We enter now upon a very important division of our subject, and take up for consideration the Fire of Mind, cosmically, systemically, and humanly considered. We have dealt with the fire of matter, and studied for a while its purpose, origin and work. We considered somewhat the factor of Consciousness, and saw that the great work of a solar Logos, with all included manifesting lives, was the development of a conscious control, and a psychic awareness within certain set limits. Having laid down these preliminary foundation thoughts, we need now to block out, for the sake of clarity, the mass of material that is available on the subject of the manasic fire, which is the animating principle of consciousness itself. Let us first of all get one broad general outline and then proceed to fill in the details.

1. The fire of mind, cosmically considered. [309]
2. The fire of mind viewed systemically.
3. The fire of mind in connection with a human being.

In other words, what we are endeavoring to do is to study Mind in a solar Logos, a planetary Logos and in the Microcosm. Each of these three main divisions may be dealt with under four lesser heads which may be expressed as follows:

1. The origin of cosmic, systemic and microcosmic mind.
2. The place of mind in evolution in all three cases.
3. The present stage of development of mind in each of the three groups.
4. The future of mind, or of manasic unfoldment.

When we have taken up these points, we should have a clearer idea as to the purpose and place of the fire of the intelligence, and should be able accurately to comprehend its correlating synthetic work. Before, however, following up these ideas it might prove of value to us if we sought to define this principle of manas and see what is already understood by it.

Here enter in certain factors and analogies that it would be of profit to us to mention at this juncture.

This fifth principle embodies the basic vibration of the fifth plane, either cosmically or systemically considered. A certain sound of the logoic Word, when it [310] reaches the mental plane, causes a vibration in the matter of that plane, arrests its tendency to dissipate, causes it to take spheroidal form, and builds it literally into a body which is held in coherent shape by a mighty deva Entity, the Raja Lord of the mental plane. Exactly the same procedure ensued on cosmic levels, when a still mightier sound was uttered by the ONE ABOUT WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID, and the utterance of this caused a vibration on the fifth cosmic plane. Certain great Entities became active, including such relatively unimportant Beings as our solar Logos and His group.

This fifth principle is the distinctive coloring of a particular group of solar Logoi on the causal level of the cosmic mental, and is the animating factor of Their Existence, the reason of Their manifesting through various solar systems, and the great Will-to-be that brings Them forth into objectivity.

Manas has been defined as mind, or that faculty of logical deduction and reasoning, and of rational activity that distinguishes man from the animals. Yet it is something much more than that for it underlies all manifestation, and the very shape of an amoeba, and the discriminative faculty of the lowest atom or cell, is actuated by mind of some kind or another. It is only as the place of that discriminating cell or atom within its greater sphere is apprehended, and recognized, that any clear conception will be gained of what that coherent rational inclusive mentality may be.

The fire of Mind is fundamentally electricity, shown, in its higher workings, and not considered so much as [311] force in matter. Electricity in the solar system shows itself in seven major forms, which might be expressed as follows:

Electricity on the first plane, the logoic or divine, demonstrates as the Will-to-be, the primary aspect of that force which eventually results in objectivity. Cosmically considered, it is that initial impulse or vibration, which emanates from the logoic causal body on the cosmic mental plane, and makes contact with the first cosmic etheric, or the solar plane of adi.

Electricity on the monadic plane demonstrates as the first manifestation of form, as that which causes forms to cohere. Matter (electrified by "fire by friction") and the electric fire of spirit meet and blend, and form appears. Form is the result of the desire for existence, hence the dynamic fire of Will is transmuted into the burning fire of Desire. I would call attention to the choice of those two phrases, which might also be expressed under the terms:

• Dynamic electrical manifestation.
• Burning electrical manifestation.

Here on the second plane, the sea of electrical fire, which distinguished the first plane, is transformed into the akasha, or burning etheric matter. It is the plane of the flaming Sun, just as the first plane is that of the fire mist [312] or the nebulae. This idea will be easier to comprehend if it is borne in mind that we are dealing with thecosmic physical plane.

Certain things take place on the second plane which need realization, even if already theoretically conceded:

• Heat or flaming radiation is first seen.
• Form is taken, and the spheroidal shape of all existence originates.
• The first interplay between the polar opposites is felt.
• Differentiation is first seen, not only in the recognized duality of all things, but in differentiation in motion; two vibrations are recognized.
• Certain vibratory factors begin to work such as attraction, repulsion, discriminative rejection, coherent assimilation, and the allied manifestation of revolving forms, orbital paths and the beginning of that curious downward pull into matter that results in evolution itself.
• The primary seven manifestations of logoic existence find expression and the three, with the four, commence Their work.
• The seven wheels, or etheric centers in the body etheric of that great cosmic Entity, of Whom our solar Logos is a reflection, begin to vibrate and His life activity can be seen.

We are at this juncture considering the manifestations of electricity on the different planes of the cosmic physical plane, or on our solar systemic planes. Hence, all that can be seen in manifestation is fundamentally physical electricity. We have seen that the primary manifestation is that which vitalized, tinctured, and pervaded the matter of space, thus embodying – in connection with logoic manifestation – that which is analogous to the vital heat, activity and radiation of a human being, [313] manifesting on the solar physical plane. Certain electrical phenomena distinguish a human being, only (as they have not been expressed or considered in terms of electricity) the analogy has been lost sight of. These demonstrations might be considered as:

• First, that coherent VITALITY which holds the entire body revolving around the central unit of force. It must here be remembered that the entire manifestation of a solar system consists of the etheric body, and the dense body of a Logos.
• Second, that radiatory MAGNETISM which distinguishes man, and makes him active in two ways:
  • In relation to the matter of which his vehicles are composed.
  • In relation to the units which form his group.
• Third, that ACTIVITY on the physical plane which results in due performance of the will and desire of the indwelling entity, and which in man is the correspondence of the Brahma aspect.

These three electrical manifestations – vitality, magnetism, and fohatic impulse – are to be seen at work in a solar Logos, a Heavenly Man and a human being. They are the objective manifestations of the psychic nature, which (in a solar Logos, for instance) we speak of in terms of quality, and call will, wisdom, activity. Therefore, it should be noted here that the first three planes of the cosmic physical plane – the logoic, monadic, and atmic planes – are of prime importance and are the basic planes from whence emanate the secondary four; in other words, the first three cosmic ethers embody in a literal sense those three Entities whom we know as Mahadeva, Vishnu, and Brahma. In a similar sense these Three find Their densest objectivity in the three Physical ethers. The lower four manifest during evolution, but are eventually synthesized into the higher [314] three. It should be also remembered that on all the seven subplanes of a solar plane a process, in connection with electrical phenomena in etheric matter, will parallel all the processes on the major planes. This is easily to be seen on the mental plane, for instance, in connection with Man. Theoretically, the absorption of all faculty by the causal body, and the discontinuance of all enforced objectivity in the three worlds at the close of the synthesizing period is conceded. On the other planes it is not so obvious. On the buddhic plane, the Builders on the evolutionary arc, or a large part of the deva evolution, undergo a paralleling synthesis. On the physical plane a mysterious synthesis in connection with the "spirit of the Earth" is undergone, and the first three ethers are related to him in a way as yet little understood.

We might sum it up thus:

• First, the balancing of electrical phenomena, or the achievement of synthesis in connection with Man, transpires on the three higher levels of the mental plane.
• Second, a similar process in connection with a Heavenly Man transpires on the three higher subplanes of the monadic plane. Viewed in a larger sense it takes place on the three major planes – the atmic, buddhic, and manasic – just as in the three worlds of human evolution – the physical, astral, and mental – the synthesizing process proceeds on the higher of the three involved.
• Third, in connection with a solar Logos (within the system and not considering His cosmic synthesis) the three higher subplanes of the logoic plane see His final absorption or abstraction, and the three planes of the three Logoi are similarly concerned.

It should here be carefully borne in mind that we are dealing with electrical matter, and are therefore concerned with cosmic etheric substance; all matter in the system is necessarily etheric. We are consequently dealing literally with physical phenomena on all planes of [315] the system. In time and space we are concerned with units of different polarity which – during the evolutionary process – seek union, balance, equilibrium or synthesis, and eventually find it. This electrical interplay between two units causes that which we call light, and thereby objectivity. During evolution this demonstrates as heat and magnetic interaction and is the source of all vital growth; at the achievement of the desired goal, at union, or at-one-ment, two things occur:

• First, the approximation of the two poles, or their blending, causes a blazing forth, or radiant light.
• Second, obscuration, or the final disintegration of matter owing to intense heat.

This can be seen in connection with man, a Heavenly Man and a solar Logos, and their bodies of objectivity. In man this polarity is achieved, the three different types of electrical phenomena are demonstrated, and the light blazes forth, irradiating the causal body, and lighting up the entire sutratma, or thread (literally the Path) which connects the causal vehicle with the physical brain. Then disintegration or destruction ensues; the causal body vanishes in a blaze of electrical fire, and the real "man" or self is abstracted from the three world-bodies. So will it be seen in the body of a Heavenly Man, a planetary scheme, and so likewise in the body of the Logos, a solar system.

The difficulty in apprehending these thoughts is great, for we are necessarily handicapped by lack of adequate terms, but the main ideas only are those I seek to deal with, and the one we are primarily concerned with in this division is the electrical manifestation of magnetism, just as earlier we dealt cursorily with the same electrical phenomena, manifesting as the activity of matter.

Therefore you have: [316]

1. Activity – electrical manifestation of matter.
2. Magnetism – electrical manifestation of form.
3. Vitality – electrical manifestation of existence.

This is literally (as pointed out by H. P. B. – S. D., I 567. II, 258.) fire by friction, solar fire, and electric fire.

Fire by friction is electricity animating the atoms of matter, or the substance of the solar system, and resulting in:

• The spheroidal form of all manifestation.
• The innate heat of all spheres.
• Differentiation of all atoms one from another.

Solar fire is electricity animating forms or congeries of atoms, and resulting in:

• Coherent groups.
• The radiation from all groups, or the magnetic interaction of these groups.
• The synthesis of form.

Electric fire is electricity demonstrating as vitality or the will-to-be of some Entity, and manifests as:

• Abstract Being.
• Darkness.
• Unity.

We have seen that electrical manifestation on the first plane caused initial vibration, and on the second its activity resulted in the archetypal form of all manifestation from a God to man, and an atom.

On the third plane, which is primarily the plane of Brahma, this electrical force showed itself in intelligent purpose. The will-to-be, and the form desired, are correlated by intelligent purpose underlying all. This intelligent purpose, or active will, utilizing an instrument, brings us to that most difficult of metaphysical problems, the distinction between will and desire. It is not possible [317] here to handle this delicate subject, save simply to point out that in both will and desire, intelligence or manas is a fundamental factor, and must be recognized. This permeating principle of manas – coloring as it does both the will aspect and the desire aspect – is the cause of much confusion to students, and clarity of thought will eventuate only as it is realized:

• First, that all manifestation emanates, or is electrified, from the cosmic mental plane.
• Second, that the Universal Mind, or the divine thinker, is the intelligent Principle which makes Itself known as the Will-to-be, Desire or Love-of-Being, and that active intelligent purpose which animates the solar system.
• Third, that Mahadeva, or the Divine Will, Vishnu, the Wisdom aspect, or the manifested "Son of Necessity," and Brahma or active purpose are the sumtotal of intelligent consciousness, and are (to the manifesting cosmic Entity) what the mental body, the desire body, and the physical body are to man, the thinker in the three worlds, functioning in the causal body. We must not forget that the causal body contains the three permanent atoms or the three spheres which embody the principle of intelligence, of desire, and of physical objectivity. Always must the analogy be held between the threefold Logos and threefold man, and definiteness of thought and of concept results when the one likeness between these is pondered on. Man is a unit, functioning as a unit in the causal body. He is a triplicity functioning under the will aspect, or mental body; under the desire or wisdom aspect, the astral body; and under the activity aspect, the physical body. He electrifies or vitalizes all three bodies or aspects, unifying them into one, and bringing about – by means of the Intelligence He is – coherency of action, simultaneity of purpose, and synthetic endeavor. [318]
• Finally, therefore, it is apparent that, no matter from what angle we study, the threefold Logos (or His reflection, the microcosm) through the Manasic principle, intelligently reduces matter to form, and utilizes that form for the fulfilment of the will, desire and purpose of the indwelling Existence; this principlecan be seen underlying all three aspects.

There is no need here to point out the different triplicities which can be built up on the basic idea of Spirit and Matter, linked by Intelligence. This has often been done. I but seek to emphasize that INTELLIGENCE is the main quality of the Logos; that it shows as will, as desire or wisdom, and as activity; and that the reason for this is due to the work earlier accomplished by the cosmic Entity, involving cycles which have passed into the dim mist of retrospect, even from the angle of vision of a solar Logos.

This developed manasic principle is the intelligent purpose that is bringing about at-one-ment on each plane of the solar system in connection with the subplanes. It will eventually bring about the synthesis of all the planes, and thus bring the cosmic physical plane, as a unified whole, under the complete control of that cosmic Entity Who is seeking expression through that threefold manifestation we call a solar system, or the body logoic.

On this third plane that intelligent principle demonstrates as coherent activity, either systemic, planetary, or monadic, and also as the triple vibration of spirit-matter-intelligence, sounding as the threefold Sacred Word, or electricity manifesting as sound.

We have here an interesting sequence or inversion, according to the angle of vision, involving the planes, as we know them:

• Electricity as vibratory impulse. This causes the aggregation of matter, and its activity within certain bounds, or its awakening to activity within the [319] solar-ring-pass-not. This is the first syllable of the Sacred Word.
• Electricity as Light, causing spheroidal objectivity. This is the birth of the Son. It covers the enunciation of the second syllable of the Sacred Word.¹²³
• Electricity as Sound. Here we have the completed, threefold Sacred Word.

On the fourth plane this electrical force shows itself as color. In these four we have the fundamental concepts of all manifestation; all four have an electrical dynamic origin; all are basically a differentiation or effect of impulse, emanating from the cosmic mental plane and taking form (with intelligent purpose in view) on the cosmic physical. Man repeats the process on his tiny scale, dealing only with three planes, and flashing into objectivity on the solar physical. It will be demonstrated later as science attains more and more of the truth that

1. All physical phenomena as we understand the term have an electrical origin, and an initial vibration on the first subplane of the physical plane. [320]
2. That Light, physical plane light, has a close connection with, and uses, as a medium, the second ether.
3. That sound functions through the third ether.
4. That color in a peculiar sense is allied to the fourth ether.

We must note here that in the development of the senses, hearing preceded sight, as sound precedes color.

An interesting analogy may here be noted between the fourth cosmic ether, and the fourth ether on the physical plane of the solar system. Both are in process of becoming exoteric – one from the standpoint of man in the three worlds, and the other from the standpoint of a Heavenly Man. The fourth ether is even now being investigated by scientists, and much that they predicate concerning ether, the atom, radium, and the ultimate "protyle" has to do with this fourth ether. It will eventually be brought under scientific formula, and some of its properties, knowledge concerning its range of influence, and its utilization will become known unto men. Paralleling this, the buddhic plane, the plane of the Christ principle, is gradually becoming known to those advanced beings who are individually able to cognize their place in the body of a Logos of a planetary scheme. The influence of the buddhic plane, and the electrical force that is its peculiar characteristic, are beginning to be felt, and its energy is also beginning to have a definite effect on the egoic bodies of men; the fourth ether of the physical systemic plane is likewise assuming its rightful place in the minds of men, and the electrical force of that subplane is already being adapted and utilized by man in the assistance of the mechanical arts, for methods of transportation, for widespread illumination, and in healing. These four adaptations of electricity: [ 321]

1. For mechanical uses,
2. For transportation,
3. For illumination,
4. In healing,

are but the working out on the physical plane of paralleling utilization of buddhic electrical force.

It might here be asked why color primarily is spoken of as the buddhic manifestation of electricity. We are employing the word "color" here in its original and basic sense as "that which veils." Color veils the sevenfold differentiation of logoic manifestation and, from the angle of vision of man in the three worlds, can be seen only in its full significance on the buddhic plane. All fire and electrical display will be seen to embody the seven colors.

Again another correspondence between the fourth cosmic ether and the fourth physical ether lies in the fact that they are both primarily concerned with the work of the great builders, bearing in mind that they build the real body of the Logos in etheric matter; the dense physical vehicle is not so much the result of their work as it is the result of the meeting of the seven streams of force or electricity, which causes that apparent congestion in matter that we call the dense physical planes (the three lower subplanes). This apparent congestion is, after all, but the exceeding electronic activity or energy of the mass of negative atoms awaiting the stimulation that will result from the presence of a certain number of positive atoms. This needs to be borne in mind. The work of evolution is based on two methods and demonstrates as:

Involution, wherein the negative electrons of matter preponderate. The percentage of these feminine electrons is one of the secrets of initiation and is so vast during the involutionary stage that the rarity of the positive [322] atoms is very noticeable; they are so rare as only to serve to keep the mass coherent.

Evolution, wherein, due to the action of manas, these negative atoms become stimulated and either dissipate back into the central electrical reservoir, or merge in their opposite pole, and are consequently again lost. This results in:

• Synthesis.
• Homogeneity.

The rarity instead of the density of matter. The fourth cosmic ether, the buddhic, is the plane of air, and is also the plane of absorption for the three worlds. This rarefiaction of dense matter (as we know it) simply means that at the close of the evolutionary process it will have been transmuted and be practically, from our point of view, non-existent; all that will be left will be the positive atoms, or certain vortices of force which – having absorbed the negative – will demonstrate as electrical phenomena of a form inconceivable to man at his present stage of knowledge. These vortices will be distinguished by:

1. Intense vibratory activity.
2. The predominance of one certain color according to the quality of the etheric display, and its source.
3. Repulsion to all bodies of similar vibratory rate and polarity. Their attractive quality at the end of evolution will cease owing to the fact that naught remains to be attracted.

The vortices in each planetary scheme will be, during evolution, seven. Later, during the period of obscuration, three of the vortices will approximate their masculine pole and eventually but one will be left. In man a similar procedure can be seen in connection with his [323] seven centers during the process of initiation. First there are seven, then three absorb the lower four through electrical interaction. We are here viewing the subject wholly from the point of view of our present discussion. Finally, only the head center is left, for it is the positive pole to all the others.

This question of the electrical polarity of the centers is one of real difficulty, and little can be communicated on the matter. It may be safely pointed out, however, that the generative organs are the negative pole to the throat center as is the solar plexus to the heart. The order of the development of the centers, the ray-type and color, coupled to the fact that during certain stages of the evolutionary process different centers (such as the base of the spine) are positive to all the others, not even excluding the head center, leads to the vast complexity of the subject. Likewise certain of the planetary schemes are positive and others negative; three of the schemes are dual, both negative and positive. The same can be predicated anent a solar system, and, curiously enough, anent the planes themselves. For instance, in connection with the earth scheme we have a positive polarity of a temporary nature based on the type of incarnation our particular Heavenly Man is undergoing on our planet. By this is meant that there are masculine and feminine incarnations undergone by Heavenly Men as by men, considering the entire subject from the angle of electrical polarity and not from sex as understood in connection with the physical body.

Venus is negatively polarized, and hence it became possible for a mysterious absorption by the Earth of Venusian force. Again in this connection the question of sex may serve to elucidate. The karmic tie between the two Heavenly Men – one in a positive incarnation and the other in a negative – caused the working out of an old debt and a planetary alliance. Light flashed forth [324] in Lemurian days in a number of great groups of the human family when these two opposite poles made electrical connection. It needed the joint work of the two Heavenly Men, working on buddhic levels (the fourth cosmic ether) to bring about the blazing forth of the light of manas in the causal groups on the fifth cosmic gaseous plane, the mental plane of the solar system. It will be remembered that it was earlier pointed out that the majority of men function consciously on the fifth subplane of the three planes in the three worlds. In them the fifth principle is beginning to function, but not in sufficient force as yet to do more than keep them in line with the electrical force flowing from the fourth cosmic ether down to the next subplane of the cosmic physical.

It must ever be borne in mind that each plane and each subplane which is numerically allied, is embodying the same type of force, and is consequently of the same polarity.

Again, the astral plane and the buddhic plane are related, as we already know; the astral is negative in relation to the buddhic plane. When the polarity of the different planes is known, when the polarity of the subplanes is comprehended, and when the interaction between them and the corresponding cosmic planes is grasped, then will man be free, but not before. When the polarity of the ethers to each other and their relationship to the whole is comprehended, human evolution will have run its course. A Master has solved the problem of electrical phenomena in the three worlds, hence His freedom. Further, when the relationship of the negative form to the positive Spirit is grasped, and their joint connection with the cosmic Entities Who indwell the whole system is somewhat apprehended, group liberation will be achieved.

Perhaps in considering this abstruse matter it may [325] help to clarify the point of view if it is recollected that man is essentially positive in his own nature but his vehicles are negative; hence he is the central unit of positive electricity that draws and holds to him atoms of an opposite polarity. When he has merged and blended the two poles, and produced light of a definite magnitude during any particular incarnation (which magnitude is settled by the Ego prior to incarnation) then obscuration takes place. The electrical manifestation burns up and destroys the medium, and the light goes out; what we call physical death ensues, for the electrical current burns up that which had caused objectivity, and that which shone. Let us carry this idea further and realize that these units called men (who are positive as regards their own vehicles) are but the negative cells in the body of a Heavenly Man, and are held within His sphere of influence by the force of His electrical life. Bear in mind again that the Heavenly Men are thus positive as regards the lesser lives, but in Their turn are negative as regards the greater Life that contains Them.

Here again is demonstrated the truth of the teaching given by H. P. B.

• Electric Fire – Positive – Spirit.
• Fire by Friction – Negative – Matter.
• Solar Fire – Light – The two blended and thus producing the objective blaze.

We have thus considered the question of the electrical origin of all manifestation in connection with the four higher subplanes of the solar system – those four planes which are the four cosmic ethers, and therefore form the body of objectivity of a Heavenly Man in exactly the same sense as the four physical ethers of the solar system form the etheric body of a man. I have here repeated the fact, as its importance has not yet been grasped by the average occult student; this fact – when [326] conceded and realized – serves in a wonderful way to clarify the whole subject of planetary evolution. We have now reached the three planes wherein man functions, or the gaseous, liquid, and dense subplanes of the cosmic physical.

The whole subject of the akasha will be greatly clarified as exoteric science delves into the question of the ethers. As knowledge of the four types of ethers is available, as the vibratory action of these ethers is realized, and as the details concerning their composition utilization, light-bearing capacity, and the various angles from which they may be studied become known then paralleling knowledge anent the corresponding four cosmic ethers will be forthcoming. Much concerning them may be deduced from the already apprehended facts which relate to the four solar physical ethers.

For instance, the fourth ether (which is even now being what we might call "discovered"), is at this stage characterized by certain things. I might enumerate a few of these facts with exceeding brevity, as follows:

1. It is the ether which the violet ray uses as a medium.
2. The fourth ether is that whereof the majority of the etheric bodies of men are made.
3. The fourth ether is largely the principal sphere of influence of the "devas of the shadows," or those violet devas which are closely concerned with the physical evolution of man.
4. It is the etheric sphere within which, at a little later date, the human and the deva evolutions will touch.
5. From this fourth etheric sphere the dense physical bodies are created.
6. It is the sphere of physical individualization. Only when the animal to be individualized was fully conscious on that subplane of the physical plane was it possible to coordinate the corresponding spheres on the astral and mental planes and by means of this triple coordination to effect the necessary steps which enabled the quaternary to succeed in its effort to approximate the Triad. [327]
7. This fourth ether in this fourth round and on this fourth chain has to be completely mastered and controlled by the Human Hierarchy, the fourth creative. Every unit of the human family has to attain this mastery before the end of this round.
8. It is the sphere wherein the initiations of the threshold are undergone, and the fivefold initiations of the physical plane are entered upon.

Much more might be further added to this list, but I have sought only to point out those which can be easily realized as having a correspondence on the buddhic plane, the fourth cosmic ether. It should be borne in mind that our physical plane in its subplanes has its analogy likewise to the entire cosmic physical plane.

COSMIC PHYSICAL PLANE

1. Adi	1st cosmic ether	1. Atomic subplane	1st ether.
2. Monadic	2nd cosmic ether	2. Subatomic	2nd ether.
3. Atmic	3rd cosmic ether	3. Super-etheric	3rd ether.
4. Buddhic	4th cosmic ether	4. Etheric	4th ether.
5. Mental	Cosmic gaseous	5. Gaseous
6. Astral	Cosmic liquid	6. Liquid
7. Physical	Cosmic dense	7. Dense physical

The solar physical plane might also be expressed accurately as follows, working out the analogy to the major planes:

SOLAR PHYSICAL PLANE

1st subplane	atomic	1st ether	physical adi.
2nd subplane	subatomic	2nd ether	physical anupadaka.
3rd subplane	super-etheric	3rd ether	physical atmic.
4th subplane	etheric	4th ether	physical buddhic.
5th subplane	gaseous		physical mental.
6th subplane	liquid		physical astral.
7th subplane	dense		physical dense.

[328] In both the cosmic and solar physical planes, the plane of buddhi is ever the plane of at-one-ment, or the meeting ground of diversities, and of their blending – not into a fundamental unity – but into group unity. This is owing to the fact that the buddhic plane is pre-eminently the plane most concerned with the evolution of the Heavenly Men. What I have therefore predicated anent the fourth physical ether can likewise be extended to the fourth cosmic ether, and find its analogy on the buddhic plane. The place, for instance, of violet in the spectrum is of prime importance in connection with the greater cycles, and marks the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new one. The buddhic plane is peculiarly the plane of violet, even though all the colors find their place there; the Lord of the Ray of Ceremonial Magic, Who embodies the violet ray or hierarchy, has a special relationship to the buddhic plane. It must be borne in mind that each planetary Logos works primarily on one of the seven planes; from this we can infer that His influence finds its line of least resistance on some one plane, even though it be exerted on all planes.

Again, extend the second statement anent the etheric composition of the bodies of men to Those of the Heavenly Men, and it will be found that just as the majority of human etheric bodies are built of matter of the fourth ether, so it may also be said that four of the Heavenly Men have Their etheric vehicles composed of this fourth cosmic ether (buddhic matter).

Further, the two great evolutions (human and deva) find their group unity on the buddhic plane, and portions of both hierarchies blend and merge so as to form the body of the divine Hermaphrodite.^{124, 125} Earlier, at certain fixed points, they may temporarily approximate each [329] other. On the buddhic plane definite and permanent alliance may be seen. On this plane also the "devas of the shadows" who are concerned in the building of the planetary scheme, pursue their work, and thus parallel the work done in the three worlds by the lesser builders who work with the etheric body of man. So can the analogies be worked out, for ever this Law of Resemblance holds good; yet ever must it be remembered that the analogy is of a psychic nature, and demonstrates in work, activity, and quality, and not in literal identity of form.

As time elapses the work of the Heavenly Men in the cosmic etheric spheres will be better comprehended, and assisted intelligently by those lesser intelligences who – by the study of the physical ethers – will eventually hold the key of the greater manifestation. Science is the handmaiden of wisdom, and opens the door to those infinite reaches and to those cosmic expanses, where stand Those vaster Intelligences, Who manipulate the matter of the higher planes, and bend it to the desired form, causing the vibrations thus set up to be felt at the furthest bounds of the solar ring-pass-not. Automatically then all lesser lives and all the denser materials are swept and carried into the needed channels and forms. Vibration or initial activity, light, or activity taking form and animating form, sound the basis of differentiation and the source of the evolutionary process, and color the sevenfold differentiation – thus is the work carried on. We have been dealing with these four in connection with a solar Logos, and equally with the work of a Heavenly Man and of Man, of, the human monad.

Students should also bear in mind another point that is often forgotten, which is that every plane can be studied and divided in two ways:

First. The seven subplanes can be divided into the [330] higher three planes or the abstract planes, and the lower four or the concrete planes. This division is the best and most purely metaphysical, for it embodies the entire idea of the Self, the Not-Self, and the Intelligence, with their synthesis, which produces the objective universe, whether solar system, planetary scheme, or human incarnation. In connection with the Logos it is fully discussed and illuminatingly considered in the first volume of the Secret Doctrine, where the work of the Father and the Mother in producing the Son through conscious intelligent cooperation is handled by H. P. B. in a masterly manner.

In connection with man the point can be grasped more easily if the causal body on the abstract levels of the mental plane is considered in connection with the lower four or concrete levels from whence manifestation emanates.

Second. Dividing the seven subplanes into the same higher three but making the fourth plane the plane of meeting or of at-one-ment, and regarding the lower three as the planes of endeavor. This division primarily concerns man.

Both these divisions will be seen later as existing on every plane in the system and as having their origin in electrical force which shows itself differently on each plane but acts on all under three laws: Attraction or Repulsion, Economy, and Synthesis. The lower three planes or subplanes act under the Law of Economy primarily; the plane of meeting or of union acts under a phase of the Law of Attraction. Paralleling them, of course, during evolution are their opposites, showing as Dispersion, Repulsion, and Differentiation.

The question of the electrical manifestation of the akasha on the seven planes has therefore to be studied in its three main divisions, then plane by plane or the sevenfold consideration, and finally as the forty-nine [331] fires. Throughout it must be recollected that the subject is still further complicated by the factor of time which brings these forty-nine fires at different stages under different spheres of influence and under the three laws of the cosmos. Thus the same fire at different periods will show itself forth as constructive light, or again bring about combustion and eventual obscuration as the result of burning out.

In connection with the manifestation of electricity on the mental, astral and physical planes. We will not enlarge upon the subject, as it will later be discussed as fully as may be possible. Suffice it to say that the law holds good and that what is laid down as fact anent a Heavenly Man on His Own planes is equally true of man on the four lower planes. Thus:

A SOLAR LOGOS

1. Electrical vibration – the plane logoic or adi.
2. Electrical light – the plane monadic or anupadaka.
3. Electrical sound – the plane of atma.
4. Electrical color – the plane of buddhi.

A HEAVENLY MAN

1. Electrical vibration – the plane monadic.
2. Electrical light – the plane of atma.
3. Electrical sound – the plane of buddhi.
4. Electrical color – the mental plane.

MAN

1. Electrical vibration – buddhic plane.
2. Electrical light – the mental plane.
3. Electrical sound – the astral plane.
4. Electrical color – the physical plane.

We need to remember here that we were earlier dealing with the Logos, and with the Heavenly Men as incorporate parts of His body of manifestation. In the tabulation above given we are dealing with each [332] separately, and it should be observed that the manifestation of the groups of causal bodies on the mental plane is the color manifestation of a Heavenly Man and His lowest point of objectivity. In man his lowest point of objectivity is the fifth subplane of the physical plane, as the liquid and the dense subplanes are not counted as principles any more than the cosmic liquid and dense (the astral and the systemic physical planes) count with a Heavenly Man.

We have seen that manas or mind is the fifth principle, or the basic vibration of the cosmic mental plane, the fifth plane; it was therefore impulse originating from the causal levels of the cosmic mental plane, which drove our solar Logos into manifestation, in the same way that the force which brings man into incarnation emanates from his causal body on the mental plane of the solar system. We have seen also that manas is that discriminative faculty which animates all substance, and which is also the electrical fire of the system showing forth as attraction and repulsion, with all that is involved in those two words. In the widest sense of the idea the Laws of Economy and of Synthesis are only divisions of that same cosmic law of which Attraction and Repulsion are also manifestations. This cosmic law, demonstrating thus in a threefold manner, might (for lack of a better term) be called the Law of Being, and is of a nature so incomprehensible to the finite mind of man that he can only sense it partially through the aforesaid three branches.

We come now to our third definition: The manasic principle is above all else that cohesive something which enables an Entity (whether Logos, Heavenly Man, or man) to work:

1. Through form, and thus exist. [333]
2. By means of progressive development or cyclic evolution.
3. On certain planes, that are, for the entity concerned, the battleground of life, and the field of experience.
4. By the method of manifestation, which is a gradual growth from a dim and distant dawn through an ever increasing splendor of light to a blaze of effulgent glory; then through a steadily dimming twilight to final obscuration. Dawn, day, midday, twilight, night – thus is the order for the Logos, for a planetary Logos, and for man.

If the above four points are carefully studied, it will be found that they are fairly comprehensive, and embody the four points that are as yet the only ones available for man in this fourth round.

Man regards himself as a synthesized aggregate of physical body, emotional nature, and mentality, yet knows himself as more than these three, and recognizes himself as the utilizer of form, of emotion, and of mentality, holding them all together coherently so that he is a unit. A planetary Logos similarly does the same, with the difference that manas is not the medium whereby he is a coherent whole. Owing to his more advanced stage of development, wisdom is for Him the dominant factor. A solar Logos achieves through Will what a planetary Logos does through wisdom or buddhi, and man (on his tiny scale) through manas. Yet, as both planetary Logos and man are but parts of their greater whole, the electric fire of will permeates them also, merging with the solar fire of buddhi, and fanning the fires of matter. In all these distinctions and differentiations it must be remembered that they do not exist from the logoic standpoint, but are only to be predicated in [334] relation to the lesser bodies which are included in the solar ring-pass-not.

A man is a coherent unit in objective manifestation for very brief periods on the physical plane simply because as yet he works only through manas and not through wisdom. His cycles are consequently soon run, and gone like a flash in the night. A planetary Logos, Who is perfected manas and works through wisdom, has longer cycles, and from the angle of vision of man endures for aeons; His life is the basis of the comparative permanence of the egoic cycles of man. The cycle of objectivity of a solar Logos persists for the greater mahamanvantara or solar cycle because it is based on will as well as on wisdom and manas. Therefore, it will be apparent that:

1. Manas or intelligence is the basis of the separative manifestation of man.
2. Wisdom or buddhi is the basis of the group manifestation of a Heavenly Man.
3. Will is the basis of the One Life which synthesizes all groups.

Therefore again, in studying this Fire of Mind, we must remember that it is that which man is developing and with which he is learning to work, but that it is also that which a Heavenly Man has developed in an earlier system; it is to Him as automatic in its action as is the subconscious activity of a man's physical organs.

We might also define manas as the key to the door through which entrance is made into the fifth kingdom of nature, the spiritual kingdom. Each of the five kingdoms is entered by some one key, and in connection with the first two kingdoms – the mineral and vegetable – the key or method whereby the life escapes into the higher kingdom is so inexplicable to man at his present stage [335] of intelligent apprehension that we will not pause to consider it. In relation to the animal kingdom it might be said that the key whereby entrance is effected into the human kingdom is that of instinct. This instinct, towards the final stages of the animal's evolution, and as it becomes more and more detached from the group soul,¹²⁶ becomes transmuted into mentality, or into that embryo mind which is latent in animal-man, and which simply needed the stimulating vibration which emanated from the Earth's Primary to be fanned into something definitely human. We must always bear in mind that the method of individualization on this globe was not the one followed on others, and that many of the present advanced units of humanity individualized normally, and through the driving force of evolution itself. They found (to express it as far as possible in terms of fire), their opposite electrical pole through the activity of animal instinct, and by the blending of the two a human being was produced, – the union of the three fires in the causal vehicle.

Man passes into the fifth kingdom through the transmutation of the discriminative faculty of mind, which – as in the animal's individualization – brings about at a certain stage a spiritual individualization which is the correspondence on higher levels to what transpired in Lemurian days. Therefore, we have:

• Instinct – The key from the animal into the human kingdom or from the third into the fourth kingdom.
• Manas – The key from the human into the spiritual kingdom, or from the fourth kingdom into the fifth kingdom. [336]

Higher we need not go, for the transmutation of manas proceeds, and much as yet remains to be done.

One other definition might be given even though its abstruseness may prove but a bewilderment to the student.

Manas is the united faculty of four of the Heavenly Men, synthesized through a fifth Heavenly Man on the third plane of the system. These five Heavenly Men were the logoic embodiment in an earlier system and achieved the fullness of manasic life. Their synthetic life is that which is primarily understood when we speak of Brahma, that cosmic Entity Who is the sumtotal of logoic active intelligence. For lack of better terms we call Them the Lords of the four minor Rays, Who find Their synthesis through the third Ray of Activity. They have been called in an endeavor to express the principles which They embody:

1. The Lord of Ceremonial Magic.
2. The Lord of Abstract Idealism, or Devotion.
3. The Lord of Concrete Science.
4. The Lord of Harmony and Art.

These four function through the fourth cosmic ether, and have vehicles of buddhic matter. They merge into the greater life of the Lord of the third Ray of Aspect on atmic levels, and these four (with the one synthetic Ray), are the totality of manasic energy. They are the life of the five lower planes. They are the five Kumaras, and two remain, making the seven Kumaras or Builders of the universe; these five have been called the five Mind-born Sons of Brahma. (S. D., I, 119, 493; II, 111, 112.) Manas, therefore, is the psychic effect of Their united group work, and shows forth in different ways according to the units involved, the forms [337] animated, and the planes concerned. They demonstrate predominantly on the five lower subplanes of each plane, and this factor should be remembered in connection with the major initiations of manas. Nevertheless – as They are the sumtotal of the third or Brahma aspect – Their main sphere of influence is on the lowest or third division of the manifested universe or on the mental, astral, and physical planes.

I would here suggest a third division of the major planes of the system which will hold much of interest for the real student of occultism.

• First Logos – Mahadeva – Will Aspect – First plane.
• Second Logos – Vishnu – Wisdom Aspect – Second, Third, Fourth.
• Third Logos – Brahma – Intelligence – Fifth, Sixth, Seventh.

In these five definitions of manas we have suggested scope for thought and much has been hinted at for those who have ears to hear. Many more explanatory words might be spoken but we aim to start students thinking for themselves, and seek to see them defining these ideas in their own words.

Manas might finally be defined as the intelligent will and ordered purpose of every self-conscious entity. I would urge the student to bear in mind certain basic facts which will serve to keep his mind clear, and which will enable him to comprehend something of the place which this fire of mind holds in the cosmos and the solar system, and (needless to say), in his life also, – the reflection of the other two.

He should ever remember that manas is a principle of the Logos, and necessarily therefore is felt in all those [338] evolutions which are a part of His nature but is allied especially to the throat and head centers; it is the active intelligent factor which enables a solar Logos, a planetary Logos or Heavenly Man, and a human being to:

1. Use intelligently a form or vehicle.
2. Build faculty into the causal body.
3. Reap the benefit of experience.
4. Expand the consciousness.
5. Make progress towards a specified goal.
6. Discriminate between the two poles.
7. Choose the direction in which his activity shall trend.
8. Perfect the form as well as use it.
9. Obtain control of active substance, and turn its forces into desired channels. Coordinate the different grades of matter, and synthesize the utilized forms till each and all show a unanimous line of action and express simultaneously the will of the Indweller.

All these ends are the result of the manasic development and perhaps the student might apprehend the underlying idea more clearly if it is realized that:

1. The Spirit employs manas in all that concerns matter, the electrical substance, or the active akasha.
2. The Spirit employs buddhi in all that relates to the psyche, that relates to the soul of the world, to the soul of an individual, or to the soul of every form.
3. The Spirit employs will or atma in all that relates to the essence of all, to itself, considering the essence and the Self as pure Spirit as distinguished from spirit-matter.

In the first case, the distinctive quality of manas is discrimination which enables the Spirit to differentiate between: [339]

1. The Self and the Not-Self.
2. Spirit and Matter.
3. The planes and the subplanes.
4. The different grades of atomic matter in the system.
5. Vibrations, engendered by will, working through love-wisdom, and energizing substance.
6. All that concerns forms of every kind and in every type of essential existence.

In the second case, the buddhic principle has for its distinctive quality love, and demonstrates as wisdom working through love and producing:

1. Unity between all Selves.
2. Group coherence.
3. Qualities that are distinctively along the line of what we call love.
4. Effective work in connection with evolution, or the fundamentals of hierarchical work.

In the third case the Spirit employs the will aspect or atma (in man), which has, for its distinctive feature, that coherent force which keeps the purpose of the entity ever in view, working it out through love in substantial form.

I have pointed out these distinctions as it serves to bring the scope, and equally the limitations, of the active mental principle somewhat more clearly before the student. In the Hall of Ignorance the accumulative side of manas and its ability to store and acquire knowledge and information is being developed. A man, for instance, acquires facts, and application, and sets up vibrations which have to be worked out intelligently. The acquisitive side of this principle is showing forth. In the Hall of Learning the discriminative side is being developed, and the man learns not only to choose but to discard, and he begins to merge the two poles intelligently. In the [340] Hall of Wisdom he discards also, and perfectly blends the two poles, thereby producing that objective something we call light. The illuminating side of manas is shown. He becomes an intelligent creator, and by the time he has taken the four major initiations he has:

1. Developed perfectly the Brahma aspect, which – as pointed out – functions primarily in the three worlds. It is the active intelligent aspect.
2. Achieved the point of development at which a Heavenly Man, the Divine Manasaputra, commenced this circle of manifestation we call a solar system.
3. Transmuted manas into wisdom or love.
4. Synthesized the Rays of Activity or Intelligence and is beginning to merge this synthesis into the higher one of love-wisdom.

To sum it all up in words of fire: The fire of matter has blazed out perfectly, and the vibratory activity of the man has been keyed up to synchronize with that of a Heavenly Man, thus enabling a man to function consciously, or be vitally active on the buddhic plane.

The fire of mind has blended with the fire of matter and has stimulated it to such an extent that it has brought about the liberation of the entity, man, from the three worlds, and has occultly "obscured" his manifestation on the three planes in exactly the same way as the manifestation of a Logos "goes out" (occultly) when the fires are sufficiently fierce. As regards the fire of Spirit, or pure electric fire, this is finally synthesized with the other two and brings about the escape of the life on to another plane cosmically considered. [341]

A MAN

• The blending of the fire of matter and of the fire of mind liberates from the three worlds.
• The blending of electric fire with the two other fires brings about liberation from the five lower planes, and enables a man to function consciously on the cosmic physical plane.

A HEAVENLY MAN

• The blending of the fire of matter and of mind liberates from the three planes of His manifestation.
• The blending of the electric fire in His case brings about escape from the planetary ring-pass-not and enables Him to function consciously on the cosmic astral plane.

A SOLAR LOGOS

• The blending of the fire of matter and of mind liberates Him from the solar ring-pass-not, and gives Him the freedom of the cosmic physical, astral and the lower subplanes of the cosmic mental planes.
• The blending of electric fire with the other two enables Him to function consciously in His causal body thus paralleling the work of Man in the three worlds. [342]