The cosmic destiny of Humanity

We are ascending towards the solstitial Summit of the annual cycle, under the auspices of the Stars of the celestial Light Hunter, Orion.

Furthermore, in the heliocentric Heaven (the systemic creative plane of Causes, symbol of the abstract mental plane), the trine (120°) between the deep Luminaries Neptune in Aries and Jupiter in Cancer resonates in particular. In our view, this ‘triangular’ Relationship synthetically connects the revolutionary new horizons that are opening up regarding the destiny of humanity with the impulse to create forms and cycles beneficial to planetary evolutionary growth.

It is therefore the right time to reflect on the destiny of humanity, to sow ideas, formulas and thought-forms that can nurture a New Vision and the conscious formation of a New Culture and Civilisation based on the profound and far-sighted insights of the esoteric Teaching.

According to the vision of the Trans-Himalayan tradition, the destiny of humanity is not, in fact, confined to its planetary existence but takes on solar and cosmic dimensions, being potentially the third conscious creative agent of Evolution, alongside the Logoi or higher Intelligences guiding the Planets and Suns.

A dizzying and seemingly science-fictional notion, yet incredibly beautiful and occultly scientific, which opens up a cosmic horizon:

“… the four major goals which the Workers with the Plan [part of the planetary Hierarchy] have set Themselves:

1. The first aim and the primary aim is to establish, through the medium of humanity, an outpost of the Consciousness of God [of the solar Logos] in the solar system. This is a correspondence, macrocosmically understood, of the relationship existing between a Master and His group of disciples. …
2. To found upon earth … a powerhouse of such potency and a focal point of such energy that humanity—as a whole—can be a factor in the solar system, bringing about changes and events of a unique nature in the planetary life and lives (and therefore in the system itself) and inducing an interstellar activity.
3. To develop a station of light, through the medium of the fourth kingdom in nature, which will serve not only the planet, and not only our particular solar system, but the seven systems of which ours is one. This question of light, bound up as it is with the colours of the seven rays, is as yet an embryo science, and it would be useless for us to enlarge upon it here.
4. To set up a magnetic centre in the universe, in which the human kingdom and the kingdom of souls will, united or at-oned, be the point of most intense power, and which will serve the developed Lives within the radius of the radiance of the One About Whom Naught May Be Said.

In these four statements we have sought to express the wider possibility or occasion as the Hierarchy sees it today. Their plans and purposes are destined and oriented to a larger accomplishment than it is as yet possible for normal man to vision. If it were not so, the unfoldment of the soul in man would be a prime objective in the planet. But this is not the case. It may be so from the point of view of man himself, considering him as an essentially separable and identifiable unity in the great cosmic scheme. But it is not so for that greater whole of which humanity is only a part. Those great Sons of God, Who have passed beyond the point of development of those Masters Who work entirely with the human kingdom, have plans of a still vaster and broader sweep, and Their objectives involve humanity only as an item in the Plan of the great Life “in Whom we live and move and have our being”.

One may ask (and rightly ask) wherein all this information can be of use to us in the midst of a troubled and bewildered world. For obvious reasons, a vision of the Plan, nebulous as it must necessarily be, confers a sense of proportion and also of stability. It leads to a much-needed re-adjustment of values, indicating as it does, that there is purpose and objective behind all the difficult happenings of daily life. It broadens and widens and expands the consciousness, as we study the great volume of the planetary life, embracing as it does the detail and the finished structure, the item man, and the entire life of the planet, with their relation to the greater Whole. This is of far more importance than the minute detail of the human being’s individual capacity to grasp his own immediate place within the larger picture. …

It is not, however, a profitless task for the disciples and aspirants to catch the dim outline of that structure, that purpose and that destiny which will result from the consummation and fruition of the Plan on earth. It need evoke no sense of futility or of endless striving or of an almost permanent struggle. Given the fact of the finiteness of man and of his life, given the tremendous periphery of the cosmos and the minute nature of our planet, given the vastness of the universe and the realisation that it is but one of countless (literally countless) greater and smaller universes, yet there is present in men and upon our planet a factor and a quality which can enable all these facts to be seen and realised as parts in a whole, and which permits man (escaping, as he can, from his human self-consciousness) to expand his sense of awareness and identity so that the form aspects of life offer no barrier to his all-embracing spirit. It is of use also to write these words and to deal with these ideas, for there are those now coming into incarnation who can and will understand [written between 1935 and 1939], when present readers are dead and gone. I and you will pass on to other work, but there will be those on earth who can vision the Plan with clarity, and whose vision will be far more inclusive and comprehending than ours. Vision is of the nature of divinity. Expansion is a vital power and prerogative of Deity. Therefore let us struggle to grasp what is possible at our particular stage of development, and leave eternity to reveal its hidden secrets.” (Esoteric Psychology II, 217-220)

“The fourth creative Hierarchy [the human one] is the great expression of the conscious will and sacrifice of the Solar Logos, and the great symbol of the intelligent union of spirit and matter.” (A. A. Bailey – Initiation, Human and Solar, 95)

The Fourth human Hierarchy is that aspect and function of the solar Logos which unites spirit and matter within itself, thereby producing consciousness; this relationship is realised in an individualised self (rather than on a mass scale, as in the lower kingdoms, or on a group scale, as in the higher ones).

Our true destiny is therefore potentially infinite, and, starting from individual self-awareness (the level of the Personality), it extends to the spiritual level of the group or system (the Soul), and to the divine or cosmic level (the Monad).

“Liberation for man comes when he succeeds in freeing himself from the vibration of the three lower planes of our solar system, from that part of the logoic manifestation which constitutes His dense body, and which He [the solar Logos] does not therefore regard as a principle.” (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1096 – TCF)

For the creative Hierarchies that constitute the Soul (the spiritual Triad), the goal is to free themselves from the three central planes (manasic, buddhic and lower atmic planes) and operate on the three higher levels of the Monad; and so on, forward and upwards …

We must therefore look upwards and forwards, deep within and towards the centre.

“Humanity must be more diligent and more intelligent in the working out of its true destiny and karmic obligations. When men are universally en rapport with the custodians of the plan and their minds and brains are illumined by the light of the intuition, of the soul and of the universal mind, when they can train themselves to respond intelligently to the timely impulses which cyclically emanate from the inner side of life, then there will be a steady adjustment between life and form and a rapid amelioration of world conditions. It is an interesting point to bear in mind that the first effect of the response of the more advanced of the sons of men to the formulas as translated and transmitted by the Knowers will be the establishing of right relations between the four kingdoms in nature, and right relations between units and groups in the human family. A step in this direction is being made. Relations between the four spheres of activity which we call human, animal, vegetable and mineral are now badly adjusted because the energy of matter is primarily the governing factor. In the human kingdom, the working of this energy demonstrates in what we call selfishness. In the animal kingdom, it demonstrates in what we call cruelty, though, where the sense of responsibility is nonexistent and only instinctual and temporary parental responsibility is found, there is no criticism to be given. In the vegetable kingdom this maladjustment expresses itself during this planetary period of misuse as disease.

This surprises you? Disease has its roots primarily in maladjustments and misdirected force in the vegetable kingdom; this affects the animal and mineral kingdoms and subsequently the human. It is too far ahead for this to be demonstrated, but when this condition is understood, it will be in that kingdom in nature that the attention of the investigators must be focussed, and the eradication of disease will eventually find its solution.” (A Treatise on White Magic, 462-3)

Esoteric Psychology I, p. 217

“… during the coming races and subraces certain very definite development may be looked for in connection with manasic unfoldment [the mental plane, the foundation of consciousness for humanity, the seat of the causal body and the egoic Lotus or human soul]; and it is worth while to note particularly that as far as the evolution of manas in this round is concerned its highest efflorescence may be looked for during the next five hundred years.

The coming in of the two final root races marks the point of synthesis, and the gradual utilisation of that which has been manasically achieved; this will be brought about by a development of abstract thought, and of intuitive recognition.

In other words, manas has (during the past three root races) been principally applied to the understanding of objective existence, to the adaptation of the Dweller in the form to his environment on the physical plane.
From now on the trend of activity will be towards the understanding of the subjective side of manifestation, and towards the comprehension of the psyche of the individual life, divine, planetary, or human.

In the next round [the Fifth], all the previous stages will be recapitulated, and manas will demonstrate in ways inconceivable as yet to the half awakened consciousness of man. In that round three-fifths of the human family will be fully aware, functioning with uninterrupted continuity of recollection on the physical, astral, and lower mental planes. The emphasis of manasic evolution will be laid upon the achievement of causal consciousness, and upon the scientific construction of the bridge [antahkarana] which should unite the causal vehicle and the permanent manasic atom on the abstract levels.” (TCF 499)

How can we attain Liberation?

By realising Harmony and Unity through the Intellect of Love (Buddhi-Manas).

“Within the Hall of Ignorance kama-manas rules. The man, weighed down by much misplaced desire, seeks for the object of his heart’s attention within the murky halls of densest maya. He finds it there but dies ere garnering all the longed-for fruit. The serpent stings him, and the joy desired recedes from out his grasp. All seeking thus the selfish fruits of karma must each despise each other; hence strife and greed, ill-will and hatred, death and retribution, karmic invocation and the thunderbolt of vengeance characterise this Hall.

Within the Hall of Learning intellect rules and seeks to guide. Desire of a higher kind, the fruit of manas and its use, supplants the lower kamic urge. Man weighs and balances, and in the twilight Halls of Intellection seeks for the fruit of knowledge. He finds it but to realise that knowledge is not all; he dies upon the open field of knowledge, hearing a cry beat on his dying ears: Know that the knower greater is than knowledge; the One who seeks is greater than the sought.

Within the Hall of Wisdom the Spirit rules; the One within the lesser ones assumes supreme control. Death is not known within these halls, for its two great gates are passed. Discord and strife both disappear and only harmony is seen. The knowers see themselves as One; they recognise the field wherein knowledge grows as… dissonance and differentiation. Knowledge they know as method, an instrument of purpose utilised by all and just a germ of eventual recognition. Within this hall union of each with each, blending of one and all, and unity of action, goal and skill marks every high endeavor. If these words are pondered on, it will be realised that true union exists in the realisation that the greater life ever includes the lesser, and that each expansion of consciousness brings man closer to this realised Oneness.” (TCF 849-850)

The Fourth Ray of Harmony through conflict is the Ray of the Soul of humanity, and thus it sets its course and guides its destiny, whilst its Personality grows, stabilises and ascends through the Fire of the Fifth Ray of the creative Mind and Knowledge and the 5^th systemic Law:

“5. The Law of Fixation.—This is the governing law of the mental plane, finding its greater correspondence in the Law of Karma on cosmic mental levels. “As a man thinks, so is he”; according to his thoughts are his desires and acts, and so results the future. He fixes for himself the resultant karma. The word “Fixation” is chosen for two purposes: First, because the word implies the capacity of the thinker to shape his own destiny, and secondly because the word implies a stabilising idea, for as evolution progresses, the Ego evolves the faculty of forming definite concrete thought-forms, and, through these stable products, of subduing the fluctuations of the astral body.

This law of the fifth, or mental plane is one of the most important laws with which we have to do at any time, and it will find its most complete demonstration in the next, or fifth round. In relation to this fourth round the following facts may be gathered about its working [bearing in mind that we are currently experiencing the transition from the 5^th race to the 6^th]:

It is the law under which the evolving personality builds up, during the course of many lives, the causal body; it fixes the matter inhering in that body, placed there by the man as the ages slip away, and crystallises it. Before the fourth Initiation the crystallisation is complete, and the inevitable shattering that is the result of crystallisation in all forms, takes place, setting the indwelling life free for further progress. All forms are but hindrances and limitations, and ultimately must go, but they have their needed place in the development of the race. Eventually the causal body of the entire race itself disintegrates.
This law governs the crystallisation of all forms prior to their shattering in the process of evolution.
It governs the time of rebirth, being one of the subsidiary branches of the Law of Karma. … The Law of Karma, or cosmic Fixation, is the law of the cosmic mental plane, and controls the corresponding law in our system.

In the fifth round this law will act as the divider, temporarily crystallising and fixing into two great classes the human Monads, as they evolve. One group then (containing those who will reach the goal), will pass gradually out from under the domination of this law, and will come under the Law of Magnetic Control. The other will remain under the law in a static condition, until in a later period a fresh opportunity will come; old forms will break, and in another mahamanvantara, and in its fifth period, will come the chance for which they will have waited, when they can again swing into the current of evolution and the imprisoned spirits may mount again towards their source.

In an occult sense this law is for us the one with which we are the most intimately concerned. It plays an important part in the hands of the Lords of Flame, and is one of Their main factors in controlling the three worlds…” (TCF 591-3)

“Man determines his own destination in Cosmos.
To say that destination is but the flow of evolution
is to make man a ball of fate.
Fate, Cosmos, Infinity—define it as you will, but the assertion
that man is carried along by the tide of evolution
without the participation of his will
means separating him from Cosmos.
I say that the spirit, in its kernel,
has a predestined infinite path in Cosmos.
The tendency to dissociate oneself from the affirmed path
becomes the way which carries the spirit off into space.
In the kernel of spirit we shall find that path which leads into Infinity.
Search in the kernel of the spirit!

… Everything in Cosmos creates with a purpose,
and, as the relative connection between man
and the lower beings is evident,
so does there exist the relative connections of the higher spheres.
The creativeness of the Cosmic Magnet predetermines each action,
as well as the role which the beings are predestined to enact.
Thus, the human spheres are designated for cooperation.
The Great Reason strains all cosmic spheres;
hence, the destiny of man has as its basis
the cooperation and beauty of Infinity.

Verily, limitless is the beauty of Cosmos,
when by the way of the heart we can penetrate
into the consciousness of the Cosmic Breath.
The ascent is predestined by the manifestation
f all the cosmic combinations under the pure sign of cosmic unity.
Observing the occurrences on the planet, We may only say,
“Great is your destination; affirm yourself, manifesting ascent!”

The heart was always considered as the symbol of the “guiding one.”
Life expands by that symbol.
The guiding one and the guided are affirming
the significance of the Cosmic Consciousness.
The expected one and the expectant are expressing Cosmic Reason.
The calling one and the responding one are expressing Cosmic Accord.
All the feelings of the Builder of Cosmos
are directing the moves into the higher life.
Yes, yes, yes!

(Infinity I § 86, 316, 97)