IV. The Centers and the Personality

We will now consider the centers as controlling factors in the life of the personality in the three worlds, and their relation to each other, always studying the subject from the angle of their relation to one of the three major planetary centers - Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity - in connection with:

1. The Point at the Center.
2. Related Energies.
3. Sphere of Radiation.
4. The Triangle of Energy.

The abstruseness of this theme is very great; a basic statement will, however, serve somewhat to clarify the subject; it is a statement which has seldom found expression elsewhere. Let me phrase it as simply as possible:

The centers below the diaphragm, i.e., the solar plexus center, the sacral center and the center at the base of the spine, are controlled by the four ethers of the planetary physical plane; the centers above the diaphragm, i.e., the heart center, the throat center, the ajna center and the head center, are controlled by the four cosmic ethers, to which we give the names of the energies of the buddhic plane, the energies of the atmic plane, the energies of the monadic plane and the energies of the logoic plane.

This statement involves a somewhat new concept; it creates a basic relation, making possible the fact that "as above so below." Think this out. It has serious implications. [168]

The centers below the diaphragm are - during the evolutionary process - controlled by the first, the second and the third ethers, counting from below upward; when evolution has brought the aspirant to the point of personal integration, then the energies of the highest, the etheric-atomic plane can and do control. When that takes place, then the possibility is present of the energies of the cosmic etheric planes bringing the centers above the diaphragm into full expression. This takes place upon the Path of Discipleship and the Path of Initiation. This interesting process of transference of energies is called by several names, such as "radiatory substitution," "energizing at-one-ment," and "inspirational reflected light of energy." All these terms are efforts to express in somewhat inadequate words what happens when the higher energies are substituted for the lower, when the magnetic "pull" of the spiritual energies draws upward and absorbs the lower energies which are concerned primarily with the personality life, or when the reflecting light of the Spiritual Triad and of the Monadic Glory are transferred into the higher energy centers in the final vehicle used by the developed human being.

Little has as yet been given out anent the relation of the four physical ethers and the four cosmic ethers; there is nevertheless a direct relation between them, and this the initiatory process reveals. This also brings about significant changes in the vehicles of humanity. There is also a direct relation between the four aspects of karma (the Law of Cause and Effect) and the four physical ethers, as well as the four cosmic ethers; this relationship will later constitute the basis of a new occult science. Therefore, there is yet much to be grasped by students concerning energy, its emanating sources, its mode of transfer or its transitional processes, and its anchorage within the planetary body, or the physical body of the individual. With some of these [169] ideas we will now deal, thus laying the foundation for future investigation, but saying little which will be of immediate use to the individual student.