I would have you bear in mind that, though all is energy yet at the same time in correct esoteric teaching the higher impulsive activity is called energy and that which is conditioned by and swept into activity through its agency is called force. The terms are therefore relative and movable. For the bulk of humanity, for instance, astral impulse is the highest energy to which they normally aspire and the forces upon which astral energy plays will then be the etheric and physical forces. Higher energies may intermittently control, but as a general rule the life incentive or impulse is astral, and this can either be called desire or aspiration, according to the objective. The latter may [130] simply be mental ambition or desire for power and the term "aspiration" should not be confined only to so-called religious impulses, mystical longings and the demand for liberation.

The seventh ray disciple works consciously by means of certain laws, which are the laws governing form and its relation to spirit or life. In A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, I gave you the three major laws of the solar system and the seven subsidiary laws through which these three express themselves; I gave you also indications as to the laws which govern group work. You must remember that disciples upon different rays will wield these laws according to the quality of their ray impulses (I am handicapped here for words which are appropriate), interpreting them in terms of their specific life obligation or dharma and producing the desired results through the medium of differing ray techniques, conforming always, however, to the inevitability of the results wrought by the energies which they have released to play upon forces under the laws of their being. The sixth ray disciple, working with the laws of nature and of the soul, will qualify his results and produce his creative forms upon the astral plane; he has consequently to learn frequently to work through a seventh ray personality for several lives (either before or after achieving discipleship) before he will be able to bring through on to the physical plane his dream and his vision. The seventh ray disciple has no such problem. By his knowledge of ritual (which is the ancient codified means whereby the attractive and expressive nature of the energies to be employed are organized and related), by his understanding of the "Words of Power" (which he discovers by experiment) and by using the potency of sound, the disciple of the future will work and build the new world with its culture and civilization. A curious [131] indication of the effect of the seventh ray magical work upon the mass consciousness is the growing use of slogans and of "catch phrases" (is that not the term used?) which are employed to bring about results and to sweep human beings into certain forms of mass action. This is the embryonic use of Words of Power, and from a study of their tonal values, their numerological indications and their inherent potency, men will eventually arrive at vast magical achievements and creations, producing group activity and the appearance of certain forms of expression upon the outer plane. After all, scientific formulas have reduced the most intricate and abstruse discoveries to a few signs and symbols. The next step is to embody these signs and symbols into a word or words, thus imparting to them what is esoterically called "the power of embodiment." If I might express it this way, the ancient statement that "God-spoke and the world were made" simply means that God's formula for creation was reduced to a great Word which He sounded forth and the inevitable results followed. Something of this process on a tiny human scale will be seen happening in the coming age. At present, what I have said above may sound fanciful and fantastic to the average student.