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A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - Section One - Division B - The Personality Ray and Fire by Friction
SECTION ONE - DIVISION B - THE PERSONALITY RAY AND FIRE BY FRICTION

I. The Work of the Three Rays

We here touch upon a matter of wide general interest yet which is withal very little comprehended. I refer to the subject of the permanent atoms. 26 Each body or form wherein Spirit functions has, for its focal point on each plane, an atom composed of matter of the atomic subplane of each plane. This serves as a nucleus for the distribution of force, for the conservation of faculty, for the assimilation of experience, and for the preservation [70] of memory. These atoms are in direct connection with one or other of the three great rays in connection with the microcosm:

  1. The Monadic Ray, the synthetic ray of the microcosm.
  2. The Egoic Ray.
  3. The Personality Ray.

Each of these rays has a connection with one or other of the permanent atoms in the lower threefold man, and has a direct action upon the spirillae 27 found within the atom. We have noted in "Letters on Occult Meditation" that the atoms of the lower threefold man underwent a twofold process:

They were first vivified in rotation, and each held the light in ordered sequence until the lower triangle was entirely illumined.

Eventually transmutation took place, or (to word it otherwise) the polarization eventually shifted into the three permanent atoms of the Triad, and out of the three permanent atoms of the lower triangle. The physical permanent atom is transcended and the polarization becomes manasic or mental, the astral permanent atom is transcended and the polarization becomes buddhic, while the mental unit is superseded by the permanent [71] atom, of the fifth plane, the atmic. This is all brought about by the action of the three rays upon the atoms and upon the life within each atom. The relationship between these three rays and the permanent atoms might be summarized as follows:

  • The Personality Ray has direct action upon the physical permanent atom.
  • The Egoic Ray has a similar action upon the astral permanent atom.
  • The Monadic Ray has a close connection with the mental unit.

The effect which they have is threefold, but is not simultaneous; they work ever, as do all things in Nature, in ordered cycles. The stimulation, for instance, that is the result of the action of the monadic Ray upon the mental unit is only felt when the aspirant treads the Path, or after he has taken the first Initiation. The action of the egoic Ray upon the astral permanent atom is felt as soon as the Ego can make good connection with the physical brain; when this is so the egoic ray is beginning to affect the atom powerfully and continuously; this occurs when a man is highly evolved and is nearing the Path. This threefold force is felt in the following way:

  • First. It plays upon the wall of the atom as an external force and affects its rotary and vibratory action.
  • Second. It stimulates the inner fire of the atom and causes its light to shine with increasing brilliancy.
  • Third. It works upon the spirillae, and brings them all gradually into play.

26 Permanent Atom. An appropriated point of atomic matter. A tiny center of force which forms the central factor and the attractive agency around which the sheaths of the incarnating Monad are built. These are strung like pearls upon the sutratma, or thread.

Ray. A stream of force or an emanation. The solar Logos, or the Macrocosm, manifests through three major rays and four minor rays. The Monad or microcosm likewise manifests through three rays as mentioned in the text above. All rays express a peculiar and specialized type of force.

Triad. This is literally Atma-buddhi-manas, the expression of the Monad, just as the personality is the expression of the Ego. The Monad expresses itself through the Triad, and in its lowest or third Aspect forms the Egoic or Causal body, the infant or germinal Ego. Similarly, the Ego expresses itself through the threefold lower man, mental, emotional, and etheric (these being the reflection of the higher Triad) and these three give rise to the dense physical manifestation.

27 Spirilla. "In order to examine the construction of the atom, a space is artificially made, then, if an opening be made in the wall thus constructed, the surrounding force flows in, and three whorls immediately appear, surrounding the "hole" with their triple spiral of two and a half coils, and returning to their origin by a spiral within the atom; these are at once followed by seven finer whorls, which following the spiral of the first three on the outer surface and returning to their origin by a spiral within that, flowing in the opposite direction - form a caduceus with the first three. Each of the three coarser whorls, flattened out, makes a closed circle; each of the seven finer ones, similarly flattened out, makes a closed circle. The forces which flow in them, again, come from "outside," from a fourth-dimensional space. Each of the finer whorls is formed of seven yet finer ones, set successively at right angles to each other, each finer than its predecessor; these we call spirillae.

"Each spirilla is animated by the life-force of a plane, and four are at present normally active, one for each round. Their activity in an individual may be prematurely forced by yoga practice." - Occult Chemistry, p. 28.
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