TOPICS: Real students and false students – A movement in which no person is more important than another – Why some fail the test of pride – See the inner mastery beyond outer mastery – Beyond a linear view of the rays – The false path of outer mastery – Integrating the seven rays – Grasping the initiations of the eight ray – Rethink your view of ascended masters – What does it mean to master a certain ray? – Beginning the initiation on the eight ray – Non-attachment is the absolute requirement –

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Ascended Master Saint Germain, December 30, 2007 through Kim Michaels.

Saint Germain I AM, and I come to discourse with you on what it means to gain mastery on the seven rays—and thereby qualify to move on to the eighth ray. My Beloved, we have given the concept of the secret rays. And we have spoken about them in vague terms. You might wonder, if these rays are secret and cannot be spoken about, why mention them at all, why not simply leave it unspoken?

Well, there is a test built into this. For we of the ascended masters are skilled teachers, and we have observed humankind for a very long time—thus knowing what it takes to give people the tests that are appropriate at different levels of the path. By talking about something that is secret, something that is reserved only for special initiates – as we have done in a number of different religions and organizations – well then we give people the test of pride—whether they will seek that which is secret with an inordinate desire to elevate themselves in comparison to others. Because they now have some knowledge that most people do not have, and thus these initiates can feel special, my beloved.

Real students and false students

The purpose behind doing this is the simple fact, that there are two types of people who come to the spiritual path and who come to spiritual teachers. There are those who are the genuine students, who are seeking to grow, who are seeking to overcome the ego by internalizing the lessons of the teacher. But then there are those students, who do not have a serious intention of letting go of the ego or the separate self. In fact, they come to the teacher – be it a true or a false teacher – in order to elevate that separate self, in order to reinforce the belief that the separate self can be saved, can somehow be perfected or justified, so that it can gain entry into heaven.

You might have had a somewhat one-sided or naive view of the spiritual path or of the ascended masters and how we teach. You might have thought that all people who come to the spiritual path must be genuine students. But we of the ascended masters can see through all of the smokescreens that people’s egos have built over many lifetimes. And thus, we see the inner condition, the condition of the heart—of whether that person has actually genuinely locked in to what the spiritual path is all about. Or whether that person has not yet understood the essence of the path, namely that it is to rise above the separate self—rather than somehow perfecting that separate self.

We of the ascended masters do not judge people according to human judgments. We welcome virtually anyone who has a potential to change. And thus, we often allow students to come into our organizations, even though we see that they have not yet truly committed to the true path of overcoming the ego. And we see very well that they are using our outer teachings and the outer organization in order to seek to create for themselves a position, that makes the ego feel important, feel special, feel elevated above others. Because they have been in the teachings for so long, they have studied so much, they have decreed so much or they have this or that outer position.

A movement in which no person is more important than another

One of the initiations of the Piscean age is precisely that you need to overcome the illusion, as I have already mentioned—that one person can be more important than another. This is why you see, that in an Aquarian age organization, we do not set up a hierarchy that allows some people to climb to a position, where they can feel they are important for outer reasons. We look for those who have the potential to go beyond the Piscean initiation – and the Piscean focus on the outer hierarchy – and establish a new movement that sets a pattern, where no one is more important than others and where the ego does not have room to hide behind outer rituals and outer positions.

For it is a movement, that recognizes the subtle games of the ego, and where people are not afraid to speak out and expose those games. Rather than the pattern we have seen throughout the Piscean age, of those who are of lower rank always bending the knee and refusing to speak out against those who are of higher rank, thereby creating a situation where – once ego-centered people have attained leadership positions in an organization – it is virtually impossible to remove them from those positions. And therefore, the organization starts going into a downward spiral, that either leads to it being split into multiple factions, or to it gradually dying out by losing its members.

We allow people of all kinds to come into our teachings and movements, for we give people an opportunity. And people deserve an opportunity for many reasons, that often go back many lifetimes. And thus, you might look at a person’s outer personality and say that this person has some rough edges, but nevertheless when you see behind the outer personality, you see that that person still deserves an opportunity to be in contact with an ascended master teaching. So, do not judge based on human judgment. But on the other hand, do not be passive and let someone abuse you. Find that middle way, where you do not judge, but you are – on the other hand – non-attached to other people’s reactions, and therefore have no compunctions about speaking out and bringing to someone’s attention that they are playing an ego game.

Why some fail the test of pride

My purpose for bringing this to your attention is to show you, that throughout history, there has been a certain percentage of the students who came into contact with any spiritual organization and who failed the test of pride. The test of overcoming pride by seeing it as pride, and thereby surrendering themselves into the humility that really is the oneness with God, the oneness with all life. When you surrender your separate self into the oneness with your infinite self, well, then you see that it is meaningless to create value judgments based on the beliefs of the separate self. And thus, it is meaningless to talk about one person being better or more important than another. For truly, all are of equal value in the eyes of God.

What I desire you to understand from this is precisely, that until you have overcome the subtle test of pride, you cannot even begin to grasp the concept of the secret rays, the concept of the rays that are beyond the seven rays, that have been known to humankind for a long time. It is actually possible to walk the path of mastery of the seven rays while still having some ego left, having some pride left, even using some of the things you learn on each of the seven rays to build up the ego and the sense of superiority. It is even possible to attain some mastery on the seven rays, and thereby attain a certain mastery over the matter realm – over the Ma-ter Light – being able to manifest certain outer, visible phenomena, such as psychic phenomena, psychic abilities, the opening of the third eye, or even an ability to, in certain ways, manipulate matter.

There is a certain, small percentage of students throughout the world who have attained some mastery in this respect. And thus, they can produce a phenomenon, that might impress the uninitiated, the unawakened, for they look only for the outer phenomenon, but do not look beyond to the quality of the heart. And thus, they do not see the selfishness, the self-centeredness of the person who is seeking to build him- or herself up by claiming or demonstrating some ability beyond the normal.

See the inner mastery beyond outer mastery

What I desire you to see is, that as you walk the path of attaining mastery over the seven rays, it is essential for you to realize, that walking the path of mastery does not simply mean that you attain an outer mastery of the seven rays. It means that you also attain an inner mastery, whereby you actually come to see, that the seven rays are not separate—that you actually cannot even view the seven rays as a linear phenomenon. I know, my beloved, that when we gave the concept of the seven rays, it was unavoidable that the analytical mind would look at this as a linear phenomenon. There is the first ray, the second ray, the third ray and so on. But you see, the spiritual world is not linear—it is spherical, it is One.

It cannot be separated into neat little categories, that the analytical mind can then label and categorize and organize into a system. What we are attempting to help you realize in this latest invocation and in the forthcoming invocations is precisely the need to go beyond a mechanized view of the seven rays and lock in to the fact, that the seven rays are creative qualities, not mechanical qualities.

Beyond a linear view of the rays

The reality here is, that when you start the path of initiation on the seven rays, you might start out on the first ray of will. But when you have passed that initiation of will, you do not simply leave the first ray behind and then move on to the second ray as a completely separate initiation. I know – again – that the linear mind creates certain images, and so many of you have come to believe, that when you are studying on the first ray, well then you are studying under the Master MORE, or El Morya as he used to be named. And thus, you go to the retreat of Master MORE. And then, when you move on to the second ray, you study under that master, and go to that master’s retreat, and so on through the seven rays.

But these are images that we have given you because humankind was still so trapped in the linear mind. And thus, we need you to step up and realize, that although there are seven rays that have certain qualities, the rays are not separate. They are not isolated from one another, they are all intertwined. So you see – again because of the limitations of words – let us just say that a student begins studying on the first ray. But on the first ray, you find embodied all of the other six rays. So you are not simply studying will or willpower, you are studying willpower with the shade of will, willpower with the shade of wisdom, willpower with the shade of love, purity, vision, service and freedom. So in order to pass the initiations on the first ray, you have to have some concept of and mastery over the other rays as well.

And then, my beloved, when you do pass these initiations that are focused on the first ray and move on to the second ray, it does not mean that you leave the first ray behind. It means that you take with you what you have learned on the first ray and incorporate those lessons on the second ray, where you now begin studying wisdom with the shade of will, wisdom with the shade of wisdom, wisdom with the shade of love, and so on.

The false path of outer mastery

Those students who have not locked in to the reality of the spiritual path as the path of oneness, the path of leaving behind the separate self, well, they cannot understand what I have just told you. And thus, they will walk the path of the seven rays through the filter of the linear mind and the separate self. Therefore, what they see as they go through the initiations is not the holistic picture, the spherical picture. It is a separate picture, because they look at the ray and its qualities through the filter of the separate self. They see it as a process, whereby the separate self attains mastery on a particular ray. And this is why it is possible, that such students can attain a certain mastery on the first ray of God’s Power. But when they express that mastery, it is expressed in an unbalanced manner, for it is not balanced by wisdom, love, purity, and so forth.

When you look at ascended master students, you might look at certain students that seem to have a very powerful aura and demeanor about them, who are always very determined and who are always very good at commanding other people to get things done. But if you look deeper, you see that they are often lacking in love or wisdom or other qualities. And this is precisely because they have not integrated the lessons of one ray with the lessons of the other rays. And that is why it is possible to be unbalanced in the expression of one ray. For I trust you now see, that the purpose for the true path – where you integrate all qualities of the seven rays on each ray – is precisely to help you walk the path in a balanced manner. So that you do not fall into the trap of expressing this or that quality in an unbalanced manner.

You can now look at the world and gain a different perspective, where you realize, that there are people in the world who have a certain mastery on the first ray of God Power, but it is unbalanced and therefore they abuse power. You have an entire class of people in the educational system and in science, who have a mastery on the ray of God’s Wisdom, but it is again unbalanced and that is why they are intellectuals who look at everything through the intellect but are unable to see the limitations of the intellect. Then you have a group of people who are very spiritual, very kind, very loving, for they have mastery on the third ray of Love, but they do not have the balanced mastery. They have love without power, and thus they tend to be passive.

Again, on each of the other rays you see that people are unbalanced. On the fourth ray of purity, you see many people in religious movements who are so focused on keeping the teachings pure, that they will not allow any creative interpretation of the Bible, or even the ascended master teachings. And thus, they become like the scribes and Pharisees who condemned the living Christ, who went beyond their linear literal interpretations of the scriptures. And this is not to say that it is bad to keep a teaching pure, but the desire for purity must be balanced by wisdom, love, and the other qualities, or it will be expressed in an inharmonious way that is ultimately not constructive and will actually lead to the opposite goal.

And of course you have people on the fifth ray who are often serving in the healing arts, or who are visionaries reaching for new ideas. But often they are unbalanced and do not look at the big picture. So they can come up with idea after idea without ever carrying them out, without ever having them come into physical manifestation so they benefit humankind. Or they seek healing of diseases without going beyond and looking at why these diseases manifest, what is the greater cause. So there are many people in the healing field, that are truly dedicated to helping others, but they are seeking to heal symptoms and not the deeper cause.

Likewise, you have many people who are dedicated to service on the sixth ray and who have a great dedication. But as I spoke about in South America, well they think that a certain level of service is enough. They do not go beyond and realize, that you only give service when you accelerate people beyond the state of consciousness that has precipitated the particular material problems they are facing. And then, of course, you have those who are unbalanced on the seventh ray of freedom. And you have many, many people in the state of California, who have a certain mastery on the seventh ray of freedom, but because it is not balanced by the other rays, especially by the first, they do not recognize that you cannot be free by doing whatever you want. You can be free only by – as is expressed in this invocation – tuning in to your own higher will, the higher will of your infinite Being. For the separate self, the will of the separate self, cannot be free and can never give you freedom, my beloved.

Integrating the seven rays

What I desire you to understand here is, that most ascended master students have so far had a somewhat limited view of what it means to walk the path of initiation on the seven rays. For it is not, as I said, a path of going from one ray to the other, having them all compartmentalized. To truly walk the path, to walk the true path of the ascended masters, you must see beyond the separate mind, the analytical mind. You must integrate all seven rays – on all seven rays – so that you do not have an unbalanced mastery of one, or perhaps more than one ray, but cannot integrate that and express it with love, wisdom and power and the other qualities.

The conclusion here is, that if you have walked the path of the seven rays and seen it through the filter of the separate mind, well then you cannot – you will never – grasp the reality of the eighth ray and the initiations on the eighth ray. You will grasp it only when you have integrated the first seven rays, so that you have mastery on all seven rays. But you have mastery on the seven qualities of each of the seven rays, and you see them all as part of a whole, where they are not separate, not apart, but they work together to precipitate what you see in the material realm.

In the past, we have given a linear view that first the Elohim of the first ray precipitated a certain level of manifestation. And then the Elohim of the second ray precipitated upon that foundation a more organized structure, and so on and so forth. But the seven Elohim are in complete oneness. And thus it is not actually a linear process of one quality and then another and then another. It is a spherical, unified process, where all of the seven rays are brought into action from the very beginning—although there are certain phases where the quality of the particular ray is dominant. But it is still balanced by the other six rays, so that there is a harmonious, unified manifestation, my beloved.

I encourage all of you to contemplate these concepts and to take an honest look at yourselves, and to see whether you have mastery on a certain ray, but whether that mastery is actually balanced by the qualities of the other six. For I tell you this, because many of you have actually reached a point, where you have attained a very high degree of integration of the seven rays. Which is why you have deserved a release of these teachings. For you can, by looking at yourself – and seeing if you have any imbalances left – you can very quickly come into that state of having integrated the seven rays. And that is precisely the point, where you have qualified to begin the initiations of the eighth ray which precisely is the path of integration.

Grasping the initiations of the eight ray

You will not be able to even grasp what the eighth ray is about through the linear, analytical mind. For the linear analytical mind cannot grasp integration. The analytical mind is a faculty, that is designed to deal with the material realm, where you have forms that appear separate and in some cases need to be dealt with separately in order to achieve some level of organization in society. So I am not saying, that you need to shun your intellect, for it is a valuable faculty—but only when you recognize its limitations and its purpose.

When you elevate the intellect to a god that can know everything – and you begin to believe that what cannot be grasped by the intellect does not exist or has no importance – well, then you have become a slave of a tool. As if you have become a slave of your car, rather than being the owner and master of the car.

And if suddenly the car started driving on its own, taking you to a different destination than you had planned – because the car would rather go to the beach than go to work – this, of course, you would immediately see as unacceptable. But when your intellect does the same, many, many people in the world follow along and allow themselves to become slaves of the intellect and refuse to consider a deeper teaching than what the intellect can grasp.

Rethink your view of ascended masters

The eighth-ray initiation requires a complete rethinking of the spiritual path. Which is why the last time we were in California I repeatedly said, “Question everything!” Question your concept of the spiritual path, your view of the spiritual path, your view of the ascended masters, my beloved. For do you really think, that Master MORE and I are completely separate beings who go our separate ways except when we come together in meetings? Well, I can assure you that Master MORE and I have a constant communion, as do Mother Mary and I, Jesus and I, the Buddha and I. We are in a constant state of communion.

Even though we can – in certain situations – manifest a more concentrated aspect of our total beings, we are not linear, separate beings as you conceive of yourselves on earth. For we are ascended because we have passed the eighth-ray initiations of integration, of overcoming the sense of separation, the sense that everything can be compartmentalized into qualities that are distinctly different from each other.

As I have been giving this discourse, you may – according to your old view of the ascended masters – have thought that this is one master, Saint Germain, who is giving this discourse. But when I need to speak about the first ray, I do not simply speak about the first ray from a separate perspective, as being a master that is separated from it. When I mention the first ray, I immediately am in attunement with Master MORE so that I, Saint Germain, speak about the first ray through the awareness of the first ray that Master MORE is. There is no separation, my beloved. I have no desire to speak about the first ray without the presence of Master MORE. For I am not in competition with him on anything. I am in oneness with him. And so why would I even conceive that I, Saint Germain, could know something about the first ray without being in attunement with the master of that ray?

What does it mean to master a certain ray?

Likewise you, my beloved, you might sit here and think, that you have been in the ascended masters’ teachings for many years. You might have practiced the decrees on the first ray of the Will of God, and you might think you have some awareness of the first ray and its qualities. And you might indeed have that awareness. But what I am saying is, that if you have that awareness as an intellectual awareness – where you think that I am here, and I am observing the first ray which is somewhere separate from me – well then, you have not even begun to understand the first ray. For how do you truly come to understand the first ray?

Well, you can do so only by overcoming the sense of separation and coming into oneness with the master of the first ray. So if you have an intellectual concept of El Morya as the master of the first ray, well then you truly have not gone beyond that—and you have not started the path of integration of the first ray, of coming into oneness with the living, creative Being of the first ray. You might with the linear mind conceive of a particular ray in a certain mechanical way—that it has certain qualities that it can be broken down and put in a table with a list of words. But even though that can be a step towards getting to know the first ray, if it becomes an end in itself, then it is actually standing in the way of your integration with the first ray.

The first ray of God’s Will is not something that can be defined in mechanical terms. It can be defined only in creative terms. For you might think, that God’s Will is set in stone, that God’s Will is unchanging, that God’s Will follows the laws of God. And this is to some degree true. But what is the most important law of God, my beloved? It is the law of self-transcendence, the law of becoming MORE. And thus, what you see on the first ray of God’s Will is that the first ray is not a mechanical quality—it is a living being who has not a mechanical will, but a CREATIVE will.

Master MORE has the right to change his mind and bring forth a new teaching—for he sees that some students are now ready for a higher understanding. And thus, he is not bound by the old days and the old dispensations. He moves on, he becomes MORE, my beloved. And if you want to be in attunement with that first ray, then you must become MORE on that first ray of God’s Will, as you must become MORE on the other six rays. Mastering the seven rays is not something you can do while you see yourself as a separate individual. It is something that can happen only, as you gradually give up the sense of separation—and as you surrender into oneness with the living Being on each of the seven rays.

Beginning the initiation on the eighth ray

When you have done that on the seven rays, you can begin the initiation of the eighth ray—which forms the nexus between the seven rays and the spiritual realm, and the higher rays of that realm. Which is why it is called the Ray of Integration. This is partly because, in order to even get to the eighth ray, you need to have integrated the seven rays. But also because the initiation of the eighth ray is to integrate your mastery of the seven rays in the material world with the higher realms, the spiritual realms, your own higher being—so that what is here below becomes a reflection of what is Above. Because you are not seeing yourself as a separate being down here in the material realm, carrying out the will of some remote being in the sky. You have integrated your higher and lower beings, so that you know that you are being your Self, your Higher Self in this world.

As we have said before many times, any concept we give you that is expressed in words, can be used by the linear mind, by the separate self, to reinforce the sense that you are separate from God, separate from your source. And some concepts about twin flames are very linear and might make you believe, that there is some other person in embodiment who is the ideal match for you. And if you only found that person, you would live happily ever after. But of course, the true concept of twin flames is that you come to see yourself, your lower being, as the twin flame of your higher being. So that you strive for oneness with your higher being and thereby overcome the sense of separation. The concept of twin flames can be used to build and reinforce the separate self, or it can be used correctly to overcome that separate self—as can the concept of mastering the initiations of the seventh ray and as I have just explained?

The value of this teaching is, that you need to contemplate the concept of integration, of looking beyond the separate self, the images of the separate self, questioning those images, even questioning your view of the spiritual path, of the ascended masters, of the seven rays. And in order to help you go through that process, my beloved, I will give you the image that the Buddha you need to contemplate as the master on the eighth ray is precisely the image of Gautama Buddha. Who is the Lord of the World, and who therefore is the one who sits at the nexus between the beings in the material realm and the beings in the spiritual realm. He is holding that position of literally holding the spiritual balance for all who are in embodiment, until they attain that integration with their higher beings, so they can hold it for themselves.

Non-attachment is the absolute requirement

Contemplate the need to go through Gautama Buddha in order to attain that oneness. And then contemplate what is the most important element that the Buddha taught, which is precisely non-attachment. For in order to actually move on from the seven rays to the eighth ray, you need to attain non-attachment to the seven rays and the mastery you might have attained on one or more rays. For again, you see the students who are blinded by the separate self, who are using one particular ray to elevate the separate self and give them a sense of superiority. Can those students overcome their attachment to that particular ray? No they cannot! And that is why they cannot move on to integration. And so it will help you tremendously to tune in to the heart of the Buddha, to Gautama, and ask him to help you see your attachments to any of the seven rays, even your attachments to having a certain mastery over the seven rays or the material realm.

Before you can truly integrate on the eighth ray, you must overcome all attachment to mastery as a separate being. You must come to that point of surrendering the sense of having mastery as a separate being, where you surrender into oneness and recognize, number one, that the mastery you can have as a being on earth is not truly YOUR mastery, for you of your own self can do nothing. It is the Father, your I AM Presence within you, who is doing the works. And then, second, that your mastery is not to be expressed in order to elevate the separate self in comparison to other people. It is to be expressed in raising up the All.

That is also integration, where you overcome the illusion of the separate self and integrate with all other people, realizing that you all came from the same source. And you are here to raise up the All, thereby giving true service to life by seeking to set life free. I have said my peace for this discourse. I thank you again for your attention, for your presence, that has made it possible to give these beginning teachings, that might open up for you a new appreciation and understanding for what is beyond the seven rays. And even a new understanding for what it means to walk the path of the seven rays and to attain mastery on those rays. Thus, I thank you for your attention, and I seal you in the flame of the Eighth Ray of Integration.