Harmony Through Conflict

2002-1-4 04:39:00

  

Question:  What are the three sub-aspects of the Fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict?

Answer:  The two key words for the Ray are "Harmony" and "Conflict."

  

Question:  To what do these two words correspond?

Answer:  They correspond to the duality of all existence - positive, negative; male, female; hot, cold; up, down; etc.

  

Question:  So what happens when the polar opposites interplay?

Answer:  Creation.

  

Thus the three sub-aspects of the Fourth Ray are:

(1) Harmony (3) Conflict, and at the midway point of interplay we have (2) Creation, or as the Ray is sometimes called "Creativity."

  

Harmony-Creativity-Conflict

  

What is the time of greatest creativity? Was it during a period when everything was going great or did inspiration come in the midst of conflict and struggle followed by a harmonious work?

And how about the greatest creative artists? Were they people of ordinary placid lives or were they individuals who often had great turmoil in their lives? I think we all know the answer.

Some of the greatest works of creativity followed a period of pain, destruction and defeat. But when the creator could not be crushed by the weight of conflict and rose to the occasion, the turbulence was followed by harmony and a grander creation than ever before realized.

The Earth itself and the Logos is on Ray Three, but humanity itself is governed by Ray Four and has a destiny strongly linked to Ray Five as Djwahl Khul [DK -- through the writings of Alice A. Bailey] says:

"This harmony is achieved through the use of the energy of the fifth ray of knowledge. Then through gained and applied knowledge, the result is beauty and the power to create."

(Esoteric Psychology I, Pages 347, by Alice A. Bailey)

  

He also says:

"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."

(Esoteric Psychology I, Pages 343-344, by Alice A. Bailey)

  

JJ:

Overall the Fourth Ray plays a very important part in our current evolution. One of the reasons for this is the preponderance of this number in relation to us.

Humanity is the Fourth Creative Hierarchy governed by the Fourth Ray living on the Fourth planet from the Sun (counting one that is unseen). We are also living on the fourth globe concerning the earth's descent into matter. On this fourth globe we are in the fourth round of our evolution.

Ray Four also governs Mercury, the orthodox ruler of Virgo and the Moon which is the esoteric ruler.

Virgo is a symbol of the birth of Christ and gives a hint that the destiny of the human race in this current time is to give birth to the Christ Consciousness.

Ray Three governs our planetary Logos and the Logos of Saturn which produces a strong link with the two as witnessed by the work of the Saturn Lord through the ancient Jehovah.

Ray Five, strongly linked with Ray Four governs Venus which rules Libra. This brings the overcoming of conflict through the use of the mind with the end result of the balance of harmony.

Djwahl Khul gives some more details on Ray Four:

"The Fourth Ray of Harmony Through Conflict (Ray Four) is the life quality, expressing itself through the grasses and the smaller forms of vegetable life, those which provide the 'green carpet whereon the angels dance.'" (JJ: However he says the main color is indigo-yellow.)

(Esoteric Psychology I, Page 240, by Alice A. Bailey)

  

"Special Virtues:  Strong affections, sympathy, physical courage, generosity, devotion, quickness of intellect and perception.

"Vices of Ray:  Self-centeredness, worrying, inaccuracy, lack of moral courage, strong passions, indolence, extravagance.

"Virtues to be acquired:  Serenity, confidence, self-control, purity, unselfishness, accuracy, mental and moral balance.

"This has been called the 'ray of struggle' for on this ray the qualities of rajas (activity) and tamas (inertia) are so strangely equal in proportion that the nature of the fourth ray man is torn with their combat, and the outcome, when satisfactory, is spoken of as the 'Birth of Horus,' of the Christ, born from the throes of constant pain and suffering.

"Tamas induces love of ease and pleasure, a hatred of causing pain amounting to moral cowardice, indolence, procrastination, a desire to let things be, to rest, and to take no thought of the morrow. Rajas is fiery, impatient, ever urging to action. These contrasting forces in the nature make life one perpetual warfare and unrest for the fourth ray man; the friction and the experience gained thereby may produce very rapid evolution, but the man may as easily become a ne'er-do-well as a hero.

"It is the ray of the dashing cavalry leader, reckless of risks to himself or his followers. It is the ray of the man who will lead a forlorn hope, for in moments of excitement the fourth ray man is entirely dominated by rajas; of the wild speculator and gambler, full of enthusiasm and plans, easily overwhelmed by sorrow or failure, but as quickly recovering from all reverses and misfortunes.

"It is preeminently the ray of colour, of the artist whose colour is always great, though his drawing will often be defective. (Watts [of steam engine fame] was fourth and second rays.) The fourth ray man always loves colour, and can generally produce it. If untrained as an artist, a colour sense is sure to appear in other ways, in choice of dress or decorations.

"In music, fourth ray compositions are always full of melody, and the fourth ray man loves a tune. As a writer or poet, his work will often be brilliant and full of picturesque word-painting, but inaccurate, full of exaggerations, and often pessimistic. He will generally talk well and have a sense of humour, but he varies between brilliant conversations and gloomy silences, according to his mood. He is a delightful and difficult person to live with.

"In healing, the best fourth ray method is massage and magnetism, used with knowledge.

"The method of approaching the Path will be by self-control, thus gaining equilibrium amongst the warring forces of the nature. The lower and extremely dangerous way is by Hatha Yoga."

(Esoteric Psychology I, Page 206, by Alice A. Bailey)

  

JJ:

The next ray to cover is the Fifth. It is difficult to talk about them one at a time because they are so interlinked, but this type of coverage will give us some basics to our understanding as we later look at the Rays in greater wholeness.

The Fifth Ray has the name of "Concrete Knowledge" and governs scientific inquiry.

Why do you suppose DK called it "Concrete Knowledge" instead of just "knowledge" and what do you suppose are its three sub-aspects? Which member of the original star Trek had his personality on this Ray?

Using the Alice A. Bailey's books online and do a search for "Concrete Knowledge" you can find a lot of material on this ray. If you find anything of particular interest go ahead and post it.