The thunders crash around the mountain top; dark clouds conceal the form. The mists, arising from the watery sphere, serve to distort the wondrous... found within the secret place. The form is there. Its note is sounding forth.

A beam of light illuminates the form; the hidden now appears. Knowledge of God and how He veils Himself finds consummation in the thoughts of man. The energies and forces receive their secret names, reveal their inner purpose, and all is seen as rhythm, a returning on itself. The great scroll can now be read. God's purpose and His plans are fixed, and man can read the form.

The plan takes form. The plan is form. Its purpose is the revelation of the mind of God. The past reveals the form, but the present indicates the flowing in of energy.

That which is on its way comes as a cloud which veils the sun. But hid behind this cloud of immanence is love, and on the earth is love and in the heaven is love, and this, - the love which maketh all things new - must stand revealed. This is the purpose back of all the acts of this great Lord of Knowledge.

Before enumerating the names of this great Life, I should [76] like to point out that the fifth ray is one of unique and peculiar potency in relation to the human kingdom. The reason is that the fifth plane of mind is the sphere of His major activity and it is on this plane that we find the triple aspects of mind:

1. Abstract or higher mind, the embodiment of a higher triad.
2. The concrete or lower mind, the highest aspect of the lower self.
3. The ego or solar Angel, the pure Son of Mind, Who expresses intelligence, both abstractly and concretely, and is the point of unification.

This fifth ray is a Being of the intensest spiritual light and in His manifestation on this fifth plane, which is peculiarly His, He symbolizes the three aspects in a way achieved by no other ray. Through His quality of higher mind, this ray is a pure channel for the divine will. Through the septenary grouping of the solar lives on the mental levels whereon they appear, He brought into functioning activity seven corresponding reflections of the seven centers of Deity, as far as our planet is concerned, a thing which none of His six brother rays have done. This statement means little to you, but the tremendous sacrifice and effort thus involved are paralleled only by the life of the Buddha, and this is one of the reasons why, [77] in this fifth race, love and mind must eventually and mutually reveal each other.

This fifth ray has so many names, owing to His close connection with man (since man was originally created), that it has not been easy to choose those which are of the most use in enabling the student to form an idea of the fifth ray characteristics and mission; but the study of the six aphorisms, and the qualities which they indicate, will show how potent and important is this ray Lord. These six aphorisms were chanted by His six Brothers at that momentous crisis wherein the human family came into existence and the solar Angels sacrificed themselves. Esoterically speaking, they "went down into hell, and found their place in prison." On that day souls [78] were born. A new kingdom of expression came into being, and the three highest planes and the three lower were brought into a scintillating interchange.

1. God and His Angels now arise and see. Let the mountain-tops emerge from out the dense wet mist. Let the sun touch their summits and let them stand in light. Shine forth.
   Quality - emergence into form and out of form.
2. God and His Angels now arise and hear. Let a deep murmur rise and let the cry of seeking man enter into their ears. Let man listen. Let man call. Speak loud.
   Quality - power to make the Voice of the Silence heard.
3. God and His Angels now arise and touch. Bring forth the rod of power. Extend it outward toward the sons of men; touch them with fire, then bring them near. Bring forth.
   Quality - initiating activity.
4. God and His Angels now arise and taste. Let all experience come. Let all the ways appear. Discern and choose; dissect and analyze. All ways are one.
   Quality - revelation of the way.
5. God and His Angels now arise and sense the odor rising from the burning-ground of man. Let the fire do its work. Draw man within the furnace and let him drop within the rose-red center the nature that retards. Let the fire burn.
   Quality - purification with fire.
6. God and His Angels now arise and fuse the many in the One. Let the blending work proceed. Let that which causes all to be produce the cause of their cessation. Let one temple now emerge. Produce the crowning glory. So let it be.
   Quality - the manifestation of the great white light. (The Shekinah. A.A.B.)

There is much of practical usefulness to the reader in a study of these qualities. When he believes himself to be upon a particular ray, they will indicate to him some of the characteristics for which he may look, and perhaps demonstrate [79] to him what he has to do, what he has to express, and what he has to overcome. These qualities should be studied from two angles: their divine aspect and their reverse aspect or the form side. This ray, for instance, is shown to be the revealer of the way, and it should be remembered therefore that this fifth ray reveals the way down into death or into incarnation (which is the death-like prison of the soul), or it reveals the way up and out of darkness into the pure light of God's day. I mention this as I am exceedingly anxious that all who read this treatise should make application of this teaching to their daily lives. I am not interested in imparting weird or unusual items of information anent these matters for the delectation of an unhealthy mental appetite. The stocking of the memory with occult detail which serves no useful purpose only strains the brain cells and feeds the pride.