These devas, especially those of the fourth ether, are so closely connected with man that one of the immediate developments ahead will be his awakening to a realization of their existence, and his consequent gradual domination of them. This domination will be the result of several things but will only be complete when he can function on the fourth cosmic ether, the buddhic plane. One of the things the Hierarchy at this stage is seeking to do, is to retard this awakening of the mass of mankind to this realization, for that event will necessitate [651] many adjustments, and, at the beginning, may produce many apparently evil effects. The development of the physical eye is a thing which is proceeding under the Law, and inevitably the whole race of men will at length attain that dual focus which will enable man to see both the dense and the etheric forms. At this stage his inability to do so is largely due to a lack of pranic vitality. This is mainly the result of wrong conditions of living, and the misuse of food. The present general trend towards juster and purer conditions of life, the return of man to simpler and saner ways, the widespread feeling for bathing, fresh air, and sunlight, and the greater desire for vegetable, and nut foods, will result inevitably in a more ready assimilation of the pranic fluids. This will produce certain changes, and improvements, in the physical organs, and in the vitality of the etheric body.

Therefore, those of us who see somewhat of the Plan are urged to spread the knowledge of the Wisdom Religion, and above all to break loose from the preconceived dogmas of pre-war days. It should be pointed out here that the war was a great occult event, and caused a vital change in many of the plans and arrangements of the Hierarchy. Modifications have been necessitated, and some events will have to be delayed whilst others will be hastened. One of the profoundest effects of the war was felt among the devas of the shadows, and primarily among those of the fourth order. The etheric web which protected certain groups in the human and animal kingdoms was rent in various places, and the results of that disaster have to be offset. Another effect upon the devas resulting from the war, as it worked, can be seen among the devas of Group A, or those devas who are (in an occult sense) the physical permanent atoms of all self-conscious beings. The fourth spirilla was tremendously stimulated, and its evolution hastened [652] to an extraordinary degree, so that some of the lesser evolved men, through the stress of danger and experience, had this fourth spirilla brought up to, and beyond, that of normal humanity. Through this stimulation of the fourth spirilla of the units of the fourth Creative Hierarchy in this fourth round on the fourth globe in this fourth scheme, a tremendous push onward along the evolutionary path has been effected, and hence one of the great objects of the war has been achieved. A still more terrific stimulation was given in the fourth root-race during the war of that period, and the result was the passing on to the Path of Initiation of many who normally would not even now be treading it. A similar effect can be looked for at this time, and the Hierarchy is preparing itself for the taking over of much of an extra-planetary nature owing to the almost immediate availability of comparatively large numbers of the sons of man. We must not forget that this stimulation of the spirillae affects the matter aspect, or deva substance. Man is literally deva substance, and a God, thus being a true reflection of the solar Logos.^{12, 13}

¹² "Thus God dwells in all,
From life's minute beginnings, up at last
To man - the consummation of this scheme
Of being, the completion of this sphere
Of life: whose attributes had here and there
Been scattered o'er the visible world before,
Asking to be combined, dim fragments meant
To be united in some wondrous whole,
Imperfect qualities throughout creation,
Suggesting some one creature yet to make,
Some point where all those scattered rays should meet
Convergent in the faculties of man...

When all the race is perfected alike
As man, that is; all tended to mankind,
And, man produced, all has its end thus far:
But in completed man begins anew
A tendency to God. Prognostics told
Man's near approach; so in man's self arise
August anticipations, symbols, types
Of a dim splendor ever on before
In that eternal circle life pursues.
For men begin to pass their nature's bound
And find new hopes and cares which fast supplant [653]
Their proper joys and griefs; they grow too great
For narrow creeds of right and wrong, which fade
Before the unmeasured thirst for good; while peace
Rises within them ever more and more.
Such men are even now upon the earth,
Serene amid the half formed creatures round.

1. Man is an animal, plus a living God, within his physical Shell. S. D., II, 85. S. D., II, 284.
   1. Man is the Macrocosm for the animal, therefore he contains all that is meant by the term animal. - S. D., II, 179, 187.
   2. Divine consciousness is received from the living God. - S. D., II, 103.
   3. The animal forms the basis and the contrast for the divine. - S. D., II, 100.
   4. The light of the Logos is awakened in animal man. - S. D., II, 45.
2. Man is the Tabernacle, the vehicle only, of his God. - S. D., I, 233, 281; II, 316; III, 66.
   Compare S. D., II, 174. Read Proverbs VIII
   Study Biblical description of Tabernacle:
   1. Outer court, the place of animal sacrifice and purification.
   2. The Holy place, the place of consecration and service.
   3. The Holy of Holies.

   The first corresponds to the life of the personality.
   The second to that of the Ego, or Higher Self.
   The last to that of the Monad, or Divine Self.

3. Man contains in himself every element found in the universe. S. D., I, 619; III, 584.
   1. All in nature tends to become Man. - S. D., II, 179.
   2. All the impulses of the dual, centripetal and centrifugal force are directed towards one point - Man. - S. D., II, 179.
   3. Man is the storehouse... he unites in himself all forms. - S. D., II, 303.
   4. The potentiality of every organ useful to animal life is locked up in Man. - S. D., II, 723.
4. Man tends to become a God and then God, like every other atom in the universe. - S. D., I, 183.
   Compare the atom and the Microcosm, man. Illustration: - S. D., I, 174.
   Every atom has seven planes of being. - S. D., I, 205. Read S. D., I, 201.
   1. Every atom contains the germ from which he may raise the tree of knowledge. (Of good and evil, therefore conscious discrimination). - S. D., II, 622.
   2. It is the spiritual evolution of the inner immortal man that forms the fundamental tenet of the occult sciences - S. D., I, 694.
   3. Atoms and souls are synonymous terms in the language of the initiates. - S. D., I, 620-621.
5. Human beings... those Intelligences who have reached the appropriate equilibrium between Spirit and Matter - S. D., I, 132.
   Read also carefully: - S. D., I, 267, 449; S. D., II, 190.
   1. On the descending arc Spirit becomes material. - S. D., I, 693.
   2. On the middle turn of the base both meet in man - S. D., I, 214, 271.
   3. On the ascending arc Spirit asserts itself at the expense of the material.
   4. This is true of Gods and of men. See S. D., II, 88.
   5. Man is therefore a compound of Spirit and matter. - S. D., II, 45.
   6. In man the intelligence links the two. - S. D., II, 102, 103.
      See note to S. D., II, 130. Compare S. D., II, 394.