How can one come close to the Source?
How will the higher understanding be affirmed?
Only by the law of Hierarchy.
The Guiding Hand is the Uplifting Hand.
The Indicating Hand is the Hand revealing the path to the Highest Law.
Thus is created the great step of the law of Hierarchy. Truly!
(Hierarchy § 33 – Agni Yoga Series)
The Great Book of Nature, as the set of Laws ruling the different levels of manifestation is symbolically defined, constitutes a complex field of study, due to the many correlations that exist between the primary Laws and their subsidiaries, since they express energies and forces on multiple levels of consciousness.
The teaching of the Tibetan Master speaks explicitly of the Laws, so we will draw from the texts by Alice Bailey in an attempt to classify and order them, albeit in the space of an article.
«What is a law, my brother? It is the imposition (upon both the lesser and the more important) of the will and purpose of that which is superlatively great. Therefore, it lies beyond man’s ken. Man has some day to learn that all the laws of nature have their higher, spiritual counterparts […]. Our laws today are but secondary laws. They are the laws of group life and they govern the kingdoms of nature and find their expression (for the human kingdom) through the medium of the mind, of the emotional nature, and through a physical plane agent.» (Alice Bailey — Esoteric Healing, p. 30)
«[…] a law is in reality the effect of the life of a greater entity as it encloses a lesser within its living processes. It embodies that formulated purpose or organised will of an enfolding life, against which the expressed purpose or determined will of that which is enfolded is entirely helpless. […] this statement negates the freewill of the individual unit thus enclosed or enfolded. It assuredly does militate against the form aspect of manifestation — that aspect, for instance, of which a human being is pre-eminently conscious. Therefore, this relationship of the higher or greater and the lower or lesser, will equally and assuredly dominate and eventually render futile the lesser laws of the form nature, those which today are called the laws of nature.
Equally essentially, however, the soul within all forms. is at war with those forms, and in its own integral life is conditioned by the higher laws which are the laws of its own being; these it freely obeys and follows, having no slightest wish to do otherwise. There is, therefore, no essential infringement of the freewill of the subject; there is only resistance from that which we call the “not-self” or the material aspect. This might be called the basic cause of all disease.
What we call the Laws of Nature were the highest phase of the divine life possible in the first solar system. They are primarily the laws inherent in the life aspect of the form and have in them, therefore, the seeds of death.
The Laws of the Soul as they subordinate and render negative the Laws of Nature, are the highest laws to which humanity (the highest kingdom in nature at present) can respond, and these — when fulfilled — will conclude the purpose of the second solar system.
The Laws of Life itself will finally supersede the Laws of the Soul and will completely offset and negate the Laws of Nature; these laws will be distinctive of the third solar system — the last personality expression of the solar Logos through the medium of the seven planetary Logoi with their varying forms and soul expressions.
We have, therefore, three groups of laws which govern the expression of the living purpose in this second solar system—one developed and another developing, with the third latent and relatively quiescent.
- The Laws of Nature — the separative laws of the form nature.
- The Laws of the Soul — the blending laws of group integrity.
- The Laws of Life — the dynamic laws of Being itself.
(Alice Bailey — Esoteric Healing, p. 522/523)
«It must be remembered that the Laws of Nature are imposed upon the mass of men, and cannot be avoided. If these laws are broken, infringed or evaded, they carry their own penalty within themselves, and this also cannot be avoided. These great protective laws are intended to guard the personalities through which the soul incarnates and eventually to cement and further all the great and possible relationships. The man passes from the stage of antagonism (as an individual) to the control of these natural though divine laws, to a recognition of their inevitability and of their wisdom. They automatically then control him.
When this control by the Laws of Nature has become complete, the man becomes an aspirant and begins to come under the Laws of the Soul, which are laws concerned primarily with the establishing of the great Fellowship of the Universe. There has been much confusion among esotericists upon these points. They confuse the discipline to which the personality has to submit when coming under soul influence, with the Laws of the Soul which have naught to do with the petty little affairs of the personality — unimportant and unnoticed by the soul on its own plane — but with the growing recognition of right group relations; these are based upon a growing understanding of the hierarchical mode of work and of inter-hierarchical relationships. The Laws of Nature, therefore, concern the activities of the soul in form and are mandatory and accepted by the form nature.
The Laws of the Soul concern the life of the soul upon its own plane, and the relation which the blending soul and personality learn to establish with other souls and with the Hierarchy. These are consciously and voluntarily obeyed, and are not just accepted as mandatory and as forced upon the man by force of circumstances, experience and evolution. They tend to bring about increasing relation between the Hierarchy of Souls and Humanity as a whole, between the great planetary centre which is the custodian of the principle of love and the planetary centre, humanity, which nurtures and distributes the energy of mind.
The Law of the Supplementary Seven* is the great synthetic Law of Life or of Spirit and is the law with which the initiate works; it is this law he wields. From acceptance of the laws of nature and obedience to the laws of the soul, he passes into the positive phase of understanding and wielding the Law of Life. Because this is a governing law for all initiates, and because we know that the nature of life-energy or of spirit cannot be grasped until after the third initiation, it is exceedingly difficult for me to write in explanation of this law. You have not yet the initiate consciousness. I have therefore had to express this law in terms of form, whereas the initiate understands it from its formless angle. This law is concerned with the wielding of energy in the world of the Spiritual Triad and not with the distribution or the transmission of this energy to the three worlds in which average humanity habitually dwells. Right wielding of this law (controlling energy in the initiatory world of causes) automatically brings about activity, movement, force expression, and right distribution of these forces in the lower three worlds. These are, under the evolutionary law, direct reflections of the three higher worlds of the triadal light and life. Motivation, the use of the eye of vision (turned this time by the initiate functioning in the world of causes upon the worlds of human living), and the correct direction of force in cooperation with the hierarchical Plan condition all the activities of the initiate working with this law. Clearer than this I cannot be.» (Alice Bailey — Rays and the Initiations, p. 156/158)
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* «The supplementary seven… the seven centres of energy in the individual man.
These together embody the combined forces of the planetary life as registered by the perfected individual. They will eventually enable the man to achieve perfection. They enable the individual to respond to material forces, to soul energy and spiritual life, and they constitute a complete response apparatus to the planetary life, purpose, intent and form. Each of the seven centres is responsive to one or other of the seven rays and their qualities under the conditioning energy of the soul ray and the forces, emanating from the environment. These centres develop progressively and under the impact of circumstances and the Law of the Supplementary Seven, but all will eventually express in some measure the seven types of ray energy.
The Law of the Supplementary Seven can be worded as follows:
“The Law demands the entrance of that which can effect a change.
The Law demands that right direction should then guide the entering forces.
The Law demands that the changes thus effected remove the form, bring quality to light and lay the emphasis upon life.
The Law demands that this is brought about by the One, working through the Three, energising the Seven and creating the straight line from there to here, and ending in a point which ignores the Three.”
When, the rule goes on, this is understood and applied, then four things happen:
1. The group must understand the nature of the Three.
2. The nature of the One must be grasped and comprehended.
3. The group must work through the medium of the united breath.
4. The group must attain a unified rhythm.»
(Alice Bailey — Rays and the Initiations, p. 151/152)
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We have seen that these three groups of laws respectively regulate the formal nature of matter, the life of the soul on its plane and the use of energy in the world of the Spiritual Triad.
We find this threefold subdivision in the classification of the three cosmic laws which also govern matter, the third aspect, the Soul, the second aspect, and the Spirit, the first aspect.
«There are three great laws, that we might term the fundamental laws of the cosmos, of that greater system (recognised by all astronomers), of which we form a part, and seven laws inherent in the solar system. These seven we might consider secondary laws, though, from the standpoint of humanity, they appear as major ones.
Three Cosmic Laws
The first of the cosmic laws is the Law of Synthesis. It is almost impossible for those of us who have not the buddhic faculty in any way developed, to comprehend the scope of this law. It is the law that demonstrates the fact that all things — abstract and concrete — exist as one; it is the law governing the thought form of that One of the cosmic Logoi in Whose consciousness both our system, and our greater centre, have a part. It is a unit of His thought, a thought form in its entirety, a concrete whole, and not the differentiated process that we feel our evolving system to be. It is the sumtotal, the centre and the periphery, and the circle of manifestation regarded as a unit.
The second law is the Law of Attraction and Repulsion. Fundamentally, the law describes the compelling force of attraction that holds our solar system to the Sirian; that holds our planets revolving around our central unit, the sun; that holds the lesser systems of atomic and molecular matter circulating around a centre in the planet; and that holds the matter of all physical plane bodies, and that of the subtle bodies co-ordinated around their microcosmic centre.
The third law is the Law of Economy, and is the law which adjusts all that concerns the material and spiritual evolution of the cosmos to the best possible advantage and with the least expenditure of force. It makes perfect each atom of time, and each eternal period, and carries all onward, and upward, and through, with the least possible effort, with the proper adjustment of equilibrium, and with the necessary rate of rhythm. Unevenness of rhythm is really an illusion of time, and does not exist in the cosmic centre. We need to ponder on this, for it holds the secret of peace, and we need to grasp the significance of that word through, for it describes the next racial expansion of consciousness, and has an occult meaning.
In the nomenclature of these laws much is lost, for it is well nigh impossible to resolve abstractions into the terms of speech, and not lose the inner sense in the process. In these laws we again have the threefold idea demonstrated, and the correspondence, as might be expected, holds good.
The Law of Synthesis The Will Aspect 1st Aspect
The Law of Attraction The Love Aspect 2nd Aspect
The Law of Economy The Activity Aspect 3rd Aspect
Seven Systemic Laws
Subsidiary to the three major laws, we find the seven laws of our solar system. Again we find the law of analogy elucidating, and the three becoming the seven as elsewhere in the logoic scheme. In each of these seven laws we find an interesting correlation with the seven planes. They are:
1. The Law of Vibration, the basis of manifestation, starting on the first plane. This is the atomic law of the system, in the same sense that on each of our planes the first subplane is the atomic plane.
2. The Law of Cohesion. On the second plane cohesion is first apparent. It is the first molecular plane of the system, and is the home of the Monad. Divine coherency is demonstrated.
3. The Law of Disintegration. On the third plane comes the final casting-off, the ultimate shedding of the sheaths, of the fivefold superman. A Chohan of the sixth Initiation discards all the sheaths beneath the monadic vehicle, from the atmic to the physical.
4. The Law of Magnetic Control holds sway paramountly on the buddhic plane, and in the development of the control of this law lies hid the control of the personality by the Monad via the egoic body.
5. The Law of Fixation demonstrates principally on the mental plane and has a close connection with manas, the fifth principle. The mind controls and stabilises, and coherency is the result.
6. The Law of Love is the law of the astral plane. It aims at the transmutation of the desire nature, and links it up with the greater magnetism of the love aspect on the buddhic plane.
7. The Law of Sacrifice and Death is the controlling factor on the physical plane. The destruction of the form, in order that the evolving life may progress, is one of the fundamental methods in evolution.
The Intermediate Law of Karma
There is also an intermediate law, which is the synthetic law of the system of Sirius. This law is called by the generic term, the Law of Karma, and really predicates the effect the Sirian system has on our solar system. Each of the two systems, as regards its internal economy, is independent in time and space, or (in other words), in manifestation. We have practically no effect on our parent system, the reflex action is so slight as to be negligible, but very definite effects are felt in our system through causes arising in Sirius.
These causes, when experienced as effects, are called by us the Law of Karma, and at the beginning they started systemic Karma which, once in effect, constitutes that which is called Karma in our occult and oriental literature.
The Lipika Lords of our system, the systemic Lords of Karma, are under the rule of a greater corresponding Lord on Sirius.
We have therefore:
- The three cosmic laws of Synthesis, Attraction and Economy.
- The Sirian law of Karma.
- The seven laws of the solar system.»
(Alice Bailey — A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 567/570)
To honour the overview of the Laws governing all manifestation, the subsidiary laws of the three great cosmic laws must be taken into account (subsidiary laws which we will indicate schematically).
Subsidiary Laws of the Law of Synthesis
Law of Sacrifice
Law of Magnetic Impulse
Law of Service
Law of Repulsion
Law of Group Progress
Law of Expansive Response
Law of the Lower Four
(this group of 7 laws is also
defined “of the Group Work“)
Subsidiary Laws of the Law of Attraction and Repulsion
Law of Chemical Affinity
Law of Progress
Law of Sex
Law of Magnetism
Law of Radiation
Law of the Lotus
Law of Colour
Law of Gravitation
Law of Planetary Affinity
Law of Solar Union
Law of the Schools
(also known as the Law of Love and Light)
Law of Expansion
Law of Monadic Return
Law of Solar Evolution
Subsidiary Laws of the Law of Economy
Law of Vibration
Law of Adaptation
Law of Repulsion
Law of Friction
We can conclude mentioning another fundamental law, known as the Law of Periodicity or Law of Cycles.
«There is a basic law called the Law of Periodicity.
1. This law governs all manifestation, whether it is the manifestation of a solar Logos through the medium of a solar system, or the manifestation of a human being through the medium of a form. This law controls likewise in all the kingdoms of nature.
2. There are certain other laws in the system which are linked with this one; some of them are as follows:
a. The Law of Economy — the law governing matter, the third aspect.
b. The Law of Attraction — the law governing soul, the second aspect.
c. The Law of Synthesis — the law governing spirit, or the first aspect.
3. These three are cosmic laws. There are seven systemic laws, which govern the manifestation of our solar Logos:
a. The Law of Vibration
b. The Law of Cohesion
c. The Law of Disintegration
d. The Law of Magnetic Control
e. The Law of Fixation
f. The Law of Love
g. The Law of Sacrifice and Death
4. Each of these Laws manifests primarily on one or other of the seven planes of the solar system.
5. Each law sweeps periodically into power and each plane has its period of manifestation and its period of obscuration.
6. Every manifested life has its three great cycles:
Birth Life Death
Appearance growth disappearance
Involution evolution obscuration
Inert motion activity rhythmic motion
Tamasic life rajasic life sattvic life
7. Knowledge of the cycles involves knowledge of number, sound and colour.
8. Full knowledge of the mystery of the cycles is the possession only of the perfected adept.»
(Alice Bailey — A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 5/7)
We do not go further although it must be remembered that there are other important laws besides those presented, connected to the seven Rays; «These Laws of Cleavage are too difficult for general comprehension. They govern form life, and are the result of the united working, or rather the simultaneous manifestation, of the three laws, […] that are effective in determining the lines of demarcation, the cleavages which produce separation and the differentiations of the manifested life of God into…
- The septenary constitution of the solar system.
- The ten schemes which indicate solar achievement.
- The inner constitution, or so-called “chains”, which distinguish each planetary existence.
- The planetary constitution of our Earth into the various kingdoms of nature.
- The basic distinctions between the kingdoms; these produce the types, groupings, families, branches, empires and nations.»
(Alice Bailey — Esoteric Psychology I, p. 375/376)
Here the Blessed One transmits: “All is for all and forever. Note the four laws: The Law of Containment; The Law of Fearlessness; The Law of Nearness; The Law of Righteousness.” It is not necessary to explain the Laws of Fearlessness and Righteousness, and it is easy to understand the Law of Containment, but the Law of Nearness must be elucidated. At the approach of certain Signs and Images ordained by dates, a specially saturated atmosphere gathers, as if clouds of smoke were overcasting Heaven and Earth. That which had been clear begins to crumble, and, as if in a whirlwind, falls to pieces. Even physically this period is difficult, but during this period certain dates are being pronounced which stand as milestones on the road… (Leaves of Morya’s Garden II § 126)
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(This article comes out in correspondence with the heliocentric conjunction between Mars (6th Ray of Devotion and Abstract Idealism) and Uranus (7th Ray of Order and ceremonial Magic) in Taurus, dedicated here to the Ideals/Values category).
