"He entered into life and knew it to be death.
"He took a form and grieved to find it dark.
"He drove Himself forth from the secret place
and sought the place of light,
and light revealed all that he sought the least.

"He craved permission to return.
"He sought the Throne on high and Him who sat thereon.
He said 'I sought not this.
I looked for peace, for light, for scope to serve,
to prove my love and to reveal my power.
Light there is none. Peace is not found. Let me return.'

But He Who sat upon the Throne turned not his head.
He seemed not e'en to listen nor to hear.
But from the lower sphere of darkness and of pain
a voice came forth and cried:
'We suffer here. We seek the light.
We need the glory of an entering God.
[I can find no other words except these last two
to express the ancient symbol from which I am translating.]
Lift us to Heaven. Enter, O Lord, the tomb.
Raise us into the light and make the sacrifice.
Break down for us the prison wall and enter into Pain.'

The Lord of Life returned.
He liked it not, and hence the pain."

The same conditions which blend the Law of Sacrifice with pain and sorrow and difficulty are found also on the planet Mars and on the planet Saturn. They are not found on the other planets. Those who have read The Secret Doctrine and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire with understanding know that our Earth is not a sacred planet. However, Saturn, Mars and our Earth constitute, in a curious esoteric manner, the [99] personality of a stupendous ray Life, Whose energy is that of the third Ray. There are, as has been stated elsewhere, seven sacred planets but ten planetary schemes, and in three cases, (those of the three major rays) three planets constitute the personality of each ray Life. Some esoteric thinkers believe that there are twelve planets to be considered in our solar system, and there is a basis for their conclusion. The personality of this third ray Life functions through the following planets:

1. The mental body expresses itself through the medium of the planet Saturn.
2. The astral body expresses itself through the planet Mars.
3. The physical body expresses itself through the planet Earth.

The potency of this Life is such that He requires three complete schemes - all three closely allied and interdependent - through which to express Himself. Uranus, Jupiter and Venus are similarly allied in order to manifest or express a great Life.

These facts constitute a tremendous mystery, and in no way negate the truth that Venus has a peculiar and intimate relation to the Earth. The point here being stressed is difficult to express, but of great importance. Let me be more explicit, by means of the following statements:

1. Only three planetary schemes are aware of pain and sorrow as we understand those terms; none of them know it so well or feel it so much as does our planetary Logos.
2. Pain and sorrow are the result of rebellion, and of divine discontent. The instinct to betterment, based on discontent, has necessarily involved the planetary temperament or attitude which recognizes the dualities. [100]
3. There is a stage to be reached in the human consciousness, where that which lies behind the dualities - the stage of essential oneness - can, and will be recognized.
4. When this takes place, the consciousness of our humanity will then merge with that underlying consciousness of the whole, which recognizes no pain or sorrow and has, therefore, slipped out of the realization which predominantly governs the consciousness of the three great Lives in our solar system.
5. It is this dimly sensed truth which lies behind the highest type of metaphysical thought, such as Christian Science, Unity, Divine Science, and the emphasis laid by Christianity and the esoteric schools upon the at-one-ment.

This instinct towards betterment through sacrifice is itself diverse.

There is, first of all, the instinct towards individual betterment, which leads to selfishness, to a grasping, and to an orientation of the materially-minded towards material possessions.

There is, secondly, the instinct towards an ameliorating of the conditions of other people, first from a selfish motive (the avoiding of personal distress at the sight of suffering), and secondly, through pure, disinterested service, which is a quality of the soul.