Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter I - The Three
Stages of Egoic Growth







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Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Growth of
Soul Influence





It was earlier pointed out that we can profitably use the
words, - Life, Quality, Appearance - in lieu of Spirit, Soul and Body, for they express
the same truth. The quality of matter, built up into human form and indwelt by the soul or
solar angel, is that which normally colors the appearance. Later, this inherent quality of
the appearance changes, [22] and it is the quality nature of Deity (as expressed in
the soul) which obliterates the quality of the forms. During the stage wherein it is the
quality of matter which is the paramount influence, that material radiance makes itself
felt in a triple form. These - from the angle of the entire sweep of the evolutionary
process, and as far as the human personality is concerned - appear sequentially, and
qualify the matter aspect with its three major presentations:
The
quality of physical substance. During this stage of development, the
man is almost entirely physical in his reactions and completely under the ray of his
physical body. This is the correspondence in man to the Lemurian epoch and to the period
of pure infancy.
The
quality of the astral body. This governs the individual for a very
long period, and still governs, more or less, the masses of men. It corresponds to the
Atlantean period and to the stage of adolescence. The ray of the astral body is of very
great power.
The
quality of the mental body. This, as far as the race is concerned, is
just beginning to wax in power in this Aryan race to which this era belongs. It
corresponds to the stage of maturity in the individual. The ray of the mind has a very
close relation to the solar angel, and there is a peculiar affiliation between the Angel
of the Presence and the mental man. It is this deep seated, though oft unrecognized,
interplay and cultivated intercourse, which produces the at-one-ment between the soul and
its mechanism, man in the three worlds.

From the
angle of these three ray influences, we have (in the life of the aspirant) a
recapitulation of the triple process which we could call the "processes of unfoldment
of the Lemurian, Atlantean, and Aryan consciousness." On the Path [23] of Probation,
the ray of the physical body must become subordinated to the potencies emanating from
those soul rays which stream forth from the outer tier of petals in the egoic lotus. (See
A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.) These are the knowledge petals. On the Path of
Discipleship, the astral body is brought into subjection by the ray of the soul as it
pours through the second tier of petals, the love petals. Upon the Path of Initiation,
until the third initiation, the ray of the mental body is subdued by the force of the
petals of sacrifice, found in the third tier of petals. Thus the three aspects of the
personality are brought into subjection by the energy emanating from the nine petals of
the egoic lotus. After the third initiation, the whole personality, composed of the three
aspects, becomes sensitive to the energy of pure electric fire or life, as it pours
through the "closed bud at the heart of the egoic lotus."
The value
of the above information consists in the fact that it gives, symbolically, a synthetic
picture of man's unfoldment and higher relations. Its danger consists in the capacity of
the human intellect to separate and divide, so that the process is regarded as proceeding
in successive stages, whereas in reality there is often a paralleling activity going on,
and much overlapping, fusing and interrelating of aspects, of rays and of processes,
within the time cycle.
Such is the program for humanity, as it concerns the unfoldment of the human
consciousness. The whole emphasis of the entire evolutionary process is, in the last
analysis, placed upon the development of conscious, intelligent awareness in the life
animating the various forms. The exact state of awareness is contingent upon the age of
the soul. Yet the soul has no age from the standpoint of time, as humanity understand it.
It is timeless and eternal. Before the soul there passes the kaleidoscope of the senses,
and the recurring [24] drama of outer phenomenal existence; but throughout all these
occurrences in time and space, the soul ever preserves the attitude of the Onlooker and of
the perceiving Observer. It beholds and interprets. In the early stages, when the
"Lemurian consciousness" characterizes the phenomenal man, that fragmentary
aspect of the soul which indwells and informs the human form, and which gives to the man
any real human consciousness which may be present, is inert, inchoate and unorganized; it
is devoid of mind as we understand it, and is distinguished only by a complete
identification with the physical form and its activities. This is the period of slow
tamasic reactions to suffering, joy, pain, to the urge and satisfaction of desire, and to
a heavy subconscious urge to betterment. Life after life passes, and slowly the capacity
for conscious identification increases, with a growing desire for a larger range of
satisfactions; the indwelling and animating soul becomes ever more deeply hidden, the
prisoner of the form nature. The entire forces of the life are concentrated in the
physical body, and the desires then expressed are physical desires; at the same time there
is a growing tendency towards more subtle desires, such as the astral body evokes.
Gradually, the identification of the soul with the form shifts from the physical to the
astral form. There is nothing present at this time which could be called a personality.
There is simply a living, active physical body, with its wants and desires, its needs and
its appetites, accompanied by a very slow yet steadily increasing shift of the
consciousness out of the physical into the astral vehicle.





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