(A.A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology - Vol. I, pp. 393-401, 1936 — SECTION TWO, CHAPTER III, The Rays and Man, 6. The Nations and the Rays, <b>.)

"In connection with the nations and the rays I want now to indicate to you certain fundamental conditions which partially account for the (so-called) Jewish problem,—a problem which has existed for centuries, and which is, at this time, causing the deepest possible concern to many, including members of the planetary Hierarchy. If this problem can be solved, it will be one of the potent factors in the restoration of world understanding and harmony. It cannot be solved without the cooperation of the men of good will throughout the world. There is little that I can say anent this matter that can be checked and proved, for the clue to the problem is to be found back in the very night of time and, literally, when the sun was in the constellation Gemini. At that time the two pillars were set up which, as all Masons know, are two great landmarks in Masonry. Hence the Jewish colouring of all the Masonic work, though it is not Jewish in the sense that that word conveys today. Who, therefore, if the facts are of such ancient import, shall say that I speak with accuracy, or establish the right or wrong nature of my conclusions? I but present the facts as I know them from my access to records more ancient than any known to man.

The personality ray, the material form ray of the Jewish people, is the third ray. Their egoic ray is the first. Their astrological sign is Capricorn, with Virgo rising. Mercury and Virgo play a prominent part in their destiny. These clues should suffice to give to the advanced student and astrologer those salient points which will give him light upon their strange history. Because of this third ray influence, you have the tendency of the Jew to manipulate forces and energies, and to "pull strings" in order to bring about desired ends. As a race, they are natural law makers, and hence their tendency to dominate and govern, because their egoic ray is the first. Hence also the constant appearance of the goat in their history, and their teaching about the virgin mother who should give birth to the Messiah.

In every grouping,—whether in heaven or on earth—there is always evidenced a tendency by some units in the group to revolt, to rebel and to show some form of initiative different to that of the other units in the same grouping. When our solar universe came into being, we are told in the allegorical language of the ancient scriptures, there "was war in Heaven"; "the sun and his seven brothers" did not function with true unanimity; hence (and herein lies a hint) our Earth is not one of the seven sacred planets. There is, as we know, the ancient legend of the lost Pleiade, and there are many such stories. Again, in the council chamber of the Most High, there has not always been peace and understanding, but at times, war and disruption; this is made abundantly clear by several of the stories in the Old Testament. Symbolically speaking, some of the sons of God fell from their high estate, led, at one time, by "Lucifer, Son of the Morning". This "fall of the angels" was a tremendous event in the history of our planet, but was nevertheless only a passing and interesting phenomenon in the history of the solar system, and a trifling incident in the affairs of the seven constellations, of which our solar system is but one. Pause and consider this statement for a moment, and so readjust your sense of values. The standard of happenings varies in importance according to the angle of vision, and what (from the angle of our Earth's unfoldment in consciousness) may be a factor of prime importance and of determining value may (from the angle of the universe) be of trifling moment. The affairs of an individual are, to him, of momentous import; to humanity, as a whole, they are of small concern. It all depends upon which unit holds the centre of the stage in the drama of life, and around which central factor the happenings, trivial or important, pursue their cyclic way.

Within the radius of power and life which is the expression of the fourth kingdom in nature, the human, there was to be found a correspondence to that "assumption of independence" and to that "breaking away" which characterised the major grouping. Back in later Lemurian times, a group of men of high development, from the point of view of that time, and numbered among the then disciples of the world, took issue with the planetary Hierarchy, and broke away from the "law of the initiates". It was a time wherein the emphasis of the teaching was upon the material side of life, and where the focus of attention was upon the physical nature and its control. The Old Commentary expresses what happened in the following terms, and as you read the measured cadences of that ancient script, it would be wise to try and realise that the phrases are referring to that group of disciples who were the early founders of the present Jewish race:

"The law went forth from the inner group which guided the destinies of men: Detach yourselves. Withdraw within yourselves the power to hold and gain and get. The sons of God, who train themselves to leave the world of men and enter into light, they ever travel free. They hold not what they have. Release yourselves, and enter through the gates of peace.

"Some of the sons of God, waiting outside those gates, ready to enter when the Word went forth to roll the gates aside, were laden with the treasure of the earth. They brought their gifts as offerings to the Lord of life, who needed not their gifts. They sought to enter through those gates, not with a selfish end in view, but to present the garnered treasures of the world, and thus shew their love.

"Again the Word went forth: Leave all behind and pass beyond the portal, laden with naught of earth. They waited and discussed. The rest of those who were prepared entered into light and passed between the pillars of the gate; they left behind the loads they brought and entered free, and were accepted, carrying naught.

"Because they travelled as a group, and as a group progressed and grasped, the group responded to the divine command and halted. There they waited, standing before the portal of the Path, grasping the garnered treasures of a thousand cycles. Naught did they wish to leave behind. They had laboured for the riches which they held. They loved their God, and Him they sought to dower with the fullest measure of the riches they had gained. They loved not discipline.

"Again the Word went forth: Drop on the ground all that you hold, and enter free.

"But three revolted from that stern command. The rest obeyed. They passed within the gates, leaving the three outside. Many were raised unto the heights of joy. The three remained without the gates, holding their treasure firm."

In this ancient writing, older than any of the written scriptures of the world, is to be found the secret of the Masonic story and of the slaying of the Master by the three most closely associated with Him in His death and burial. Masons will all recognise the three to whom I here refer. These three were the founders of the modern Jewish race. They were three advanced disciples who resented the command to enter, free and untrammelled, the place where light is to be found. They sought to hold that which they had gathered and to dedicate it to the service of God. Their unrecognised motive was love of riches and a desire to hold safe their gains. Ancient tradition, as taught by the teachers of the past, tells us that...

"They turned their faces towards the gates of earth. Their friends went on..... They stayed behind..... The Masters met in conclave and decided what should be the fate of those who, having reached the Gates of Light, loved the possessions of the world more than they loved the service of the light. Again the Word went forth to the revolting three, who waited still without the gates:

"`Hold what you have and gather more, but know no peace. Garner the fruits of mind, and seek your power in wide possessions, but have no sure abiding place.

"`Within yourselves, because you are disciples of the Lord, you shall have no share in peace, no sure and certain knowledge of success, nor power to hold your gains.

"`Always shall there be the knowledge dim of Him Who watches over all. Always the urge to gather and amass. Never the time to hold and to enjoy. Pass on therefore until the time shall come, and again you stand before the Gates of Light, this time with empty hands. Then enter, free, accepted by the Servants of the Lord, and know, forever, peace.'"

The ancient legend tells us that the three went forth in sorrow and revolt, laden with their treasures, and thus the history of the wandering Jew began. It is significant to remember that one of the greatest sons of God Who has worked on earth, and Who epitomised in Himself the way and the achievement, Jesus of Nazareth, was a Jew. He reversed all the earlier conditions. He possessed nothing at all. He was the first of our humanity to achieve, and was a direct descendant of the eldest of the original three disciples who revolted from the drama of detachment. The Jew embodies in himself the world prodigal son. He is the symbol of the disciple who has not yet learned the lesson of a just sense of values. He has been the victim of the Law of Light and of his inability to comply with that Law. He sinned wilfully and with his eyes wide open to results. Hence he knows the law as no other race knows it, for he is eternally its victim. He has enunciated the law from its negative angle; the Law of Moses today rules most of the world, and yet fails to bring into life justice and true legality.

The other group of disciples, the representatives (in their day and age) of the race, passed through the ancient portals of initiation and took the first great step. They came back with a latent and dim recollection of the episode which separated them from three of their co-disciples. On their return to life on earth, they spoke of this event. This was their error; the long antagonism started, which persists until today. Those particular disciples have themselves passed through their long pilgrimage and have entered into eternal peace, but the results of their early betrayal of the hidden events of initiation still persist.

Curiously enough, this ancient race, founded by the three who loved that which they had to offer more than that which they longed to take, were the originators of the Masonic tradition. Their history (and incidentally the history of humanity) is embodied in that dramatic ritual. The reward for their sincerity,—for they revolted in utter sincerity, believing they knew best—was the permission to enact each year, on the return of the day when they might have entered into light, the story of the search for light. Because they had been so nearly resurrected from the death of earth into the life of light, the great tradition of the mysteries was started by them. They chose death and slew that which "had lived and which could have claimed reward", and which could have spoken the word of power which would have caused the gates of resurrection to open wide.

We are told that these three swore an everlasting vow to stand together and never to desert each other. This vow down the ages they have kept; it has consequently produced that racial separativeness and community of interests which arouses the antagonism of other races.

Down the ages, the Jew has been wandering, producing much of beauty in the world, and giving to humanity many of its greatest men, but he has (at the same time) been hated and persecuted, betrayed and hounded. He embodies, in himself, symbolically, the history of humanity. The ancient tendency of the Jews to grasp and hold, and also to preserve their racial and national integrity, are their outstanding characteristics. They cannot be absorbed, and yet so ancient is the race that nevertheless today no nation in the world but has its roots in that group which—in old Lemuria—had advanced so far that all its foremost people stood upon the path of discipleship. There are no racial strains in the Western world which are not offshoots of this oldest select people, with the exception of the Finns, Lapps and those nations which show definite mongoloid strains. But the admixture of what is now called Jewish blood is not found to the same extent, and the modern Jew is as much a by-product as is the Anglo-Saxon race, only, through an imposed selective tendency and racial segregation, he has preserved intact more of the original characteristics.

It is the realisation of this common origin which has led the British-Israelites into their travesty of the truth, and caused them to trace our modern Western history to the Jews of the Dispersion. It is a far more ancient relation than that, and dates back into a period that antedates the history of the Jews as it is related for us in the Old Testament. The original three disciples and their family groups were the ancestors of three major racial groupings, which can be generalised as follows:

1. The Semitic race or races of Biblical and modern times; the Arabs, the Afghans, the Moors and the offshoots and affiliations of those peoples, including the modern Egyptians. These are all descended from the eldest of the three disciples.

2. The Latin peoples and their various branches throughout the world, and also the Celtic races wherever found. These are descended from the second of the three disciples.

3. The Teutons, the Scandinavians, and the Anglo-Saxons, who are the descendants of the third of the three disciples.

The above is a broad generalisation. The period covered is so vast, and the ramifications down the ages are so numerous, that it is not possible for me to do more than give a general idea. Gradually the descendants of two of these three disciples have accepted the legends which were promulgated in Atlantean times, and have ranged themselves on the side of those who are antagonistic to the Jew, as he is today; they have lost all sense of their common origin. There is no pure race in the world today, for intermarriage, illicit relations and promiscuity during the past few million years have been so numerous that there exists no pure strain. Climate and environment are fundamentally greater determining factors than any forced segregation, except that which comes through a constant racial intermarriage. Of this latter factor, only the Hebrew today has preserved any measure of racial integrity.

When humanity awakens to the fact of its common origin, and when the three great major strains in our modern civilisation are recognised, then we shall see the old hatred of the Jew die out, and he will fuse and blend with the rest of mankind. Even the oriental races, who are the remnants of the great Atlantean civilisation, have in them traces of intermarriage with the ancestors of the modern Jews and other racial types, but they have not mixed well, and have therefore preserved their characteristics more successfully than have the groups of our Western men.

If you ponder upon the above, and if you study the Masonic tradition with care, much will become clarified in your mind. Ethnologists may disagree, but they cannot disprove what I have said, for the origins of the present racial world situation lie so far back in the history of mankind that they cannot even prove their own contentions. All they are capable of considering is the history of the past one hundred thousand years, and their work lies with effects of that past and not with originating causes." [401]

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