forces altogether. Let us take one of these worlds and designate it by
the number 12 (3 plus 6 plus 3). Being subject to a greater number of laws
these worlds stand still further away from the single will of the Absolute and
are still more mechanical. The worlds created within these worlds will be
governed by twenty-four forces (3 plus 6 plus 12 plus 3). The worlds created
within these worlds will be governed by forty-eight forces, the number 48 being
made up as follows: three forces of the world immediately following the
Absolute, six of the next one, twelve of the next, twenty four of the one
after, and three of its own (3 plus 6 plus 12 plus 24 plus 3), forty-eight in
all. Worlds created within worlds 48 will be governed by ninety-six forces (3
plus 6 plus 12 plus 24 plus 48 plus 3). The worlds of the next order, if there
are any, will be governed by 192 forces, and so on.
"If we take one of the many worlds created in the Absolute, that is, world 3, it will be the world representing the total number of starry worlds similar to our Milky Way. If we take world 6, it will be one of the worlds created within this world, namely the accumulation of stars which we call the Milky Way. World 12 will be one of the suns that compose the Milky Way, our sun. World 24 will be the planetary world, that is to say all the planets of the solar system. World 48 will be the earth. World 96 will be the moon. If the moon had a satellite it would be world 192, and so on.
"The chain of worlds, the links of which are the Absolute, all worlds, all suns, our sun, the planets, the earth, and the moon, forms the 'ray of creation' in which we find ourselves. The ray of creation is for us the 'world' in the widest sense of the term. Of course, the ray of creation does not include the 'world' in the full sense of the term, since the Absolute gives birth to a number, perhaps to an infinite number, of different worlds, each of these worlds contains a number of worlds representing a further breaking up of the ray and again of these worlds we select only one - our Milky Way; the Milky Way consists of a number of suns, but of this number we select one sun which is nearest to us, upon which we immediately depend, and in which we live and move and have our being. Each of the other suns means a new breaking up of the ray, but we cannot study these rays in the same way as our ray, that is, the ray in which we are situated. Further, within the solar system the planetary world is nearer to us than the sun itself, and within the planetary world the nearest of all to us is the earth, the planet on which we live. We have no need to study other planets in the same way as we study the earth, it is sufficient for us to take them all together, that is to say, on a considerably smaller scale than we take the earth.
"The number of forces in each world, 1, 3, 6, 12, and so on, indicates the number of laws to which the given world is subject.
"The fewer laws there are in a given world, the nearer it is to the will of the Absolute; the more laws there are in a given world, the greater the mechanicalness, the further it is from the will of the Absolute. We live in a world subject to forty-eight orders of laws, that is to say, very far from the will of the Absolute and in a very remote and dark corner of the universe.
"In this way the ray of creation helps us to determine and to realize our place in the world. But, as you see, we have not yet come to questions about influences. In order to understand the difference between the influences of various worlds we must better understand the law of three and then, further, still another fundamental law - the Law of Seven, or the law of octaves.
"We take the three-dimensional universe and consider the world as a world of matter and force in the simplest and most elementary meaning of these terms. Higher dimensions and new theories of matter, space, and time, as well as other categories of knowledge of the world which are unknown to science, we will discuss later. At present it is necessary to represent the universe in the diagrammatic form of the 'ray of creation,' from the Absolute to the moon.
"The 'ray of creation' seems at first glance to be a very elementary plan of the universe, but actually, as one studies it further, it becomes clear that with the help of this simple plan it is possible to bring into accord, and to make into a single whole, a multitude of various and conflicting philosophical as well as religious and scientific views of the world. The idea of the ray of creation belongs to ancient knowledge and many of the naive geocentric systems of the universe known to us are actually either incompetent expositions of the idea of the ray of creation or distortions of this idea due to literal understanding.
"It must be observed that the idea of the ray of creation and its growth from the Absolute contradicts some of the modern views, although not really scientific views. Take, for instance, the stage - sun, earth, moon. According to the usual understanding the moon is a cold, dead celestial body which was once like earth, that is to say, it possessed internal heat and at a still earlier period was a molten mass like the sun. The earth, according to the usual views, was once like the sun, and is also gradually cooling down and, sooner or later, will become a frozen mass like the moon. It is usually supposed that the sun is also cooling down and, sooner or later, will become a frozen mass like the moon.
"First of all, of course, it must be remarked that this view cannot be called 'scientific' in the strict sense of the term, because in science, that is, in astronomy, or rather, in astrophysics, there are many different and contradictory hypotheses and theories on that subject, none of which has any serious foundation. But this view is the one most widely spread and one which has become the view of the average man of modern times in regard to the world in which we live.
"The idea of the ray of creation and its growth from the Absolute contradicts these general views today.
"According to this idea the moon is still an unborn planet, one that is, so to speak, being born. It is becoming warm gradually and in time (given a favorable development of the ray of creation) it will become like the earth and have a satellite of its own, a new moon. A new link will have been added to the ray of creation. The earth, too, is not getting colder, it is getting warmer, and may in time become like the sun. We observe such a process for instance in the system of Jupiter, which is a sun for its satellites.
"Summing up all that has been said before about the ray of creation, from world 1 down to world 96, it must be added that the figures by which worlds are designated indicate the number of forces, or orders of laws, which govern the worlds in question. In the Absolute there is only one force and only one law - the single and independent will of the Absolute. In the next world there are three forces or three orders of laws. In the next there are six orders of laws; in the following one, twelve: and so on. In our world, that is, the earth, forty-eight orders of laws are operating to which we are subject and by which our whole life is governed. If we lived on the moon we should be subject to ninety-six orders of laws, that is, our life and activity would be still more mechanical and we should not have the possibilities of escape from mechanicalness that we now have.
"As has been said already, the will of the Absolute is only manifested in the immediate world created by it within itself, that is, in world 3; the immediate will of the Absolute does not reach world 6 and is manifested in it only in the form of mechanical laws. Further on, in worlds 12, 24, 48, and 96, the will of the Absolute has less and less possibility of manifesting itself. This means that in world 3 the Absolute creates, as it were, a general plan of the rest of the universe, which is then further developed mechanically. The will of the Absolute cannot manifest itself in subsequent worlds apart from this plan, and, in manifesting itself in accordance with this plan, it takes the form of mechanical laws. This means that if the Absolute wanted to manifest its will, say, in our world, in opposition to the mechanical laws in operation there, it would then have to destroy all the worlds intermediate between itself and our world.
"The idea of a miracle in the sense of a violation of laws by the will which made them is not only contrary to common sense but to the very idea of will itself. A 'miracle' can only be a manifestation of laws which are unknown to men or rarely met with. A 'miracle' is the manifestation in this world of the laws of another world.
"On the earth we are very far removed from the will of the Absolute; we are separated from it by forty-eight orders of mechanical laws. If we could free ourselves from one half of these laws, we should find ourselves subject to only twenty-four orders of laws, that is, to the laws of the planetary world, and then we should be one stage nearer to the Absolute. and its will. If we could then free ourselves from one half of these laws, we should be subject to the laws of the sun (twelve laws) and consequently one stage nearer still to the Absolute. If, again, we could free ourselves from half of these laws, we should be subject to the laws of the starry world and separated by only one stage from the immediate will of the Absolute.
"And the possibility for man thus gradually to free himself from mechanical laws exists.
"The study of the forty-eight orders of laws to which man is subject cannot be abstract like the study of astronomy; they can be studied only by observing them in oneself and by getting free from them. At the beginning a man must simply understand that he is quite needlessly subject to a thousand petty but irksome laws which have been created for him by other people and by himself. When he attempts to get free from them he will see that he cannot. Long and persistent attempts to gain freedom from them will convince him of his slavery. The laws to which man is subject can only be studied by struggling with them, by trying to get free from them. But a great deal of knowledge is needed in order to become free from one law without creating for oneself another in its place.
"The orders of laws and their forms vary according to the point of view from which we consider the ray of creation.
"In our system the end of the ray creation, the growing end, so to speak, of the branch, is the moon. The energy for growth, that is, for the development of the moon and for the formation of new shoots, goes to the moon from the earth, where it is created by the joint action of the sun, of all the other planets of the solar system, and of the earth itself. This energy is collected and preserved in a huge accumulator situated on the earth's surface. This accumulator is organic life on earth. Organic life on earth feeds for the moon. Everything living on the earth, people, animals, plants, is food for the moon. The moon is a huge living being feeding upon all that lives and grows on the earth. The moon could not exist without organic life on earth, any more than organic life on earth could exist without the moon. Moreover, in relation to organic life the moon is a huge electromagnet. If the action of the electromagnet were suddenly to stop, organic life would crumble to nothing.
"The process of the growth and the warming of the moon is connected with life and death on the earth. Everything living sets free at its death a certain amount of energy that has 'animated' it; this energy, or the 'souls' of everything living - plants, animals, people - is attracted to the moon as though by a huge electromagnet, and brings to it warmth and the life upon which its growth depends, that is, the growth of the ray of creation. In the economy of the universe nothing is lost, and a certain energy having finished its work on one plane goes to another.
"The souls that go to the moon, possessing perhaps even a certain amount of consciousness and memory, find themselves there under ninety-six laws, in the conditions of mineral life, or to put it differently, in conditions from which there is no escape apart from a general evolution in immeasurably long planetary cycles. The moon as 'at the extremity,' at the end of the world; it is the 'outer darkness' of the Christian doctrine 'where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
"The influence of the moon upon everything living manifests itself in all that happens on the earth. The moon is the chief, or rather, the nearest, the immediate, motive force of all that takes place in organic life on the earth. All movements, actions, and manifestations of people, animals, and plants depend upon the moon and are controlled by the moon. The sensitive film of organic life which covers the earthly globe is entirely dependent upon the influence of the huge electromagnet that is sucking out its vitality. Man, like every other living being, cannot, in the ordinary conditions of life, tear himself free from the moon. all his movements and consequently all his actions are controlled by the moon. If he kills another man, the moon does it; if he sacrifices himself for others, the moon does that also. All evil deeds, all crimes, all self-sacrificing actions, all heroic exploits, as well as all the actions of ordinary everyday life, are controlled by the moon.
"The next idea which it is necessary to master is the materiality of the universe which is taken in the form of the ray of creation. Everything in this universe can be weighed and measured. The Absolute is as material, as weighable and measurable, as the moon, or as man. If the Absolute is God it means that God can be weighed and measured, resolved into component elements, 'calculated,' and expressed in the form of a definite formula.
"But the concept of 'materiality' is as relative as everything else. If we recall how the concept 'man' and all that refers to him - good, evil, truth, falsehood, and so on - is divided into different categories ('man number one,' 'man number two,' and so on), it will be easy for us to understand planes in the world, seven worlds one within another. Everything that refers to the world is also divided into seven categories, one category order different from that of 'all worlds.' The materiality of 'all worlds' is of an order different from the materiality of 'all suns.' The materiality of 'all suns' is of an order different from the materiality of our sun. The materiality of our sun is of an order different from the materiality of 'all planets.' The materality of 'all planets' is of an order different from the materiality of the earth, and the materiality of the earth is of an order different from the materiality of the moon. This idea is at first difficult to grasp. People are accustomed to think that matter is everywhere the same. The whole of physics, of astrophysics, of chemistry, such methods as spectroanalysis, and so on, are based upon this assumption. And it is true that matter is the same, but materiality is different. And different degrees of materiality depend directly upon the qualities and properties of the energy manifested at a given point.
"Matter or substance necessarily presupposes the existence of force or energy. This does not mean that a dualistic conception of the world is necessary. The concepts of matter and force are as relative as everything else. In the Absolute, where all is one, matter and force are also one. But in this connection matter and force are not taken as real principles of the world in itself, but as properties or characteristics of the phenomenal world observed by us. To begin the study of the universe it is sufficient to have an elementary idea of matter and energy, such as we get by immediate observation through our organs of sense. The 'constant' is taken as material, as matter, and 'changes' in the state of the 'constant,' or of matter, are called manifestations of force or energy. All these changes can be regarded as the result of vibrations or undulatory motions which begin in the center, that is, in the Absolute, and go in all directions, crossing one another, colliding, and merging together, until they stop altogether at the end of the ray of creation.
"From this point of view, then, the world consists of vibrations and matter, or of matter in a state of vibration, of vibrating matter. The rate of vibration is in inverse ratio to the density of matter.
"In the Absolute vibrations are the most rapid and matter is the least dense. In the next world vibrations are slower and matter denser; and further on matter is still more dense and vibrations correspondingly slower.
"'Matter' may be regarded as consisting of 'atoms.' Atoms in this connection are take also as the result of the final division of matter. In every order of matter they are simply certain small particles of the given matter which are indivisble only on the given plane. The atoms of the Absolute alone are really indivisible, the atom of the next plane, that is of world 3, consists of three atoms of the Absolute or, in other words, it is three times bigger and three times heavier, and its movements are correspondingly slower. The atom of world 6 consists of six atoms of the Absolute merged together, as it were, and forming one atom. Its movements are correspondingly slower. The atom of the next world consists of twelve primordial particles, and of the next worlds, of twenty-four, forty-eight, and ninety-six. The atom of world 96 is of an enormous size compared with the atom of world 1; its movements are correspondingly slower, and the matter which is made up of such atoms correspondingly denser.
"The seven worlds of the 'ray of creation' represent seven orders of materiality. The materiality of the moon is different from that of the earth; the materiality of the earth is different from the materiality of the planetary world; the materiality of the planetary world is different from the materiality of the sun, and so on.
"Thus instead of one concept of matter we have seven kinds of matter, but our ordinary conception of materiality only with difficulty embraces the materiality of worlds 96 and 48. The matter of world 24 is much too rarefied to be regarded as matter from the scientific point of view of our physics and chemistry; such matter is practically hypothetical. The still finer matter of world 12 has, for ordinary investigation, no characteristics of materiality at all. All these matters belonging to the various orders of the universe are not separated into layers but are intermixed, or, rather, they interpenetrate one another. We can get an idea of similar interpretation of matters of different densisties from the penetration of one matter by another matter of different densities known to us. A piece of wood may be saturated with water, water may in its turn be filled with gas. Exactly the same relation between different kinds of matter may be observed in the whole of the universe: the finer matters permeate the coarser ones.
"Matter that possesses characteristics of materiality comprehensible to us is divided for us into several states according to its density: solid, liquid, gaseous; further gradations of matter are: radiant energy, that is, electricity, light, magnetism; and so on. But on every plane, that is to say, in every order of materiality, similar relations and divisions of the various states of a given matter may be found; but, as has been already said, matter of a higher plane is not material at all for the lower planes.
"All the matter of the world that surrounds us, the food that we eat, the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, the stones that our houses are built of, our own bodies—everything is permeated by all the matters that exist in the universe. There is no need to study or investigate the sun in order to discover the matter of the solar world: this matter exists in ourselves and is the result of the division of our atoms. In the same way we have in us the matter of all other worlds. Man is, in the full sense of the term, a 'miniature universe'; in him are all the matters of which the universe consists; the same forces, the same laws that govern the life of the universe, operate in him; therefore in studying man we can study the whole world, just as in studying the world we can study man."But a complete parallel between man and the world can only be drawn if we take 'man' in the full sense of the word, that is, a man whose inherent powers are developed. An undeveloped man, a man who has not completed the course of his evolution, cannot be taken as a complete picture or plan of the universe—he is an unfinished world.
"As has been said already, the study of oneself must go side by side with the study of the fundamental laws of the universe. The laws are the same everywhere and on all planes. But the very same laws manifesting themselves in different worlds, that is, under different conditions, produce different phenomena. The study of the relation of laws to the planes upon which they are manifested brings us to the study of relativity.
"The idea of relativity occupies a very important place in this teaching, and, later on, we shall return to it. But before anything else it is necessary to understand the relativity of each thing and of each manifestation according to the place it occupies in the cosmic order.
"We are on the earth and we depend entirely upon the laws that are operating on the earth. The earth is a very bad place from the cosmic point of view—it is like the most remote part of northern Siberia, very far from everywhere, it is cold, life is very hard. Everything that in another place either comes by itself or is easily obtained, is here acquired only by hard labor; everything must be fought for both in life and in the work. In life it still happens sometimes that a man gets a legacy and afterwards lives without doing anything. But such a thing does not happen in the work. All are equal and all are equally beggars.
"Returning to the law of three, one must learn to find the manifestations of this law in everything we do and in everything we study. The application of this law in any sphere at once reveals much that is new, much that we did not see before. Take chemistry, for instance. Ordinary science does not know of the law of three and it studies matter without taking into consideration its cosmic properties. But besides ordinary chemistry there exists another, a special chemistry, or alchemy if you like, which studies matter taking into consideration its cosmic properties. As has been said before, the cosmic properties of each substance are determined first by its place, and secondly by the force which is acting through it at the given moment. Even in the same place the nature of a given substance undergoes a great change dependent upon the force which is being manifested through it. Each substance can be the conductor of any one of the three forces and, in accordance with this, it can be active, passive, or neutralizing. And it can be neither the first, nor the second, nor the third, if no force is manifesting through it at the given moment or if it is taken without relation to the manifestation of forces. In this way every substance appears, as it were, in four different aspects or states. In this connection it must be noted that when we speak of matter we do not speak of chemical elements. The special chemistry of which I speak looks upon every substance having a separate function, even the most complex, as an element. In this way only is it possible to study the cosmic properties of matter, because all complex compounds have their own cosmic purpose and significance.
From this point of view an atom of a given substance is the smallest amount of the given substance which retains all its chemical, physical, and cosmic properties. Consequently the size of the 'atom' of different substances is not the same. And in some cases an 'atom' may be a particle even visible to the naked eye.
"The four aspects or states of every substance have definite names.
"When a substance is the conductor of the first or the active force, it is called 'carbon,' and, like the carbon of chemistry, it is designated by the letter C.
"When a substance is the conductor of the second or the passive force, it is called 'oxygen,' and, like the oxygen of chemistry, it is designated by the letter O.
"When a substance is the conductor of the third or neutralizing force, it is called 'nitrogen,' and, like the nitrogen of chemistry, it is designated by the letter N.
"When a substance is taken without relation to the force manifesting itself through it, it is called 'hydrogen,' and, like the hydrogen of chemistry, it is designated by the letter H.
"The active, the passive, and the neutralizing forces are designated by the figures 1, 2, 3, and the substances by the letters C, O, N, and H. These designations must be understood."
"Do these four elements correspond to the old four alchemical elements, fire, air, water, earth?" asked one of us.
"Yes, they do correspond," said G., "but we will use these. You will understand why afterwards." What I heard interested me very much for it connected G.'s system with the system of the Tarot, which had seemed to me at one time to be a possible key to hidden knowledge. Moreover it showed me a relation of three to four which was new to me and which I had not been able to understand from the Tarot. The Tarot is definitely constructed upon the law of four principles. Until now G. had spoken only of the law of three principles. But now I saw how three passed into four and understood the necessity for this division so long as the division of force and matter exists for our immediate observation. "Three" referred to force and "four" referred to matter. Of course, the further meaning of
this was still obscure for me, but even the little that G. said promised a great deal for the future. In addition I was very interested in the names of the elements: "carbon,""oxygen," "nitrogen," and "hydrogen."
I must here remark that although G. had definitely promised to explain precisely why these names were taken and not others, he never did so. Later on I shall return once again to these names. Attempts to establish the origin of these names explained to me a great deal concerning the whole of G.'s system as well as its history.
"The
three divided forces in the worlds of the second order, meeting together in
each of these worlds, create new worlds of the third order. Let us take one of
these worlds. The worlds of the third order, created by the three forces which
act semi-mechanically, no longer depend upon the single will of the Absolute
but upon three mechanical laws. These worlds are created by the three forces.
And having been created they manifest three new forces of their own. Thus the
number of forces acting in the worlds of the third order will be six. In the
diagram the circle of the third order is designated by the number 6 (3 plus 3).
In these worlds are created worlds of a new order, the fourth order. In the
worlds of the fourth order there are three forces of the world of the second
order, six forces of the world of the third order, and three of their own,
twelve forces altogether. Let us take one of these worlds and designate it by
the number 12 (3 plus 6 plus 3). Being subject to a greater number of laws
these worlds stand still further away from the single will of the Absolute and
are still more mechanical. The worlds created within these worlds will be
governed by twenty-four forces (3 plus 6 plus 12 plus 3). The worlds created
within these worlds will be governed by forty-eight forces, the number 48 being
made up as follows: three forces of the world immediately following the
Absolute, six of the next one, twelve of the next, twenty four of the one
after, and three of its own (3 plus 6 plus 12 plus 24 plus 3), forty-eight in
all. Worlds created within worlds 48 will be governed by ninety-six forces (3
plus 6 plus 12 plus 24 plus 48 plus 3). The worlds of the next order, if there
are any, will be governed by 192 forces, and so on."If we take one of the many worlds created in the Absolute, that is, world 3, it will be the world representing the total number of starry worlds similar to our Milky Way. If we take world 6, it will be one of the worlds created within this world, namely the accumulation of stars which we call the Milky Way. World 12 will be one of the suns that compose the Milky Way, our sun. World 24 will be the planetary world, that is to say all the planets of the solar system. World 48 will be the earth. World 96 will be the moon. If the moon had a satellite it would be world 192, and so on.
"The chain of worlds, the links of which are the Absolute, all worlds, all suns, our sun, the planets, the earth, and the moon, forms the 'ray of creation' in which we find ourselves. The ray of creation is for us the 'world' in the widest sense of the term. Of course, the ray of creation does not include the 'world' in the full sense of the term, since the Absolute gives birth to a number, perhaps to an infinite number, of different worlds, each of these worlds contains a number of worlds representing a further breaking up of the ray and again of these worlds we select only one - our Milky Way; the Milky Way consists of a number of suns, but of this number we select one sun which is nearest to us, upon which we immediately depend, and in which we live and move and have our being. Each of the other suns means a new breaking up of the ray, but we cannot study these rays in the same way as our ray, that is, the ray in which we are situated. Further, within the solar system the planetary world is nearer to us than the sun itself, and within the planetary world the nearest of all to us is the earth, the planet on which we live. We have no need to study other planets in the same way as we study the earth, it is sufficient for us to take them all together, that is to say, on a considerably smaller scale than we take the earth.
"The number of forces in each world, 1, 3, 6, 12, and so on, indicates the number of laws to which the given world is subject.
"The fewer laws there are in a given world, the nearer it is to the will of the Absolute; the more laws there are in a given world, the greater the mechanicalness, the further it is from the will of the Absolute. We live in a world subject to forty-eight orders of laws, that is to say, very far from the will of the Absolute and in a very remote and dark corner of the universe.
"In this way the ray of creation helps us to determine and to realize our place in the world. But, as you see, we have not yet come to questions about influences. In order to understand the difference between the influences of various worlds we must better understand the law of three and then, further, still another fundamental law - the Law of Seven, or the law of octaves.
Chapter
5
"We take the three-dimensional universe and consider the world as a world of matter and force in the simplest and most elementary meaning of these terms. Higher dimensions and new theories of matter, space, and time, as well as other categories of knowledge of the world which are unknown to science, we will discuss later. At present it is necessary to represent the universe in the diagrammatic form of the 'ray of creation,' from the Absolute to the moon.
"The 'ray of creation' seems at first glance to be a very elementary plan of the universe, but actually, as one studies it further, it becomes clear that with the help of this simple plan it is possible to bring into accord, and to make into a single whole, a multitude of various and conflicting philosophical as well as religious and scientific views of the world. The idea of the ray of creation belongs to ancient knowledge and many of the naive geocentric systems of the universe known to us are actually either incompetent expositions of the idea of the ray of creation or distortions of this idea due to literal understanding.
"It must be observed that the idea of the ray of creation and its growth from the Absolute contradicts some of the modern views, although not really scientific views. Take, for instance, the stage - sun, earth, moon. According to the usual understanding the moon is a cold, dead celestial body which was once like earth, that is to say, it possessed internal heat and at a still earlier period was a molten mass like the sun. The earth, according to the usual views, was once like the sun, and is also gradually cooling down and, sooner or later, will become a frozen mass like the moon. It is usually supposed that the sun is also cooling down and, sooner or later, will become a frozen mass like the moon.
"First of all, of course, it must be remarked that this view cannot be called 'scientific' in the strict sense of the term, because in science, that is, in astronomy, or rather, in astrophysics, there are many different and contradictory hypotheses and theories on that subject, none of which has any serious foundation. But this view is the one most widely spread and one which has become the view of the average man of modern times in regard to the world in which we live.
"The idea of the ray of creation and its growth from the Absolute contradicts these general views today.
"According to this idea the moon is still an unborn planet, one that is, so to speak, being born. It is becoming warm gradually and in time (given a favorable development of the ray of creation) it will become like the earth and have a satellite of its own, a new moon. A new link will have been added to the ray of creation. The earth, too, is not getting colder, it is getting warmer, and may in time become like the sun. We observe such a process for instance in the system of Jupiter, which is a sun for its satellites.
"Summing up all that has been said before about the ray of creation, from world 1 down to world 96, it must be added that the figures by which worlds are designated indicate the number of forces, or orders of laws, which govern the worlds in question. In the Absolute there is only one force and only one law - the single and independent will of the Absolute. In the next world there are three forces or three orders of laws. In the next there are six orders of laws; in the following one, twelve: and so on. In our world, that is, the earth, forty-eight orders of laws are operating to which we are subject and by which our whole life is governed. If we lived on the moon we should be subject to ninety-six orders of laws, that is, our life and activity would be still more mechanical and we should not have the possibilities of escape from mechanicalness that we now have.
"As has been said already, the will of the Absolute is only manifested in the immediate world created by it within itself, that is, in world 3; the immediate will of the Absolute does not reach world 6 and is manifested in it only in the form of mechanical laws. Further on, in worlds 12, 24, 48, and 96, the will of the Absolute has less and less possibility of manifesting itself. This means that in world 3 the Absolute creates, as it were, a general plan of the rest of the universe, which is then further developed mechanically. The will of the Absolute cannot manifest itself in subsequent worlds apart from this plan, and, in manifesting itself in accordance with this plan, it takes the form of mechanical laws. This means that if the Absolute wanted to manifest its will, say, in our world, in opposition to the mechanical laws in operation there, it would then have to destroy all the worlds intermediate between itself and our world.
"The idea of a miracle in the sense of a violation of laws by the will which made them is not only contrary to common sense but to the very idea of will itself. A 'miracle' can only be a manifestation of laws which are unknown to men or rarely met with. A 'miracle' is the manifestation in this world of the laws of another world.
"On the earth we are very far removed from the will of the Absolute; we are separated from it by forty-eight orders of mechanical laws. If we could free ourselves from one half of these laws, we should find ourselves subject to only twenty-four orders of laws, that is, to the laws of the planetary world, and then we should be one stage nearer to the Absolute. and its will. If we could then free ourselves from one half of these laws, we should be subject to the laws of the sun (twelve laws) and consequently one stage nearer still to the Absolute. If, again, we could free ourselves from half of these laws, we should be subject to the laws of the starry world and separated by only one stage from the immediate will of the Absolute.
"And the possibility for man thus gradually to free himself from mechanical laws exists.
"The study of the forty-eight orders of laws to which man is subject cannot be abstract like the study of astronomy; they can be studied only by observing them in oneself and by getting free from them. At the beginning a man must simply understand that he is quite needlessly subject to a thousand petty but irksome laws which have been created for him by other people and by himself. When he attempts to get free from them he will see that he cannot. Long and persistent attempts to gain freedom from them will convince him of his slavery. The laws to which man is subject can only be studied by struggling with them, by trying to get free from them. But a great deal of knowledge is needed in order to become free from one law without creating for oneself another in its place.
"The orders of laws and their forms vary according to the point of view from which we consider the ray of creation.
"In our system the end of the ray creation, the growing end, so to speak, of the branch, is the moon. The energy for growth, that is, for the development of the moon and for the formation of new shoots, goes to the moon from the earth, where it is created by the joint action of the sun, of all the other planets of the solar system, and of the earth itself. This energy is collected and preserved in a huge accumulator situated on the earth's surface. This accumulator is organic life on earth. Organic life on earth feeds for the moon. Everything living on the earth, people, animals, plants, is food for the moon. The moon is a huge living being feeding upon all that lives and grows on the earth. The moon could not exist without organic life on earth, any more than organic life on earth could exist without the moon. Moreover, in relation to organic life the moon is a huge electromagnet. If the action of the electromagnet were suddenly to stop, organic life would crumble to nothing.
"The process of the growth and the warming of the moon is connected with life and death on the earth. Everything living sets free at its death a certain amount of energy that has 'animated' it; this energy, or the 'souls' of everything living - plants, animals, people - is attracted to the moon as though by a huge electromagnet, and brings to it warmth and the life upon which its growth depends, that is, the growth of the ray of creation. In the economy of the universe nothing is lost, and a certain energy having finished its work on one plane goes to another.
"The souls that go to the moon, possessing perhaps even a certain amount of consciousness and memory, find themselves there under ninety-six laws, in the conditions of mineral life, or to put it differently, in conditions from which there is no escape apart from a general evolution in immeasurably long planetary cycles. The moon as 'at the extremity,' at the end of the world; it is the 'outer darkness' of the Christian doctrine 'where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
"The influence of the moon upon everything living manifests itself in all that happens on the earth. The moon is the chief, or rather, the nearest, the immediate, motive force of all that takes place in organic life on the earth. All movements, actions, and manifestations of people, animals, and plants depend upon the moon and are controlled by the moon. The sensitive film of organic life which covers the earthly globe is entirely dependent upon the influence of the huge electromagnet that is sucking out its vitality. Man, like every other living being, cannot, in the ordinary conditions of life, tear himself free from the moon. all his movements and consequently all his actions are controlled by the moon. If he kills another man, the moon does it; if he sacrifices himself for others, the moon does that also. All evil deeds, all crimes, all self-sacrificing actions, all heroic exploits, as well as all the actions of ordinary everyday life, are controlled by the moon.
[Q:
"How then is '48' extricated from or 'above' the laws of '96'? A:...]
"The
liberation which comes with the growth of mental powers and faculties is
liberation from the moon. The mechanical part of our life depends upon the
moon, is subject to the moon. If we develop in our selves consciousness and
will, and subject our mechanical life and all our mechanical manifestations to
them, we shall escape from the power of the moon."The next idea which it is necessary to master is the materiality of the universe which is taken in the form of the ray of creation. Everything in this universe can be weighed and measured. The Absolute is as material, as weighable and measurable, as the moon, or as man. If the Absolute is God it means that God can be weighed and measured, resolved into component elements, 'calculated,' and expressed in the form of a definite formula.
[Remember
from the previous post The New Model of the Universe that its collective
enumeration is equivalent to that of A MATHEMATICAL FORMULA OF GOD, 666. 666 is
thus indicative of 'THE VIOLATION' mentioned above and the 'MIRACULOUS' which
transcends THE CHAINS OF THE ABSOLUTE by working through them.]
"But the concept of 'materiality' is as relative as everything else. If we recall how the concept 'man' and all that refers to him - good, evil, truth, falsehood, and so on - is divided into different categories ('man number one,' 'man number two,' and so on), it will be easy for us to understand planes in the world, seven worlds one within another. Everything that refers to the world is also divided into seven categories, one category order different from that of 'all worlds.' The materiality of 'all worlds' is of an order different from the materiality of 'all suns.' The materiality of 'all suns' is of an order different from the materiality of our sun. The materiality of our sun is of an order different from the materiality of 'all planets.' The materality of 'all planets' is of an order different from the materiality of the earth, and the materiality of the earth is of an order different from the materiality of the moon. This idea is at first difficult to grasp. People are accustomed to think that matter is everywhere the same. The whole of physics, of astrophysics, of chemistry, such methods as spectroanalysis, and so on, are based upon this assumption. And it is true that matter is the same, but materiality is different. And different degrees of materiality depend directly upon the qualities and properties of the energy manifested at a given point.
"Matter or substance necessarily presupposes the existence of force or energy. This does not mean that a dualistic conception of the world is necessary. The concepts of matter and force are as relative as everything else. In the Absolute, where all is one, matter and force are also one. But in this connection matter and force are not taken as real principles of the world in itself, but as properties or characteristics of the phenomenal world observed by us. To begin the study of the universe it is sufficient to have an elementary idea of matter and energy, such as we get by immediate observation through our organs of sense. The 'constant' is taken as material, as matter, and 'changes' in the state of the 'constant,' or of matter, are called manifestations of force or energy. All these changes can be regarded as the result of vibrations or undulatory motions which begin in the center, that is, in the Absolute, and go in all directions, crossing one another, colliding, and merging together, until they stop altogether at the end of the ray of creation.
"From this point of view, then, the world consists of vibrations and matter, or of matter in a state of vibration, of vibrating matter. The rate of vibration is in inverse ratio to the density of matter.
"In the Absolute vibrations are the most rapid and matter is the least dense. In the next world vibrations are slower and matter denser; and further on matter is still more dense and vibrations correspondingly slower.
"'Matter' may be regarded as consisting of 'atoms.' Atoms in this connection are take also as the result of the final division of matter. In every order of matter they are simply certain small particles of the given matter which are indivisble only on the given plane. The atoms of the Absolute alone are really indivisible, the atom of the next plane, that is of world 3, consists of three atoms of the Absolute or, in other words, it is three times bigger and three times heavier, and its movements are correspondingly slower. The atom of world 6 consists of six atoms of the Absolute merged together, as it were, and forming one atom. Its movements are correspondingly slower. The atom of the next world consists of twelve primordial particles, and of the next worlds, of twenty-four, forty-eight, and ninety-six. The atom of world 96 is of an enormous size compared with the atom of world 1; its movements are correspondingly slower, and the matter which is made up of such atoms correspondingly denser.
"The seven worlds of the 'ray of creation' represent seven orders of materiality. The materiality of the moon is different from that of the earth; the materiality of the earth is different from the materiality of the planetary world; the materiality of the planetary world is different from the materiality of the sun, and so on.
"Thus instead of one concept of matter we have seven kinds of matter, but our ordinary conception of materiality only with difficulty embraces the materiality of worlds 96 and 48. The matter of world 24 is much too rarefied to be regarded as matter from the scientific point of view of our physics and chemistry; such matter is practically hypothetical. The still finer matter of world 12 has, for ordinary investigation, no characteristics of materiality at all. All these matters belonging to the various orders of the universe are not separated into layers but are intermixed, or, rather, they interpenetrate one another. We can get an idea of similar interpretation of matters of different densisties from the penetration of one matter by another matter of different densities known to us. A piece of wood may be saturated with water, water may in its turn be filled with gas. Exactly the same relation between different kinds of matter may be observed in the whole of the universe: the finer matters permeate the coarser ones.
"Matter that possesses characteristics of materiality comprehensible to us is divided for us into several states according to its density: solid, liquid, gaseous; further gradations of matter are: radiant energy, that is, electricity, light, magnetism; and so on. But on every plane, that is to say, in every order of materiality, similar relations and divisions of the various states of a given matter may be found; but, as has been already said, matter of a higher plane is not material at all for the lower planes.
"All the matter of the world that surrounds us, the food that we eat, the water that we drink, the air that we breathe, the stones that our houses are built of, our own bodies—everything is permeated by all the matters that exist in the universe. There is no need to study or investigate the sun in order to discover the matter of the solar world: this matter exists in ourselves and is the result of the division of our atoms. In the same way we have in us the matter of all other worlds. Man is, in the full sense of the term, a 'miniature universe'; in him are all the matters of which the universe consists; the same forces, the same laws that govern the life of the universe, operate in him; therefore in studying man we can study the whole world, just as in studying the world we can study man."But a complete parallel between man and the world can only be drawn if we take 'man' in the full sense of the word, that is, a man whose inherent powers are developed. An undeveloped man, a man who has not completed the course of his evolution, cannot be taken as a complete picture or plan of the universe—he is an unfinished world.
"As has been said already, the study of oneself must go side by side with the study of the fundamental laws of the universe. The laws are the same everywhere and on all planes. But the very same laws manifesting themselves in different worlds, that is, under different conditions, produce different phenomena. The study of the relation of laws to the planes upon which they are manifested brings us to the study of relativity.
"The idea of relativity occupies a very important place in this teaching, and, later on, we shall return to it. But before anything else it is necessary to understand the relativity of each thing and of each manifestation according to the place it occupies in the cosmic order.
"We are on the earth and we depend entirely upon the laws that are operating on the earth. The earth is a very bad place from the cosmic point of view—it is like the most remote part of northern Siberia, very far from everywhere, it is cold, life is very hard. Everything that in another place either comes by itself or is easily obtained, is here acquired only by hard labor; everything must be fought for both in life and in the work. In life it still happens sometimes that a man gets a legacy and afterwards lives without doing anything. But such a thing does not happen in the work. All are equal and all are equally beggars.
"Returning to the law of three, one must learn to find the manifestations of this law in everything we do and in everything we study. The application of this law in any sphere at once reveals much that is new, much that we did not see before. Take chemistry, for instance. Ordinary science does not know of the law of three and it studies matter without taking into consideration its cosmic properties. But besides ordinary chemistry there exists another, a special chemistry, or alchemy if you like, which studies matter taking into consideration its cosmic properties. As has been said before, the cosmic properties of each substance are determined first by its place, and secondly by the force which is acting through it at the given moment. Even in the same place the nature of a given substance undergoes a great change dependent upon the force which is being manifested through it. Each substance can be the conductor of any one of the three forces and, in accordance with this, it can be active, passive, or neutralizing. And it can be neither the first, nor the second, nor the third, if no force is manifesting through it at the given moment or if it is taken without relation to the manifestation of forces. In this way every substance appears, as it were, in four different aspects or states. In this connection it must be noted that when we speak of matter we do not speak of chemical elements. The special chemistry of which I speak looks upon every substance having a separate function, even the most complex, as an element. In this way only is it possible to study the cosmic properties of matter, because all complex compounds have their own cosmic purpose and significance.
From this point of view an atom of a given substance is the smallest amount of the given substance which retains all its chemical, physical, and cosmic properties. Consequently the size of the 'atom' of different substances is not the same. And in some cases an 'atom' may be a particle even visible to the naked eye.
"The four aspects or states of every substance have definite names.
"When a substance is the conductor of the first or the active force, it is called 'carbon,' and, like the carbon of chemistry, it is designated by the letter C.
"When a substance is the conductor of the second or the passive force, it is called 'oxygen,' and, like the oxygen of chemistry, it is designated by the letter O.
"When a substance is the conductor of the third or neutralizing force, it is called 'nitrogen,' and, like the nitrogen of chemistry, it is designated by the letter N.
"When a substance is taken without relation to the force manifesting itself through it, it is called 'hydrogen,' and, like the hydrogen of chemistry, it is designated by the letter H.
"The active, the passive, and the neutralizing forces are designated by the figures 1, 2, 3, and the substances by the letters C, O, N, and H. These designations must be understood."
"Do these four elements correspond to the old four alchemical elements, fire, air, water, earth?" asked one of us.
"Yes, they do correspond," said G., "but we will use these. You will understand why afterwards." What I heard interested me very much for it connected G.'s system with the system of the Tarot, which had seemed to me at one time to be a possible key to hidden knowledge. Moreover it showed me a relation of three to four which was new to me and which I had not been able to understand from the Tarot. The Tarot is definitely constructed upon the law of four principles. Until now G. had spoken only of the law of three principles. But now I saw how three passed into four and understood the necessity for this division so long as the division of force and matter exists for our immediate observation. "Three" referred to force and "four" referred to matter. Of course, the further meaning of
this was still obscure for me, but even the little that G. said promised a great deal for the future. In addition I was very interested in the names of the elements: "carbon,""oxygen," "nitrogen," and "hydrogen."
I must here remark that although G. had definitely promised to explain precisely why these names were taken and not others, he never did so. Later on I shall return once again to these names. Attempts to establish the origin of these names explained to me a great deal concerning the whole of G.'s system as well as its history.
Although lengthy it serves as an essential basis for certain forthcoming explorations and extrapolations. The 'Seven Rays' is a concept within many systems, most notably that of Theosophical literature of Helena Blavatsky, Alice Bailey and their disciples. One lesser-known figure whose work I have found to be superb and quite complementary to 'The Work' of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky is Vera Stanley Alder (29 October 1898 – 26 May 1984), who also utilizes a seven-fold system throughout her seven occult books.
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| See Man: Whence, How and Whither |
The average human being is apt to think of unseen entities in terms of his
own form, or of other forms with which he is familiar. To his God he has always
given human form, or else the shape of some familiar animal. It is natural that
this should be so, especially when, for instance, man has been told that he is
made in the image of God. Having a physically focused consciousness, he
promptly thinks of his own physical form in this connection, and
visualized God in this aspect. But man's physical form is only the final
densest crystallized little stratum of himself. It is not his permanent or
intrinsic self - it is his instrument. His etheric body, or framework,
stretches a little beyond the surface of his physical body, although it follows
the same form. His mental body stretches out still further and has a form more
of an oval shape. (See The Finding of the Third Eye.)
His aura and his astral body stretch out further till and the whole is seen as a globe of fine, rapidly moving, iridescent coloured particles of subtle matter. This globe rotates around the vital centres in man's body, its particles flowing outwards from these centres, sweeping round, eddying and swirling, and returning again to the centres. Therefore man, seen as a whole, is a rotating spherical form, with a living nucleus, the heart, and various vital living centres, which might be thought of as his electrons. Considered thus, man's resemblance to either a planet or an atom becomes more conceivable.
It is said that when man first took form upon this planet his form was spherical, and that before he finally leaves it he will be completely spherical once more, but with a great difference. At the beginning his consciousness was exterior and subjective as is that of the animal. At the end it will be interior, dynamic and creative. The spherical form is said to be the ideal one from many points of view.
The object of these preliminary remarks is to try and loosen the mental attitude as to the forms in which conscious entities may dwell, function and develop. If a man had never seen a snake he would not believe that such rapid movement could be achieved by a creature without legs or limbs to help itself. In the same way, unless he has second sight and can observe himself, he cannot believe that beings can exist in cohesive 'solid' form which is not registered by the physical senses. Nor can he conceive how such a being as that inhabiting a planet can have a consciousness, a purpose, can 'see' without the human type of eye, feel without the human type of sense organs.
The human being stands midway in a vast scale of conscious evolving entities, some at a lower stage and some at a higher stage of development than himself, and the consciousness of the Deity of our solar system is made up of the consciousness of all of these, as well as of man.
Bearing this in mind, we can now touch upon the vast and complex subject of the Rays.
We know that a solar system is composed of a sun holding its planets revolving around it in its sphere of attraction. We learn from the Ageless Wisdom that a constellation is formed of two or more solar systems, held together by mutual attraction between their suns. The constellation to which our solar system belongs is composed of seven solar systems, which form the body and ensoul the life of the greatest Deity of Whom we may think : the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID. This Deity, in Whose organism we live and have our being, elected to create His physical form and manifestation in terms of a division into SEVEN. Therefore from the vortex of His creative primal energy He issued forth SEVEN GREAT BREATHS - or RAYS, which are the seven differentiations of intelligent creative energy, and which colour and express all creation as it exists within our constellation. Seven mighty Logoi or Spirits ensouled these Rays, Who built each a solar system as His body of manifestation. One of these is the Logos of our own solar system, our own Divine God. He is therefore swept into being on one of the MAJOR Seven Rays (the second one). He repeats the divine creative process, dividing the Ray again into Seven with which to build His Own body, our solar system, which is therefore conditioned by the Seven subsidiary Rays of the Second of the major Cosmic Rays. The Seven Spirits Before the Throne (our seven planetary Logoi) each ensouled a Ray and took incarnation within one of the seven sacred planets of our solar system.
We will now consider the Seven Rays of our solar system, remembering always that they are a repetition on a smaller scale of a greater manifestation. Our solar Deity created His form of expression by dividing His Divine Self from the One into Three, the primary three which occur before all manifestation. These Three were Spirit, Soul and Body, named in the case of our Deity as Will, Wisdom and Activity respectively - or Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The life of the Deity before He began to build His form was expressed as white spiritual light. He had to divide this great Ray of Light (by means of which He emanated from a greater Deity still), splitting it up into three great Primary Rays of this solar system, the Red Ray (Will), the Blue Ray (Love-Wisdom) and the Yellow Ray (Intelligent Activity).
These three Major Rays embodied the three principal facets of the creative consciousness of the Deity. They were His three first breaths with which He spoke, and is still speaking, the Word of creation. Everything in the universe exists fundamentally upon one of these Breaths or Rays, and partakes in its other aspects of the life of the other two Rays.
The First Ray, the Red Ray, Will is the expression and embodiment of the male positive aspect of the Ego of our solar Logos or Deity.
The Second Ray, the Blue Ray, Love-Wisdom, is the epxression and embodiment of the Soul, the heart-aspect of our solar Logos.
The Third Ray, the Yellow Ray, Intelligent Activity, is the expression and embodiement of the Body, the Manifesting Aspect, the activity of matter, in which the Son immerses Himself in order to develop His own qualities of creative deity, and, having done so, return (the Prodigal) back into the divine spheres of His Father once more. [See A Treatise on the Seven Rays by Alice A. Bailey.]
In charge of the Third Ray, therefore, is the tremendous task of producing the body, brain and activities of the solar system. To perform this task He emanates four further Rays from His Own powers, and thus the Seven Rays come into being. There are, then, the major primary rays of red, blue and yellow, the subsidiary rays of orange, green and violent, and the synthesizing ray of indigo, in which the other colours all meet and blend. This great Cosmic manifestation is repeated for us by our little earthly rainbow, when the white light of the sun is sub-divided into these seven colours before our eyes.
Ray Four expresses the goal to which the created physical world is struggling - HARMONY. This harmony can only be attained and appreciated through learning balance, and this is reached through conflict, leading finally to balance, harmony, beauty and intuition. Therefore this Ray gives the suffering and stress which produces art in many forms, and leads finally to intuition or pure reason. It is said that his Ray uses as its body of physical expression the planet Mercury, which has a very high vibration indeed.
Ray Five is the ray of concrete knowledge or science, by means of which man's mind gradually stabilizes his emotions and reaches to an understanding of the plan of creation. Curious as it may seem, the physical expression of this Ray is said to be the planet Venus.
Ray Six is the ray of idealism and devotion, producing that one-pointed-ness or fanaticism which enables humanity to persevere to its goal through every conceivable obstacle. This Ray, which is in a certain sense the fighting ray, ensouls the planet Mars.
Ray Seven governs Ceremonial Order, or Magic, giving us those laws, rhythms and designs which hold and evolved creation, and which when understood and wielded by man make of him a 'magician'. This Ray ensouls our moon, whose significance we shall consider later.
Every aspect, form, attribute and movement in life is brought about by the influence of the Rays. Everything in existence belongs primarily - that is to say its soul is located - on one of the three major Rays, while its astral, mental and physical parts are governed and built by the combined influence of the other rays. The complexity and vastness of the subject of the Rays can thus be imagined, and I can do no more at this time than very briefly indicate what there is to be known about Them. Althought all the Rays are always in power latently, they do have definite periods of incarnation or activity. A Ray's influence will sweep outwards into physical life, incarnate for a period of many hundred years, and produce a particular phase either of development in the animal or mineral or plant worlds, or in the human world, in which latter it may bring out a period of art, science, war, religion or constructiveness, according to the Ray in question.
Each great root-race, and each branch race, belongs to its Rays, having its soul-ray (or esoteric ray) and its personality ray (or exoteric ray). The same applies to each man and each conscious being. In the process of evolution attention is first concentrated in the personality, and when its complexities (built into it by combined rays) are finally mastered and co-ordinated a man appears with a dyhnamic and powerful personality, very ego-centric. There is then a battle between the soul and the personality, which is long, fierce and difficult. Finally and inevitably the soul wins, its Ray takes full control, and one of the Initiations has been achieved. The man then continues his progress under soul-domination and illumination. The final and last phase (on this earth) is for him to discover his Spirit and the Ray to which it belongs. He then recognizes his own Deity, the Lord of his Monadic or spirital Ray. This constitutes a further great Initiation. Man has then controlled and perfected all his bodies and subdued them to the rule of spirit and the fusion with spirit, and has become the perfect man, God in human form. He therefore has nothing further to learn by incarnating on this earth, and need do so no more, unless he chooses, as certain great Spirits have done, to return to its restricting surface in order to help his fellow men. Or he may prefer other kinds of work, such as to fit himself, by further initiations still, to become Lord of a mind ray or a planet, or some such task of which we can have no real conception.
The fundamental way in which to understand a human being, therefore, is to get to known upon which Rays are his soul, and his personality, and further upon which rays are his physical, astral and mental bodies, which go to make up the personality. One can then better understand the conflicts within the whole, the super-conscious direction of man's life, and the stage to which co-ordination and co-operation has so far reached. Besides this a man is influenced by the Ray of his particular nation, and of his race. He is influenced by the particular stage of evolution (from the Ray point of view) of our Planetary Deity (Who is not one of the Ray Spirits), of His karma, and the particular Initiation to which He is now striving. Man is also naturally influenced by the present evolutionary activity of our Solar Logos, and of the other Six Logoi which make up our constellation, and finally by the consciousness of the Logos of our constellation Himself, the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.
A reflection on these things gives much illumination as to the many 'outside' influences and forces which seem to sway man's destinies and swing him into currents over which he seems to have no control. The subject is one which will not be properly understood or put to use for many generations to come. But it is said that it will finally constitute the foundations of future psychology, and help man safely through the many difficult misunderstood phases in his development which at present often land him, through ignorance, in a lunatic asylum.
Before we conclude this rapid introduction to the subject of the Rays it is necessary to point out two more things, the first having to do with number, the second with colour.
We have said that the actual number on which the present physical incarnation of our solar system and our constlelation was built is SEVEN. We have been given seven qualities of divine consciousness to which to attain. But seven is not the ultimate or complete number - it is only the number which produces physical manifestation. Beyond the seven there are other numbers, other qualities, perhaps other Rays and other Planets, to which our consciousness or our development has as yet little relation. Other numbers and other lessons await us in the future, and although we are basically concerned at present with the Divine Seven, we yet have been given hints and indications of further numerical entities. Twelve is considered to be the perfect and complete number, with the Deity of Deities in the centre, making Thirteen. This is seen in the twelve Signs of the Zodiac and the Twelve Creative Hierarchies. It was symbolized for us also by Christ with his Twelve Disciples and Himself in the centre.
So let us grasp the ensoulment of numbers little by little, realizing that there are always steps ahead of us.
The second point which I wish to make has to do with colour and polarity, and needs following carefully. Three of the spectrum colours, red, orange and yellow, are male and positive; three more, blue, indigo and violet, are feminine and negative.
Every entity in creation is negative to the plane or phase above it in vibration, and positive to the plane or phase of manifestation below it in vibration. Our earth is negative to the sun, but positive in a certain way to the moon. A man is positive to all that composes his body but negative to his soul. His soul is positive to his body but negative in its turn to his spirit. Therefore his soul, for instance, can have two primary colours. Seen from 'above' by the spirit it would have a negative feminine colour, blue (this would be its colour seen esoterically); but seen from 'below' from the physical or mental planes the colour of the soul would be positive and male - tinged with red or rose or flame (this would be seen exoterically). Therefore the colouring of all things is much more complex than we imagine, depending upon the plane from which we are conducting our observations. It will be seen, therefore, that once we are discussing planes other than the physical the question of colouring is better left alone for the present.
There is a further point also in this connection. Just as the seven Rays and seven Planes are not the complete number, so also the seven colours of the spectrum do not complete the colour scale, although they were sufficient for this solar incarnation. There are the twelve colours also, grouped around the ONE at the centre, including therefore five more colours with which we cannot be familar while our consciousness is focused in the lower planes.
Also we must realize that each great Entity Who is helping to form this solar system has His Triad, or major triple division into body, a soul and spirit, and that while His physical existence is focused in a particular planet (as is ours in a particular human body) His soul is focused perhaps in another planet of quite different vibrations, just as our souls are focused in another plane, the soul-[lane which is in itself an Entity.
These points give vital hints as to the nature of the secret mysteries which become revealed to the disciple at successive initiations, and upon which it is idle therefore for us to speculate at present. But what we can do, however, with great benefit, is to bear in mind the interchangeable, interpenetrating nature of all things as they partake of the One Life, whether it be in their colour, their polarity or their appearance and function in the different planes.
His aura and his astral body stretch out further till and the whole is seen as a globe of fine, rapidly moving, iridescent coloured particles of subtle matter. This globe rotates around the vital centres in man's body, its particles flowing outwards from these centres, sweeping round, eddying and swirling, and returning again to the centres. Therefore man, seen as a whole, is a rotating spherical form, with a living nucleus, the heart, and various vital living centres, which might be thought of as his electrons. Considered thus, man's resemblance to either a planet or an atom becomes more conceivable.
It is said that when man first took form upon this planet his form was spherical, and that before he finally leaves it he will be completely spherical once more, but with a great difference. At the beginning his consciousness was exterior and subjective as is that of the animal. At the end it will be interior, dynamic and creative. The spherical form is said to be the ideal one from many points of view.
The object of these preliminary remarks is to try and loosen the mental attitude as to the forms in which conscious entities may dwell, function and develop. If a man had never seen a snake he would not believe that such rapid movement could be achieved by a creature without legs or limbs to help itself. In the same way, unless he has second sight and can observe himself, he cannot believe that beings can exist in cohesive 'solid' form which is not registered by the physical senses. Nor can he conceive how such a being as that inhabiting a planet can have a consciousness, a purpose, can 'see' without the human type of eye, feel without the human type of sense organs.
The human being stands midway in a vast scale of conscious evolving entities, some at a lower stage and some at a higher stage of development than himself, and the consciousness of the Deity of our solar system is made up of the consciousness of all of these, as well as of man.
Bearing this in mind, we can now touch upon the vast and complex subject of the Rays.
We know that a solar system is composed of a sun holding its planets revolving around it in its sphere of attraction. We learn from the Ageless Wisdom that a constellation is formed of two or more solar systems, held together by mutual attraction between their suns. The constellation to which our solar system belongs is composed of seven solar systems, which form the body and ensoul the life of the greatest Deity of Whom we may think : the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID. This Deity, in Whose organism we live and have our being, elected to create His physical form and manifestation in terms of a division into SEVEN. Therefore from the vortex of His creative primal energy He issued forth SEVEN GREAT BREATHS - or RAYS, which are the seven differentiations of intelligent creative energy, and which colour and express all creation as it exists within our constellation. Seven mighty Logoi or Spirits ensouled these Rays, Who built each a solar system as His body of manifestation. One of these is the Logos of our own solar system, our own Divine God. He is therefore swept into being on one of the MAJOR Seven Rays (the second one). He repeats the divine creative process, dividing the Ray again into Seven with which to build His Own body, our solar system, which is therefore conditioned by the Seven subsidiary Rays of the Second of the major Cosmic Rays. The Seven Spirits Before the Throne (our seven planetary Logoi) each ensouled a Ray and took incarnation within one of the seven sacred planets of our solar system.
We will now consider the Seven Rays of our solar system, remembering always that they are a repetition on a smaller scale of a greater manifestation. Our solar Deity created His form of expression by dividing His Divine Self from the One into Three, the primary three which occur before all manifestation. These Three were Spirit, Soul and Body, named in the case of our Deity as Will, Wisdom and Activity respectively - or Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The life of the Deity before He began to build His form was expressed as white spiritual light. He had to divide this great Ray of Light (by means of which He emanated from a greater Deity still), splitting it up into three great Primary Rays of this solar system, the Red Ray (Will), the Blue Ray (Love-Wisdom) and the Yellow Ray (Intelligent Activity).
These three Major Rays embodied the three principal facets of the creative consciousness of the Deity. They were His three first breaths with which He spoke, and is still speaking, the Word of creation. Everything in the universe exists fundamentally upon one of these Breaths or Rays, and partakes in its other aspects of the life of the other two Rays.
The First Ray, the Red Ray, Will is the expression and embodiment of the male positive aspect of the Ego of our solar Logos or Deity.
The Second Ray, the Blue Ray, Love-Wisdom, is the epxression and embodiment of the Soul, the heart-aspect of our solar Logos.
The Third Ray, the Yellow Ray, Intelligent Activity, is the expression and embodiement of the Body, the Manifesting Aspect, the activity of matter, in which the Son immerses Himself in order to develop His own qualities of creative deity, and, having done so, return (the Prodigal) back into the divine spheres of His Father once more. [See A Treatise on the Seven Rays by Alice A. Bailey.]
In charge of the Third Ray, therefore, is the tremendous task of producing the body, brain and activities of the solar system. To perform this task He emanates four further Rays from His Own powers, and thus the Seven Rays come into being. There are, then, the major primary rays of red, blue and yellow, the subsidiary rays of orange, green and violent, and the synthesizing ray of indigo, in which the other colours all meet and blend. This great Cosmic manifestation is repeated for us by our little earthly rainbow, when the white light of the sun is sub-divided into these seven colours before our eyes.
Ray Four expresses the goal to which the created physical world is struggling - HARMONY. This harmony can only be attained and appreciated through learning balance, and this is reached through conflict, leading finally to balance, harmony, beauty and intuition. Therefore this Ray gives the suffering and stress which produces art in many forms, and leads finally to intuition or pure reason. It is said that his Ray uses as its body of physical expression the planet Mercury, which has a very high vibration indeed.
Ray Five is the ray of concrete knowledge or science, by means of which man's mind gradually stabilizes his emotions and reaches to an understanding of the plan of creation. Curious as it may seem, the physical expression of this Ray is said to be the planet Venus.
Ray Six is the ray of idealism and devotion, producing that one-pointed-ness or fanaticism which enables humanity to persevere to its goal through every conceivable obstacle. This Ray, which is in a certain sense the fighting ray, ensouls the planet Mars.
Ray Seven governs Ceremonial Order, or Magic, giving us those laws, rhythms and designs which hold and evolved creation, and which when understood and wielded by man make of him a 'magician'. This Ray ensouls our moon, whose significance we shall consider later.
Every aspect, form, attribute and movement in life is brought about by the influence of the Rays. Everything in existence belongs primarily - that is to say its soul is located - on one of the three major Rays, while its astral, mental and physical parts are governed and built by the combined influence of the other rays. The complexity and vastness of the subject of the Rays can thus be imagined, and I can do no more at this time than very briefly indicate what there is to be known about Them. Althought all the Rays are always in power latently, they do have definite periods of incarnation or activity. A Ray's influence will sweep outwards into physical life, incarnate for a period of many hundred years, and produce a particular phase either of development in the animal or mineral or plant worlds, or in the human world, in which latter it may bring out a period of art, science, war, religion or constructiveness, according to the Ray in question.
Each great root-race, and each branch race, belongs to its Rays, having its soul-ray (or esoteric ray) and its personality ray (or exoteric ray). The same applies to each man and each conscious being. In the process of evolution attention is first concentrated in the personality, and when its complexities (built into it by combined rays) are finally mastered and co-ordinated a man appears with a dyhnamic and powerful personality, very ego-centric. There is then a battle between the soul and the personality, which is long, fierce and difficult. Finally and inevitably the soul wins, its Ray takes full control, and one of the Initiations has been achieved. The man then continues his progress under soul-domination and illumination. The final and last phase (on this earth) is for him to discover his Spirit and the Ray to which it belongs. He then recognizes his own Deity, the Lord of his Monadic or spirital Ray. This constitutes a further great Initiation. Man has then controlled and perfected all his bodies and subdued them to the rule of spirit and the fusion with spirit, and has become the perfect man, God in human form. He therefore has nothing further to learn by incarnating on this earth, and need do so no more, unless he chooses, as certain great Spirits have done, to return to its restricting surface in order to help his fellow men. Or he may prefer other kinds of work, such as to fit himself, by further initiations still, to become Lord of a mind ray or a planet, or some such task of which we can have no real conception.
The fundamental way in which to understand a human being, therefore, is to get to known upon which Rays are his soul, and his personality, and further upon which rays are his physical, astral and mental bodies, which go to make up the personality. One can then better understand the conflicts within the whole, the super-conscious direction of man's life, and the stage to which co-ordination and co-operation has so far reached. Besides this a man is influenced by the Ray of his particular nation, and of his race. He is influenced by the particular stage of evolution (from the Ray point of view) of our Planetary Deity (Who is not one of the Ray Spirits), of His karma, and the particular Initiation to which He is now striving. Man is also naturally influenced by the present evolutionary activity of our Solar Logos, and of the other Six Logoi which make up our constellation, and finally by the consciousness of the Logos of our constellation Himself, the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID.
A reflection on these things gives much illumination as to the many 'outside' influences and forces which seem to sway man's destinies and swing him into currents over which he seems to have no control. The subject is one which will not be properly understood or put to use for many generations to come. But it is said that it will finally constitute the foundations of future psychology, and help man safely through the many difficult misunderstood phases in his development which at present often land him, through ignorance, in a lunatic asylum.
Before we conclude this rapid introduction to the subject of the Rays it is necessary to point out two more things, the first having to do with number, the second with colour.
We have said that the actual number on which the present physical incarnation of our solar system and our constlelation was built is SEVEN. We have been given seven qualities of divine consciousness to which to attain. But seven is not the ultimate or complete number - it is only the number which produces physical manifestation. Beyond the seven there are other numbers, other qualities, perhaps other Rays and other Planets, to which our consciousness or our development has as yet little relation. Other numbers and other lessons await us in the future, and although we are basically concerned at present with the Divine Seven, we yet have been given hints and indications of further numerical entities. Twelve is considered to be the perfect and complete number, with the Deity of Deities in the centre, making Thirteen. This is seen in the twelve Signs of the Zodiac and the Twelve Creative Hierarchies. It was symbolized for us also by Christ with his Twelve Disciples and Himself in the centre.
So let us grasp the ensoulment of numbers little by little, realizing that there are always steps ahead of us.
The second point which I wish to make has to do with colour and polarity, and needs following carefully. Three of the spectrum colours, red, orange and yellow, are male and positive; three more, blue, indigo and violet, are feminine and negative.
Every entity in creation is negative to the plane or phase above it in vibration, and positive to the plane or phase of manifestation below it in vibration. Our earth is negative to the sun, but positive in a certain way to the moon. A man is positive to all that composes his body but negative to his soul. His soul is positive to his body but negative in its turn to his spirit. Therefore his soul, for instance, can have two primary colours. Seen from 'above' by the spirit it would have a negative feminine colour, blue (this would be its colour seen esoterically); but seen from 'below' from the physical or mental planes the colour of the soul would be positive and male - tinged with red or rose or flame (this would be seen exoterically). Therefore the colouring of all things is much more complex than we imagine, depending upon the plane from which we are conducting our observations. It will be seen, therefore, that once we are discussing planes other than the physical the question of colouring is better left alone for the present.
There is a further point also in this connection. Just as the seven Rays and seven Planes are not the complete number, so also the seven colours of the spectrum do not complete the colour scale, although they were sufficient for this solar incarnation. There are the twelve colours also, grouped around the ONE at the centre, including therefore five more colours with which we cannot be familar while our consciousness is focused in the lower planes.
Also we must realize that each great Entity Who is helping to form this solar system has His Triad, or major triple division into body, a soul and spirit, and that while His physical existence is focused in a particular planet (as is ours in a particular human body) His soul is focused perhaps in another planet of quite different vibrations, just as our souls are focused in another plane, the soul-[lane which is in itself an Entity.
These points give vital hints as to the nature of the secret mysteries which become revealed to the disciple at successive initiations, and upon which it is idle therefore for us to speculate at present. But what we can do, however, with great benefit, is to bear in mind the interchangeable, interpenetrating nature of all things as they partake of the One Life, whether it be in their colour, their polarity or their appearance and function in the different planes.
 |
| See The Solar System by Arther Powell |
The Qabalah of Nine Chambers is a form of 'Chain' of the Absolute itself with its notable correspondences as of late found to me to be expressed via:
111 = THE SADHAKA, THE AWAKENED, MANY 'I', A BUDDHIC LAMA, THE ABHOTH ('The Source of Uncleanliness', residing in the cavern of Y'quaa beneath Mt. Voormithadreth. It is a horrid, dark gray protean mass and is said to be the source of all miscreation and abomination. See Colin Wilson's The Mind Parasites.)
222 = THE STUDENTS, INDICATION, THE LAW OF ACCIDENT, MAGICK QABALAH,
333 = THE BEING LADDER, MECHANICALNESS, AUTOMATIC SYSTEM, DYNAMICAL SYSTEM, ARCHIMEDES, A HIGHER MIND
444 = THE DRIVER, PRAGMATISM, THE COSMOS IS ALIVE, NUMERICAL LANGUAGE
555 = THE MASTER MASON, MASONIC RITUALS, OCCULT CORPUS, ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE, THE SPIRIT OF MAN, TRANSCENDENT MIND, TRANSCENDENTAL EGO, SILENT TEACHINGS, ACTUATION
666 = THE VIOLATION, THE CHAINS OF THE ABSOLUTE, CABALISTIC SCIENCE, EVERY ACT IS A MAGICAL ACT, INTELLIGENCES, DISCRETION, MAGNETIC ENERGY CENTER, A MECHANICAL CONSCIOUSNESS, SOURCE CODE
777 = THE ESOTERIC, TIBETANS, A MECHANICAL MAN HAS NO PSYCHOLOGY (See page 1205 of Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Volume 3 by Maurice Nicoll.), THE MASS PSYCHOLOGY OF FASCISM, ORGONE ACCUMULATOR, SEGMENTAL ARMORING, BIO-ELECTRICITY
888 = MOLECULAR STRUCTURE, THE SEVEN ARMOR SEGMENTS (See Character Analysis by Wilhelm Reich (1933) as well as Reich and Gurdjieff: Sexuality and the Evolution of Consciousness by David Brahinsky (2011)), SEX-GNOSIS
999 = FULLY ENLIGHTENED MAN, A BODILESS CONSCIOUSNESS, THE BIO-PLASMA FIELD, THE SUBTLE BODY, TANTRIC ZEN, TIBETAN TULKUS, TIBETAN BUDDHIST LAMAISM, EVERYDAY EXPERIENCES, MAGICKAL OPERATION, SANCTUM SANCTORUM
[Note the relation of the Theosophical concept of 'Chains' and Alfred Korzybski's concept of 'Time-Binding', particularly in relation to The Qabalah of Nine Chambers.'
This sequence is of great depth and interconnection, and it should be noted that the value in it comes through the interlinking not of numerical and letter values, but the meanings and essences concealed. That these phrases and terms enumerate to the TRIPLICITS that they do is not the point, the point is that their component parts seem to coherently formulate according not to numeric-letter value, but on the underlying and inherent meaning or value. The CYMATICS of THE GEOMETRY OF WORDS is thus an expression of the BROKEN SHELLS of the OVLM H'QLIPhVTh in that words are 'shells', or vehicles, as is sound, of a current which transcends the physical speech, letter or sonic/air modulations, utilizing as it were, an inadequate tool in order to convey just enough to hint at or indicate through analogy what we mean or wish to convey. Words, and thoughts of things themselves, are secondhand simulations of the original things, and in terms of empirical data, the data itself after being filtered through our limited biased perceptions, and still more filtered and altered for mass-publication. Some things are simply already too obscure to be any better understood by further simplification, we must ourselves do the work of looking outside our own self-induced blindness, but this seems to be like asking for a miracle for most of humanity. |
| See The Solar System by Arther Powell |
Many of these inklings of subjects are discussed much more extensively in the books of the authors so far mentioned, many of which I can link to online versions of, though many I have had to obtain physically on my own and can only encourage others to do as well as it would be too much additional work to scan each of them, though one day this needs to be done. Instead, I have chosen to try and condense certain keys which I have extracted in the course of my own reading and working so as to try and add new points of contact between the subject matter(s) at hand and the potential reader and whatever they may be questing for. The root MOTIVATION is always indicative of the state of ones character, and being 666 it represents one's MAGNETIC ENERGY CENTER of Solar Power and its orientation. The thesis of Alder's first book The Finding of The Third Eye is based on the idea that many ancient systems essentially teach certain underlying truths, and she begins to develop her own form of what can be called THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY over the course of her next five books, with her seventh being an autobiography.
The Finding of the Third Eye was prefaced by Alice Bailey, and reprints of her books are sold on the Lucis Trust webstore - however her style of writing was much more refined for general readers and did not reference The Secret Doctrine, or very many books at all for that matter, although it is referenced in the bibliography. Blavatsky and Bailey's work was surely an influence on her, but perhaps in the more positive sense that she greatly simplified things while the writing styles of the former tended toward complexity and too numerous of references. I have yet to read her autobiography From the Mundane to the Magnificent, but a fascinating discussion of it is presented on the MU (Mysterious Universe) podcast episode 16:19. The central focus is her astral adventures with a 'Hidden Master' named Raphael as he showed her the infinite expanse as well as the atomic-within in separate journeys which when described have an air of similarity, at least in essence, to the 'Orders of Being' described by Ouspensky as quoted above.
The Enneagram that is used by both Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (as well as others, Oscar Ichazo, Helen Palmer, Richard Rohr, etc.; see also The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky.) has a number of points of relation to the above considerations when its attributes are considered. The Ennegram consists of a Circle with 9 points, three of which form a Triangle numbered 3-6-9, a key sequence noted by Nikola Tesla: "If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have a key to the universe." 9, which is obviously composed of 3 x 3, shows that the 9 sequence of which our number spectrum is composed is based on triplicits. The other numbers 1-4-2-8-5-7 are themselves found in the repeating decimal of 1/7, as well as in the Pi approximation of 22/7 = 3.142857... The Enneagram thus contains in geometric, pictorial form a reference to the Law of Three as well as the Law of Seven. Again, the 3 and the 7 are denoted on the Tree of Life as the Supernal Triad and the Ruach which emanates therefrom. (Note also 142 + 857 = 999, and the Greek ENNEA, 'Nine' = 111.)
369 has already been considered in this publication before, however I will briefly reitterate that it is the numeration of the Greek Sophia, 'Wisdom', as well as SPIRIT and THE MATRIX. Thus, 369 represents the Wisdom of The Matrix of Spirit and its dynamics. 369 is noted by Kenneth Grant to be of a lunar nature, being as it is the summation of the series [1 – (9 x 9)] ÷ 9, and also ChShMVDAI, the 'Spirit of the Moon' (See Liber 777, pg. 19). The lunar sephirah, Yesod, is known as the Foundation since it acts as the plasma energy of manifestation prior to its crystallized state in Malkuth/Materiality. (Note CRYSTALLIZED = 369 as well, showing the SPIRIT crystallized in form.) It should also be noted that 1 more than 369 is 370, the value of the Hebrew OSh, 'Creation'. Crowley also notes in Liber 207 that Liber 370, or Liber A'ash vel Capricorni Pneumatici "Contains the true secret of all practical magick."
370
happens to also be the value of the Greek Ολος, 'All'/'Whole'/'Perfect', Οικος,
'House', Ο Οπλον, 'The Weapon'/'Tool', Ο Σπαθι, 'The Sword', Η Παπα, 'The
Pope'/'Priest', and Κοιος, 'Coeus' the Titan god of intelligence and farsight.
He was also identified as the god of wisdom and heavenly oracles. Coeus was
also known as the Pillar of the north pole from which the constellations
revolved and therefore, controlled the axis between Heaven and Earth. Together
with his other three brothers Crius, Hyperion and Iapetus, they presided as the
Pillars of holding Heaven and Earth apart. He was one of six sons of Uranus and
Gaea and is mentioned by Apollodorus as one of the five brothers, all but
Oceanus, who participated in rebellion against Uranus and later attacked him.
When they overcame him, the four brothers probably held him down, while Cronus
castrated him. 370 is also notably the value of the Hebrew ShLM, 'Shalom', or
'Salem', (Peace/Health) of which Melchizedek was priest. These correspondences
indicate the Fire (Shin, 300) of of BEING (70) - or BEINGS in general - as well
as the ETERNAL BEING with its infinitude of TYPES OF BEINGS. Note also that 666
- 370 = 296, hence 'MATERIAL BEINGS' = 666.
THE
SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY mentioned above in regard to Vera Alder's literary
approaches can be greatly enhanced with these Qabalistic practices and insights
I have illustrated when put into understanding use. The Inner Work
described by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky can also help to become more aware of
one's inner MAGNETIC
ENERGY CENTER (THE
SOUL WITHIN) and the reorientation thereof to more personal and collective
beneficial aims. The DIRECTIONS
of our MOTIVATION
determines our personal and collective result, and much Inner Work is necessary
for the average person to first become aware and then begin to guide their
energy. 666 being representative of the Solar Energy current itself is an
obvious hint toward what I am trying to convey. 666 is the number of PARASITES
who are attracted to and feed off of this energy, and many a LIFE-ENERGY
VAMPIRE need not be 'supernatural'
(=888) at all, in fact much of our civilization is geared on the basis of
siphoning off maximal energy from the populace in any number of ways. The
Biblical connotations of 666 being related to the MARKET
of 'buying, selling, and trading' also seems vindicated when you consider its
numerous connections to Money, Power and various strata of energy. Note 666
denotes A
FORM OF ENERGY, either in its base ELECTRIC
form, or the refined CONSCIOUS
LIFE-ENERGY. When you combine the two approaches you have a type of SPIRITUAL
TECHNOLOGY. 
The Nine Chambers act as a holographic/holonic fractal framework for the Astral Light to manifest phenomenally. The GEOMETRIC EMERGENCE of GEOMETRIC FORM is a subject covered by many other philosophers I want to discuss and analyze at a later time, such as the concepts of R. Buckminster Fuller, Fritjof Capra and others. Many of the theories and systems developed by different minds without either the knowledge or concern with Esotericism and Qabalistic Wisdom can be shown as analogous, particularly Fuller's Synergetics, and the Dynamic Systems Theory approach of others, particularly in its relation to biological/organic life and the multi-faceted and multi-dimensional (in regard to our ego/geo-centric perspectives) mechanical and quantum mechanical relations. For now I want to mention that Vera Alder seemed to have intuited the similarity between the Spiritual and Material sciences, the difference in the two being primarily their orientation either inward or outward. Her book The Fifth Dimension essentially claims that along with the 3-dimensional physical space, along with the conception of 'Time' as the '4th Dimension', the Fifth Dimension is the Astral Light of the Hidden Self determining the space-time locus of focus (⊗, The Mark of the Beast) essentially synonymous with the Fifth Element or The Akasha symbolized by the black egg and the number 107 (=BITzH, 'Egg', FINAL HE, GOLD, 'X-Y-Z', THE MAGICK EGG, OVAL, etc. i.e. The Philosopher's Stone/The Holy Grail/The Star that is Not/The Aura, etc.)
444, referred to above, has particular relevance in my mind to the Work of Vera Stanley Alder. Her first book being The Finding of the Third Eye in particular stands out considering the entheogenic molecule known as DMT [Daleth=4 + Mem=40 + Tau=400], or Dimethyltryptamine, is mystically related to the Third Eye Chakra or Pineal Gland, known under many names (Epiphysis Cerebri, Parietal Eye, Bindu, Ajna, etc.) and in other forms (Pine Cone, Egg, THE CADUCEUS, Turoe stone, Shiva lingam, Yoni egg).
444 represents the Door from the 3-DIMENSIONAL (333) harmonic to that of 'FOURTH DENSITY' (444) where the PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME (=444) of THE DRIVER opens a higher RESONANCE beyond the MECHANICALNESS (=333) of the ENGINERY and AUTOMATIC SYSTEM of ANIMAL INSTINCT, which even the plane of THE EMOTIONS is governed and controlled through TRAINING. The Holonic Tensegrity of the Gematria of The Qabalah of Nine Chambers delineates a fourth and fifth-dimensional level of relativity - fourth in that it operates/functions through spatiality and temporality, and fifth in that the spatio- (3) temporal (4) constraints are plasmatically molded by the quantal 'fifth-state' of quantum information ('THE AKASHIC RECORDS') which is really the re-integrated Diamond-Ray or Vajra. 
The first three dimensions correspond to the dynamo that is the Supernal Triad which radiates the Cube of Space, a model corresponding to the Tree of Life 'before the fall' wherein the One that is Kether is one with Malkuth which is numbered 10, i.e. the 1 prismatically crystallized into manifestation as the 'I' (Yod=10, the letter said to have been the basis for all creation.) Compare Arthur Koestler's concept of the Holon and Holarchy (see Janus: A Summing Up (1978), and The Ghost in the Machine (1967)) as well as Buckminster Fuller's Tensegrity, Ephemeralization, and Dymaxion (Dy-namic, Ma-ximum, Ten-sion) concepts with those of Ouspensky's highlighted above, and what Vera Stanley Alder says of the Seven Rays and their integral functions.
It should be noted that 'THE DRIVER' is a psychological term obviously referring to the I-awareness, and PSYCHOLOGICAL TIME is a term which loosely refers to the varying states and 'speeds' of cognition. The 333-444 connection further relates to the psychology of the third-eye and the fourth-dimensional doorway being as they are 'THE DREAM-TIME' (333) and 'THE R.E.M. SLEEP' (444), the former being indicative of the MECHANICALNESS of the INCARNATED (=333=) I-DREAMING-I and related in essence/numerically to Saturn (3), the latter being related to Chesed (4) the SEPHIROTH of the cross(-ing) of the Abyss / Daath / Space-Time (OUTER SPACE). 444 represents an amplification of astral energy from the Past-Present-Future / X-Y-Z / Length-Width-Height / 333 (=) LEVEL OF KUNDALINI (as the Astral Light/Ain Soph Aur/Azoth, etc. are analogous to the Kundalini itself.) Seeing as how the first three dimensions are purely abstract spatial extensions from an abstract point, and time is yet another non-physical plane of extension of temporal movements within spatiality the data that radiates or emanates therein would be thus considered 'Fifth Dimensional'. Higher dimensions than 5 would imply a meta-geometric abstraction outside of an N-DIMENSION (999) quantum system, i.e. outside of the 'BUBBLES' (=107) or Eggs of the 0 'Ring-Pass-Not' 'Zero-Point', or Through the H Door (the fifth dimensional akashic/plasma field which subsists space-time/spirit-matter.) 
In the course of writing this post, as is usual when processing and parsing these various streams of data, I happened to find that the phrase 'I FOUND MY THIRD EYE' = 444, which is a sort of pun on the title of Vera Alder's book The Finding of the Third Eye. The third eye represents the marriage of opposites and its effectual Understanding, and is particularly related to the concept known as Sivadarsana, or the Vision of Shiva and as well as the Vision of Pan. (Note that when one imbibes a PURE DMT EXTRACT (=666=) of DMT CRYSTALS such an Ordeal is had immediately, and numerous psychic veils are dissolved for what is temporarily/objectively about 10-15 minutes (except in the case of Ayahuasca which can last hours), but what subjectively seems like an eternity. Having experienced this myself countless times I personally relate the experience it conveys to be particularly resonant with the Buddhist teachings of the DHARMAKAYA, the highest/purest of the Three Bodies. Note that its value is 283, which is also that of THE PINEAL GLAND, the DMT CHAKRA. There is an audio-visual form of The Dharmakaya Sutra by Tozen (in 4 parts) which conveys the Buddha-Dharma which I highly recommend, despite it being auto-read. The teachings of The Dharmakaya Sutra connect very much with the concepts discussed in recent posts known as Vipassana, or 'Clear Seeing' and Vajrayana, 'The Diamond Vehicle'/'The Diamond Way'. THE PATH OF THE VAJRAYANA BODHISATTVA is said to be one of the most expedient of Paths of of Enlightenment, and it seems to be particularly relevant to the subjects of Geometric Emergence, General Semantics, Synergetics, and other related yet distant concepts. VAJRAYANA CLEARS SIGHT for the apprehension of THE CLEAR LIGHT OF THE CONCEALED TAO (symbolized by THE CIRCLE.) THE GREAT VAJRADHARA, or Possessor of the Thunderbolt also carries the natural value of 666, the Solar ELECTRIC Current which when accessed can provide A NIRVANIC FREEDOM to the SORROWS of MATERIAL BEINGS' (=) SOUL CYCLE OF SAMSARA. 666 is not merely Solar, it is more aptly considered as Stellar, of or relating to the Stars. (Note ASTER, 'Star' = 666.) Thus 666 represents THE HIDDEN STAR & THE LIGHT THAT IS NOT which is the 'Fourth Way' out of 3-DIMENSIONAL MECHANICALNESS of the 333/Past-Present-Future/XYZ and Doorway of the Fifth Dimensional SOURCE-CODE of QUANTUM HYPERSPACE.
Outwardly magnetized, or INCARNATED (=333= 'RECEIVE THE TAO') 666 becomes 999, the number which itself also contains in seed-form the TIBETAN BUDDHISM / TIBETAN BUDDHIST LAMAISM of the TIBETAN TULKUS. . 999 also enumerates TANTRIC ZEN, the 'Method' or 'Technique' of Zen, 'Totality'/'Togetherness of Body and Mind'. 999, being THE SECRET SCIENCE OF TAO, literally enumerates THE THREE MARKS OF EXISTENCE OF THE BUDDHA, which are Impermanence (anicca), Unsatisfactoriness/Suffering (dukkha) and Non-Self (anatta) and parallels in THE THREE MARKS + ANICCA + DUKKHA + ANATTA = 999, showing THE ALIGNMENT of these concepts which transmit perfectly THE HIGHER POWER of The Tao.
“That which I think to be myself is but
Infinite Number.” –The Cry of the 23rd Aethyr.
"Every number is Infinite; there is no difference." –Liber AL vel Legis, Ch.I, vs.4
