The difficulties and the trials which the disciple experiences upon the Way are, as you have discovered, only relative; they are oft offset by the pouring in of a sense of inner release. The compensations on the Way are not so often considered as are the difficulties. In the human being there is ever a tendency towards sorrow and suffering which has eventually to be negated; this tendency is one of the problems which the Hierarchy has to face, as it seeks strenuously, at this time, to lift mankind out of the morass in which it finds itself. This "tendency to misery," founded as it is on an attitude of mind, is of such ancient habit that it seems inconceivable to man that a different point of view and a totally different reaction to life affairs could ever be possible. I am referring to this because (in the midst of problems and tests) you are discovering the Way of Compensation. Do you think, my brother, that you could write a paper on this theme, "Compensations on the Way," for the helping of your fellowmen and for the stabilizing of your own inner attitude? I have given you much about which to think in my instruction; may it not be possible that, before long, through the release from the load of business cares, there may come for you a time of widened service? This could be through the use of [401] your pen, for you have knowledge of that which should be said, and words flow with ease from your pen, even if you realize it not. I commend this to you for your consideration. You have been much occupied for many years with the cares of a great business Organization and your imposed (and rightly imposed) preoccupations were with the more material aspects of life. Such was your dharma. Within that sphere of activity, you have preserved an inner orientation to the spiritual values and a fixed determination to tread the Way which naught has been able to alter.

Much preoccupation, however, with little things and the demands of the many clamoring personalities who surround you have slowed the pace. You might, perhaps, have traveled faster had you been able, more efficient, to separate the essential from the non-essential. This I think you know. Having realized this, a future of constructive beauty lies ahead, if so you will, or the more ordinary life of one whose vehicle is not young and who submits to the imperative voice of physical fatigue and the liabilities of a physical body which has been used for many years. I say to you, therefore: Face the future with joy and know that it holds for you renewed opportunity, and later a readjustment of your time and interests which will permit you the leisure for deepened understanding and an increased use fullness in service. There is much that you can do and much in which you can assist me. Time will show you the ways and means. Have patience.

As you know, your rays - soul and personality - are the first and fifth; this in itself presents a problem, for it produces a preponderance of force upon the line of the major first ray. Fortunately for you, it was the aspect of organization and the tendency to the occult life which were expressed through these energies and not the destroyer aspect or the over-critical mind, as might have been the case. You are not destructive; your outstanding qualities, if I might so express it, have been the power to organize and rule, and also love of the hidden realities. [402]

Your mental body has been outstandingly a fourth-ray one, giving you a love of harmony which has aided you in organization rule, a love of beauty which enabled you to see the real, and a discrimination which has enabled you to gather around yourself that which unfolded beauty to you - books and beautiful things. But it also gave you, as it ever does, a spirit of conflict, urging you forward to fresh victories in the cause of harmony.

1. The soul ray - the first Ray of Will or Power.
2. The personality ray - the fifth Ray of Concrete Science.
3. The ray of the mental body - the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict.
4. The ray of the astral body - the second Ray of Love-Wisdom.
5. The ray of the physical body - the third Ray of Active Intelligence.