On the day of the entry into the sign of Scorpio, which radiates into Space the energy of the 4th Ray, connected to Harmony through Conflict, we solemnly assert as planetary Server, i.e. in the name of the new Group of World Servers, the eleventh of the 12 Assertions of the One Humanity (see introductory article and online ritual Celebration):
Humanity wins in the name of Harmony
Cosmic Harmony
The seven planes of Divine Manifestation, or the seven major planes of our system, are but the seven subplanes of the lowest cosmic plane. The seven Rays of which we hear so much, and which hold so much of interest and of mystery, are likewise but the seven sub-rays of one cosmic Ray. The twelve creative Hierarchies are themselves but subsidiary branches of one cosmic Hierarchy. They form but one chord in the cosmic symphony. When that sevenfold cosmic chord, of which we form so humble a part, reverberates in synthetic perfection, then, and only then, will come comprehension of the words in the Book of Job: “The morning stars sang together”. Dissonance yet sounds forth, and discord arises from many systems, but in the progression of the aeons an ordered harmony will eventuate, and the day will dawn when (if we dare speak of eternities in the terms of time) the sound of the perfected universe will resound to the uttermost bounds of the furthest constellation. Then will be known the mystery of “the marriage song of the heavens”. (Alice A. Bailey – Initiation, Human and Solar /4)
Battlefield of the three worlds
Cyclic evolution is entirely the result of the activity of matter, and of the Will or Spirit. It is produced by the interaction of active matter and moulding Spirit. Every form holds hid a Life. Every life constantly reaches out after the similar life latent in other forms. When Spirit and matter sound the same note evolution will cease. When the note sounded by the form is stronger than that of Spirit, we have attraction between forms. When the note sounded by Spirit is stronger than that of matter and form, we have Spirit repelling form. Here we have the basis for the battlefield of life, and its myriads of intermediate stages, which might be expressed as follows:
a. The period of the domination of the form note is that of involution.
b. The period of the repulsion of form by Spirit is that of the battlefield of the three worlds [known as the battlefield Crisis, culminating in the battle in Scorpio]
c. The period of the attraction of Spirit and Spirit, and the consequent withdrawal from form is that of the Path.
d. The period of domination of the note of Spirit is that of the higher planes of evolution.
To the synchronisation of the notes, or to the lack of synchronisation, may be attributed all that occurs in the world cycles. Thus we have the production of harmony; first, the basic note of matter, then the note of Spirit gradually overcoming the lower note and usurping attention till gradually the note of Spirit overpowers all other notes. (Alice A. Bailey – A Treatise on Cosmic Fire /275)
The Ray that governs the human kingdom
Esotericists must remember that every kingdom in nature constitutes a totality of lives. Every atom in every form in nature is a life, and these lives form the cells of a Being’s body or vehicle of manifestation. There is a Being embodied in every kingdom in nature.
Just as the myriads of atomic lives in the human body constitute a man’s body of expression and form his appearance, so it is with the greater Life informing the fourth kingdom in nature. This appearance—as are all appearances—is qualified by some particular ray type, and is determined also by the vital principle or spirit aspect. Thus every form is composed of innumerable lives, which have in them a preponderance of some ray quality. This is an occult platitude. These qualified lives produce a phenomenal appearance, and thus constitute a unity, through the influence of the integrating principle, which is never absent.
The ray which governs the sum total of the human kingdom is the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. It might be symbolically stated that the egoic ray of the Life which informs the human family is this fourth ray, and that the personality ray is the fifth ray of knowledge through discrimination,—the Ray, as it is called, of Concrete Knowledge or Science. Harmony through conflict, and the power to achieve knowledge through discriminating choice—these are the two rays or major influences which sweep through humanity as a whole, and drive it forward towards its divine destiny.They are the predisposing factors upon which a man may count and infallibly depend. They are the guarantee of attainment, but also of turmoil and temporary duality. Harmony, expressing itself in beauty and creative power, is gained through battle, through stress and strain. Knowledge, expressing itself eventually through wisdom, is attained only through the agony of successively presented choices. These, submitted to the discriminating intelligence during the process of the life experience, produce at last the sense of true values, the vision of the ideal, and the capacity to distinguish reality behind the intervening glamour.
Students of esotericism will, of course, bear in mind that the fourth ray has a natural relation to the fourth kingdom in nature, which is in turn the lowest manifestation of the fourth creative Hierarchy.
[…] This produces the human manifestation on the fourth globe of our Earth chain, and in this fourth round is responsible for the tremendous crisis with which our present humanity is confronted. The conflict aspect of the process is at its height, nay, has passed its height, from the angle of physical plane expression. This situation and this triple influence, producing the manifestation of the sons of God, is summed up for us in the terse words of the Old Commentary—terse, when we remember that they express the long agony of humanity’s test, and the opening to man of the door into the fifth kingdom of spiritual being. They include therefore, in their meaning, his goal and objective and the process whereby he attains:
“The Holy Four descend from out the heavenly places and venture forth towards the sphere of Earth. From the fourth great plane they thus control the battle.
“The Lord of Harmony, Who sits on high, pours all His life and force throughout the field of conflict. He sees the end from the beginning nor stays His hand though deep and full the pain and agony. Peace must be the goal. Beauty must be achieved. He cannot then arrest the life and stop its flow.
“The Middle Four, rested now from the earlier campaign, gird on their armour and hide themselves behind the outer form. They leave the fourth great sphere of harmony and pass on to the plane of mind. There they fortify the temple of the Lord, illumine it with light and glory, and then they turn their eyes towards the Earth.
“The Lower Four take form between the lives that are not human and the three groups of lives which dwell beneath the threshold. They seek to link and blend, to bridge and fuse. Mankind now lives. The higher and the middle four meet in the lower four upon the fourth great globe.
“Thee battle now proceeds. When the three groups of manifested fours can see each other in the light, and later blend their forces, the goal will be achieved.
“In the fourth globe of action and in the major cycle of the fourth expression will this fusion be completed. The lower four, merged in the middle four, will leave the triple world of conflict, and find their dwelling place, whilst in the form, within the fourth sphere whence came forth the higher governing four. Thus will the government be established; the glory seen; the rule of the hierarchy demonstrated.
“In the fourth race (the Atlantean—A.A.B.) the conflict was begun, and consciousness was born. In the fifth race (the Aryan—A.A.B.) the crisis of the battle will be seen, and then the lower four and the middle four will begin to unite their forces. In the sixth race, the dust of battle dies away. The lower four, the middle four and the higher four will chant in unison the glory of their Lord, the beauty of the love of God, the wonder of the brotherhood of man. This is their paean”. (Alice A. Bailey – Esoteric Psychology I /342-45)
The Effect of the Energy of Harmony through Conflict upon Humanity
The Principle of Conflict is the prime factor lying behind the evolution of form as the field of experience for the soul in the four kingdoms in nature: the human and the three subhuman. It is based on the intellectual factor of discrimination which is inherent in the smallest atom of substance, and which reaches its fullest expression in advanced humanity; the indications that it has achieved its purpose, as far as humanity is concerned, are to be found in the passing through the Initiation of Renunciation. (Alice A. Bailey – Rays and the Initiations /608)
It will be obvious that this ray energy, embodying the Principle of Conflict, has a unique and curious effect upon relationships. This is due to the interrelation of this Ray of Harmony through Conflict and the second Ray of Love-Wisdom; this second ray is primarily the ray of right human relations—as far as the fourth kingdom in nature is concerned. The energy of love governs all relations between souls and controls the Hierarchy, the Kingdom of Souls; the energy of wisdom should govern all relations within the fourth kingdom, the human; some day it will inevitably do so, hence the emphasis laid upon the need for soul-infused personalities in the world today, as promulgated by all true esoteric schools.
It might be said that the effect of the Principle of Conflict, operating under Ray IV and controlled by Ray II, will be—as far as humanity is concerned—to bring about right human relations and the growth of the universal spirit of goodwill among men. Only the most benighted and uncouth of thinkers would fail to see that these two results of the conflict, engendered at this time, are the two most desirable factors for which all men of goodwill should work. The inflow of energy into humanity at this time is all in favour of such efforts, and the Principle of Conflict has worked so effectively that all men are desiring harmony, peace, equilibrium, right adjustment to life and circumstances, and right and balanced human relations. (Alice A. Bailey – Rays and the Initiations /611-12)
The demand or prayer or outgoing desire of the masses for the appearance of a Liberator and for the establishing of right human relations, plus the work of all the spiritually-minded people in all nations and of all faiths. All these three factors are today present but have not yet the needed potency to prove immediately effective. This triple nucleus of determining factors is, however, already firmly established; in this fact is to be found a sure ground for a sane optimism.
It should be pointed out that the Principle of Conflict is motivated strongly by these same factors. The over-shadowing of all disciples and initiates, and the consequent stimulation of their natures and of their environment, must inevitably produce conflict; the outpouring of the stimulating love of God into the hearts of men must equally and inevitably produce conflict; the line of cleavage between men of goodwill and the unresponsive natures of those uninfluenced by this quality will be made abundantly, usefully and constructively clear. It will be obvious also that when Christ establishes the “centre or focal point of the divine Purpose” in some definite place on Earth, its radiation and implementary potency will also produce the needed conflict which precedes the clarification and the renunciation of obstructions.
But there will come a point in all these three spheres of Christ’s proposed activity when conflict will be superseded by harmony; this is due to the fact that the energy of harmony through conflict is under the control or influence of the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom. As far as humanity as a sum total is concerned, the conflict of ideas and of emotional desire is today so acute that it will finally exhaust itself, and men will turn, with relief and with a longing to escape from further turmoil, towards right human relations; this will constitute the first major human decision leading to the longed-for harmony. The attitude of the masses will then be soundly tending towards harmony, owing to the work of the men and women of goodwill as they implement the “streaming forth of the love of God into the hearts of men”.
We have now reached a point where the inevitability of Christ’s return is established, scientifically and under law; this constitutes a call which He may not deny and one which He must obey. This fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict works (where the initiatory process is concerned) through the heart, or through what esotericists call “the heart centre”—the focal point through which the energy of love can flow. When the Christ founds His focal point on Earth, it will be in the nature of a tiny heart centre through which the love energy of the Hierarchy can persistently flow. The harmony (which the Principle of Conflict produces) causes an alignment, so that the love—streaming forth from the Heart of God—enters the hearts of men; so that the Hierarchy (which is the heart centre or the place where love prevails upon our planet) is brought into relationship with humanity; so that the New Group of World Servers (implementing the love of God and enlightened by the Mind of God) are brought also into relation with the men and women of goodwill in all lands whose task it is to make men’s hearts responsive to and receptive of the love of God; this is another way of saying receptive to the consciousness of the Christ.
This alignment is now in process of being made; it will be brought about automatically when the effectiveness of the Principle of Conflict in producing liberation is generally recognised. Thus the hearts of men, the heart of the planet, i.e., the Hierarchy, and the heart of the Hierarchy, the Christ, are in a state of positive contact; when this channel is open and unobstructed, then the Christ will come. Nothing can stop His appear-ance and—under law—He may not turn His back upon the presented opportunity.
Thus, eventually, the Lord of Love—in response to the invocative cry of humanity, aroused by the Principle of Conflict—must “proceed again to the high place of sacrifice and walk openly with men on Earth”. His heart, embodying as it does the love of God, is drawn forth from the heart of the planet (the Hierarchy) to the hearts of men, and the path of His return to Earth service stands unchallenged and unobstructed. Again, under law, a profound optimism is engendered and may be rightly developed. (Alice A. Bailey – Rays and the Initiations /617-19)
Thank you for this enlightening and encouraging email. We can all hope to play our part effectively.