The Seven Rays

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It was in The Secret Doctrine of Н. P. Blavatsky that the modern world was first presented with the phrase “The Seven Rays.” It went along with a statement that all things and beings in the world—all forms of mind and matter—arose from combinations of seven fundamental impulses. It was maintained that the substance or basis of the whole world—objective and subjective—is “spiritual,” which means, to practical and realistic persons, “something beyond thought.” We know that thought grows up first as the servant of the body, and that it goes on to become the servant of the pleasures of the mind, including the enjoyments of understanding, of affection, of the sense of power, and self-respect. It is a third step that is indicated, when we say that it will become the servant of the spirit, when it becomes responsive and obedient to impulses from “above,” which are in no way born from or colored by its own previous experience. The old terms “spirit, soul and body” fit very well into this outlook, if we take the soul to mean the mind in its fullness, with all its thinking, feeling and willing, and take the spirit of man to be something beyond it, completely indefinable in terms of mind or body, but necessary to their existence and interaction. The statement that there are seven rays or ultimate and distinct elements of “life impulse” is best understood as a vast generalization. The question then arises: “What is the best way to ascertain whether this generalization is true or not?” The answer to that is: “The proof of the pudding is always in the eating.” Observe that it “works,” or it “pays,” at least in human life.