The Fifth Ray

Wisdom Teachings
The Seven Rays
Book: The Seven Rays

Matter and spirit complement each other; one is not higher than the other. They are like spouses, and through their union, the trinity of spirit, force and matter is manifested. Soul consciousness is the centre between spirit and matter; it is here where matter and spirit are balanced. The soul, also called the higher self, is by its very nature made of light. We are a composite being. Within us there is the lower self, the personality, and we are the higher self, the soul. The lower self reflects the soul through mind in matter. The mind is the reflecting principle; it exists in creation as well as in us. Depending on our orientation, it appears as the lower mind or the higher mind. The concrete mind can organise, the higher mind can intuitively take things in.

This thinking of the soul is also called Buddhi, the plane of wisdom; the lower or concrete mind is called Manas. Actually, Manas is a neutral principle. When we direct it towards mundane matters, it becomes crystallised in relation to mundane matters. Wisdom helps to soften the concrete consciousness and make it receptive to subtle impressions. If we are more oriented towards the subtle worlds, we are more in the realm of the soul. If we are more inclined towards the material world, we live in the personality and the mind concretises into fixed forms and structures. The thinking of the personality is far below the thinking of the soul.

The Fifth Ray is the energy of concrete mind and science. It is called 'Sannaddha' in Sanskrit, which means concrete knowledge. The Fifth Ray is related to the activity of our mind and the Moon. Our visible Moon in the firmament is only a body that contains the lunar principle for this Earth, because it reflects the rays of the Sun onto the Earth. In the individual as well as cosmically, the Moon is the symbol of the mind. The ancient wisdom teachings regarded the Moon as the mind of the Earth. Its ray visibly and subtly forms the mental body of the Earth. “The Moon is born of (His) mind,” says the Purusha Sukta.

The Fifth Ray of the concrete mind is used in the process of creation to develop organised thinking. There was a time in evolution when souls could not express themselves through the body. They had to be drawn out in order to be able to develop a concrete mind. The souls had to learn to use the mind, the senses and the body. They needed the concrete mind to be able to express themselves in the world and to have experiences in the world. The same thing happens with children today. Especially between the ages of one and five, they need to learn how to use their senses and relate well to objectivity. Conversely, we also need to teach the children how to turn inwardly as well.

With the concrete mind today, we are mainly oriented outwards. While the concrete mind is very helpful for external success, an excessive inclination towards the material side of things creates obstacles. The Fifth Ray solidifies thinking and thus creates strong viewpoints, fixity and doubt concerning the subtle worlds. Our thinking becomes filled with worldly matter and thus no longer allows us to turn inward. Access to subjective consciousness is closed. The brain becomes insensitive and can then no longer receive any enlightenment. The higher mind wants to offer us a solution, but it can only be received by a brain that is subtle enough. To open the gate again, we can request, “Master, please transform my mind.” When the mind is transformed, we can see the light of the soul and the subtle glow of creation. The soul shows itself through the open heart.

When the soul reflects itself into the world of form, distortions arise. The divine qualities of the soul - will, love and wisdom and intelligent activity - are distorted by the personality. Will becomes desire, divine love and knowledge become emotion and emotional understanding, and intelligent activity becomes the concrete intellect and the mind. Only when we can distinguish between the lower or illusory self and the higher or true self we will be able to know ourselves. Meditation helps to build the bridge between the higher and lower mind.

The Fifth Ray can bring clarity and help us to keep a clear head even in confusing situations. This ray is associated with orange, the colour of clear thinking. If we contemplate the bright orange colour for a long time, it purifies our thoughts and gives us a clear mind. With a clear mind, we can also visualise colours more easily. When visualising, it is advisable to start with orange and then move up to golden yellow. If we close our eyes and think of these colours, we should be able to visualise them well over time. It is best to do this during sunrise or sunset because the sun's energy helps us to visualise better. We can also use the symbol of the five-pointed star in orange to clear our mental plane. However, if we start today, we should not expect a result tomorrow.

The Fifth Ray wants to know and go deep. It helps to intensively apply our mind to a problem in order to find solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems. It is a process of continuous, intensive application of our concrete mind. Scientists are born through the influence of this ray. Inventions and discoveries are the result of its intensive Ray Five application. This ray quality leads man to perfection and impels him to use all knowledge in loving service for the benefit of humanity and to improve the situation to the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms.

In the West, the Fifth Ray is generally more pronounced than in the East. The Western psyche is predominantly mental and oriented towards the material world. In the East, the Sixth Ray is more pronounced and particularly effective; people are more subjective and devotional. However, there are also strongly mental people in the East, and there are people in the West who have a lot of emotional devotion. No rule can be deduced from these general statements about the predominant orientation.

However, in countries like India, we can clearly see how little the outer is well organised. This arises from a lack of organised concrete mind. In the West, there is excessive organisation. The Western psyche wants to know things in advance so that it can organise. This leads to a lack of patience when things don't go as planned. The Eastern psyche does not want to commit to the future. It is willing to accept an event as and when it happens. There is an equal imbalance in both. Many things in life are not previously announced to us. At the same time, there are some things that have to be planned in advance. The East is stimulated by the strong mental vibration of Westerners and the West learns a lot from trying to understand the thinking of the East. Today in the West there is much search for what is hidden behind the visible, and in the East, there are many efforts to improve the material side of life. The relationship between East and West causes a transmission of energy from one to the other. In spirituality, it is said that head and heart should be in harmony.

Scientific thinking, which is associated with the Fifth Ray, is also very characteristic of the energy of Uranus. The findings of science take researchers to the limits of light and wisdom. Many ancient concepts are demystified and guided into scientific dimensions. Already the ancients had realised many things through scientific experiments and had issued reliable truths with regard to the universe. However, as people degenerated through passion and greed, wisdom was increasingly lost. Today, science agrees with many of the so-called mystical concepts and a process of demystification is taking place. Truth seekers are approaching truth in a scientific way rather than through mystical practices. The scientific approach to truth is now called occultism. The yoga path of Patanjali is purely scientific. We do not need any faith for it. Whoever wants to follow the yoga discipline will find the same truth, inside and outside. Master CVV said of his path, “This is a path of direct knowledge. I do not allow blind faith.”

The wisdom of God, Theosophy [Theo (God) Sophia (Wisdom)] is taught today as a science. It is a matter of understanding, researching and investigating subtle things for the student. It promotes man's inquiry into himself. By finding out more and more about ourselves, we realise the cosmos and God because we are a micro-cosmos and what we perceive as creation is the macro-cosmos. Everything can be experimented with, experienced and then recognised as truth. Therefore, the science of God is more for a thinking people.

Sources used: K.P. Kumar: Uranus. Div. seminar notes / E. Krishnamacharya: The Seven Rays. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India