Quaoar and Ray 4

Weaknesses

Embroiled in constant conflict and turmoil (inner and outer):
This has been called the "ray of struggle" for on this ray, activity and inertia are found to be strangely equal in proportion. There is a tendency towards finding conflict and battle all around, giving you no moment of peace. This is not common stress, but rather life as war.

Admittedly, there are times when war is to be fought, but with the 4th ray this path may be chosen too often and with the consequence of being too embroiled in the raging conflict, unable to see clearly the issues involved. What is needed is the "standing at the center", as the possibility of harmonisation resides at the center and from there the warring parties are drawn towards each other.

Self-absorption in suffering:
Self-centeredness is a weakness of the 4th ray, manifesting as being at the center of conflict and at the crossroads of agony. This individual is occupied with his or her reaction to life and circumstance and is unable to see beyond the little self.

Lack of confidence and composure:
Like the Moon, this ray go through the changing phases and can therefore be very fluctuating and unsteady in its influence. As long as there is an identification with the form, there will be found the constancy of 'highs and lows'- the "roller coaster experience". Beyond this is found the constant shining of the Solar Angel and the Central Spiritual Sun.

Worry, agitation and fretfulness:
With this ray there is a tendency to go through life and events with an attitude of 'negative expectancy' to begin with. It's like living by Murphy's Law; "If something can go wrong, it will". Being used to the highs and lows of life, they reason that "things may be good now, but just wait". The worry eventuating from this will eventually be replaced by an attitude of becoming skillful at changing the things that one can change.

Excessive moodiness:
Being able to feel a diversity of emotional states can be an advantage in many ways. However, this is mainly true as long as the moods do not dominate you, and the emotions obscure the stability found in the light coming from the soul.

Exaggeration; overly dramatic expression:
This is the ray of "artistic truth" rather than "scientific fact". The fourth ray love the impact of dramatic effect. It is very good with using the creative imagination to "improve on reality". This is an asset for an actor, and with this ray there can be said to be found an accuracy in expressing emotions. However life does not often need this kind of drama, being full as it is already. It is interesting that the 5th ray can be of great assistance here with its facility for achieving the detached "attitude of the observer", and there to achieve a vision of the Divine Beauty to be contacted with intuitional accuracy and brought into faithful expression.

Temperamentalism, impracticality and improvidence:
4th ray people are often blessed with an "artistic temperament". This means they are temperamental, emotinally unstable, erratic, whimsical, impulsive, impractical, unrealiable and improvident of the future. Even so, the artistically inclined person must learn to express in form, and to do so requires practicality. Some sort of artistic medium, whether paint, film, clay, stone, the physical body (as in dancing), the voice, writing or musical instruments, are required for the fruition of the artistic process. Solution lies in developing the ability to use the creative imagination in the bringing out of what is coming down from higher levels. Thus treating art as a form of service and revelation to humanity will balance the less wanted expressions mentioned.

Unpredictability and unreliabality:
4th ray people are often moved, inspired or overcome by powerful influences which may suddenly change their course of direction. It can be said that they are often treading the fine line between genius and madness. Helping the situation would be to maintain the openness but using discernment in the following of impulse.

Confused combativeness:
4th ray people ca be great fighters, but they don't always, know who, what and why they are fighting. This is called "confused combat". It seem to arise out of an immediate and instinctual response to inharmony which make these individuals approach head on to the tension sensed. The 4th ray have to make sure that they are in alignment with higher purpose before entering into battle, or else there may be a lot of waste of energy.

Indecisiveness and vacillation:
Standing in the middle and being attracted in two directions and thus feeling torn is one of the more 4th ray conditions. The result is often a vacillation between the alternatives and in the process of decision we find a going back and forth between the perceived alternatives.

This is also what faces the great warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of the Kurukshetra as he stood midway between the two warring fractions of his own family, and could not decide on which side to fight, or whether to fight at all. As in the case of Arjuna, there is often in life an alternative representing the soul and its values, and another alternative representing the personal and more material values. When choosing the higher alternative and apparently relinquishing certain matters, one will find how they are eventually restored as the greater somehow includes the lesser. When there are no higher or lower alternative the wisest coarse may be to cease vacillation and simply to stand with magnetic attraction at the center.

Ambivalence:
This is a contradictory state of simultaneous attraction and repulsion. It can be called the "approach-avoidance" syndrome, and leads to a wide variety of love-hate relationships (especially in the family) leading to many perverse practices needing the attention of the mental health professionals. This tortured condition can be elevated in the light of the soul and resolved on that higher level.

Overeagerness for compromise:
4th ray people are "those who bring about a 'righteous compromise' and adapt the new and the old so that the true pattern is preserved". But there is a big difference between "righteous compromise" and the need for "peace at any price" which is sometimes the tendency for the 4th ray because of its inability to bear dissonance or friction. Even though they are right, they are likely to make concessions as they may compromise on principle for the sake of an illusory and transient 'peace'. They need to compromise rightly rather than compromise weakly, while using their instinct for fairness and justice in the process.

Moral cowardice:
Upholding standards requires "taking a stand" and this is something which is very difficult for the 4th ray, because "taking a stand" may cause dissonance and friction. The 4th ray will experience pain in situations like this, wherefore it may choose not to stand but rather choose the easy way out. This is moral cowardice, and while one can find a lot of "physical courage" with this ray it is usually a different matter with "psychological courage", as this is often lacking when needing to uphold moral principles. The 4th ray need to learn to "bite the bullet"-to confront pain in the moment in order to offset the development of even greater pain in the future.

Unregulated passions:
The 4th ray is an expressive and passionate energy that has problems with self-control and self-discipline which requires a firm and stiffening energy. This tendency lies behind the often many and varied relationships engaged in and left behind. Expression is king and restraint and inhibition are deemed unnatural and undesirable. They are often unwillling to impose lasting and consistent regulation upon themselves and others. An understanding of priorities could help the situation, but the 4th ray is rather more animated by the principle of fairness than priority. There is found the sense that all parties should receive equal prerogatives, but this is disregarding the hierarchical dimension of nature, where some things are more vital than others are at certain points in time. However the 4th ray can exercise its understanding for aestethic proportion, where they arrange their composition of certain more vital things in the more prominent places on the canvas of life. Divine Beauty demands the respect for divine priorities, or rather divine priority is inherent in Divine Beauty.

Inertia, indolence and procrastination:
The 4th ray fights with constant bouts of nonaccomplishment. This is because within their energy system "the qualities of tamas (inertia) and rajas (activity) are so strangely equal that the nature of the fourth ray man is torn with their combat...". Thus in his nature, there will always be that which holds him back. This is the unredeemed substance which comprise a 'wall' that he runs into ever so often in his life. Such residues must be worked upon so that they can effectively take part in the next cycle of creative endevour. Of such residues, many karmic influences are composed. Sometime the solution is not to force the issue, but rather to respect the interludes for the regathering of strength and the development of understanding, thus learning to respect "the lower interlude". The 4th ray simply have to achieve mastery in the study of cycles and periodicity.

Facility for bringing harmony out of conflict:
The psychospiritual process of this ray is described in its name in a very clear way-the ray of Harmony through Conflict. This 4th ray has a very profound connection with the 4th Kingdom in nature-the Human Kingdom as well as the 4th Creative Hierarchy in active planetary expression-the Human Hierarchy. Thus it is easier to understand the human predicament and the experiences of turmoil while being a human being on this planet.

The 4th ray is intent upon harmony, while being extraordinarily aware of conflict. The 4th ray is not into stomping out the opponent, but rather into harmonizing, "at-one-ing" or reconciling with the opponent. The 4th ray combatant is not willing to cut himself off from his opponent and they have a way of seeing things of value with the opponent and therefore worthy of salvaging or transformation.

Capacity to grow spiritually through constant struggle and crisis:
Struggle and crisis always represent an opportunity for growth if properly seized. However the 4th ray seem to need more adversity or opposition than the rest to grow, it seems to be their preferred mode. The 4th ray is not content with confronting an issue within the mind only, but must invest themselves fully in the drama of the crisis. They are oriented towards experiential learning and living. Crisis is nothing more than the presentation of crucial moments calling for focussed application of the harmonizing process.

Capacity to reconcile:
The meaning of 'reconcile' is "to restore friendship and harmony". So reconciliation is not simply establishing friendship and harmony, but rather a matter of restoring a pre-existent condition. This again reveals the strong 4th ray conviction that combatants are (despite appearances to the contrary) essentially and deeply related. This realisation is the seed which lies behind the power of harmonisation of the 4th ray-the two warring armies become the one army, experiencing the one victory.

Facility for achieving at-one-ment:
At-one-ment is a process of fusion fostered through the harmonious adjustment of all elements within a whole. Therefore it is not the same as atonement with its connotations of guilt, supplication and penance. The 4th ray is therefore a whole-making energy leading to oneness and therefore one of the rays of synthesis. It respects diversity within the larger units or groups and can act as facilitators helping any whole or group adjust to each other and make those little accomodations which eliminate friction which else would be causing fragmentation.

Facility for compromise, mediation and bridging:
The 4th ray is found in the middle among the seven rays. It is also found between the many pairs of opposites, and therefore no other ray is in such a good position for mediating the opposites and for bringing people or ideologies together and it has consequently been called the ray of "the Divine Intermediary". So the 4th ray is a 'go-between' or a powerful mediator and facilitator. The 4th ray individuals may think of themselves as bridges or channels of communication through the instrumentality of which separated parties can meet, adjust their differences, and cooperate with each other. The mediator sees both sides, and because he contains a vision of the value of both points of view, he is able to encourage the two polarized parties to see at least some value in the other's point of view. He is also in a position to make use of the best of both worlds or points of view and create a higher unifying whole. They also understand the fine art of compromise, and from experience know that one point taken too far will result in cleavage. Therefore finding the common ground or the neutral corner in any situation is the way of the 4th ray.

Capacity for creative living through skill-in-action:
This is the ray of "Creative living, that produces beauty and harmony in the outer life, so that others can see the achievement". The 4th ray is known as "the Mix" or "the Mixer". They understand color, propoertion, complementarity and contrast and they apply these sensitivities to life situations and interpesonal relationships. The result of their handiwork is the creation of beautiful experiences. Sometimes elements of real ugliness contribute to the creation of beauty. Those who are exemplars of the 4th ray type of skill-in-action know how to utilize dissonance, and then apply the principle of dissonance resolution to the beautification of experience, thus becoming adept in the art of creative living.

Love of beauty and the capacity to create or express it:
This is the "Ray of Harmony, Beauty and Art." Beauty has to do with the proper, aestethic relationship between compositional elements within any whole, whether those elements are colors, sounds, movements, things, people or events.

This is also the "Ray of Mathematical Exactitude" as there could be no fine-tuning or harmonizing of compositional elements without the understanding of interrelated vibrations. Because of its power to include the two opposite sides, it has the ability to represent the quota of the two with unsurpassed exactitude, whereas the 5th ray would reduce things to decimals, yielding an answer which would not neccesarily be the exact number, but rather a truncation or a rounded off figure.

The fourth Rule for Inducing Soul Control is the "urge to creative life, through divine faculty of imagination...this urge is closely connected with the fourth Ray of Harmony, producing unity and beauty, won through conflict."

Advanced 4th ray individuals are definitely creative and expressive workers. They sense the "world of meaning", and seek to intuit those forms which will promote the revelation and expression of that meaning in the lower worlds. By an act of extremely focussed alignment, and exquisite tension, the fourth ray worker seeks to become inspired by the meaning which must be expressed, and aware of the form which will be optimally expressive of that meaning.

While the mental rays tend to explain the meaning in words, the 4th ray tend to embody the meaning in some symbolic form. With the most demanding kind of exactitude, creative workers on the 4th ray strive for:
"1. A close adaptation of the form to the significant factors which have brought it into being on the outer plane. 2. the production of a truer beauty in the world and, therefore, a closer approximation in the world of created forms to the inner emerging truth." With the 4th ray there is found the attempt to beautify and render creative all forms of self-expression.

Refinement of artistic and aesthetic sensibilities:
The word "aesthetic" derives from the Greek word "aestheticos" which means "of sense perception." The related word "aisthanesthai" means "to perceive". One of the Names of the 4th Ray Lord is "The Perceiver on the Way". It would seem that those with refined artistic and aesthetic sensibilities are gifted with a refined sense of perception. They see with a clarity and sensitivity which is distincly more acute than the ordinary or average individual.

Strong imagination and intuition:
The intuition often uses imagery to reach us. It is said that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and also "I get the picture" to convey our understanding of something. It is said of those upon the 4th ray that "They are engaged with the bridging process, for they are the true intuitives and have a capacity for the art of synthesis..."

Love of Color:
The 4th ray is pre-eminently the "ray of color", and color it can be said is a special case of contrast, thus it can be said to be the "ray of contrast". The stronger the contrast, the more dramatic the drama as the colorful expression is sought.

Strong sense of drama:
In contradistinction to the contrasts involved with drama, we have monotony which is literally "one tone". Drama is captivating and monotony is non-magnetic and fails to hold interest. The 4th ray is dramatic and therefore has the power to captivate. Those upon the 4th ray thrive upon expressing the unexpected, which is another way of saying that they love that what is new. That is why they so enliven situations-as the new and unexpected are enlivening, animating or awakening.

Ability to impersonate:
Ray four is the ray of the actor. The two masks (one laughing and one crying) which are everywhere taken as the symbol of dramatic art, are also an excellent symbol for the 4th ray ability to express contrasting emotions. People on the 4th ray have the ability to identify with the character of others. But they can not only identify themselves with others, but also assume and express the character of others. This is what acting is all about.

Ability to amuse, delight and entertain:
There is something about the 4th ray which defies logic, because the 4th ray feeling and mentality is free-associative rather than linear. Free-association rather than logic is a multi-levelled psychological process. With free association, a person can say one thing and simultaneously evoke reverberations from very high or very low levels of the psyche. A great deal of humour lies in the release of tension which such connotative evocation provides.

Musicality:
It is said that the 4th ray is especially musical, even though music is found on all the rays. It is said that its "exponents develop along the line of music, rhythm and painting...". The 4th ray man loves a tune and may be prone to "the glamour of musical perception".

A way to achieve unity is to adjust the note of a given person or entity to the note of another. Until 'the day be with us' we will experience the process of adjustment, refinement and attunement as evolution proceeds.

Music is the most sophisticated method of harmonization at our disposal. Music is a fluidum, one note, chord or phrase flowing into another. Basically life is a flow of dissonances and harmonies. The 4th ray immerse itself in the flow, and act as what might be called 'alert agents of creative reconciliation, catalyzing the resolution of dissonance into harmony.' In a way a life lived creatively is a life lived musically and in terms of relations it can be said that some "make beautiful music together". For the 4th ray this is more a description of factual experience rather than a metaphor.

Literary abilities via creative imagination:
On the level of the lower mind (and others), the 4th ray confers "the power to create forms, or the artistic impulse." Some of the 4th ray qualities that together confer literary abilities are; a vivid imagination, the ability to embody ideas in images and then, embody the images in words; picturesque language; and ability to employ words which carry a strong "feeling tone" or mood; a general ability to convey beauty in words; sensitivity to drama; an understanding of contrast and pacing; the ability to sustain the reader-interest through change of pace.

Spontaneity and improvisation:
Improvisation demands confidence-the confidence that one will never be "at a loss," that one will always be able to "come up with something." This confidence may be resulting from reliance upon adequately built bridges which lead to open gates-gates within the psyche. The 4th ray is the bridging ray; it bridges above into the realms of superconscious inspiration, and below into the domain of subconscious memory. Both gates remain open. The 4th ray powers of association will summon to the surface just the thought, feeling or action creatively needed in the moment. Again, this a part of creative living and so is playing, which is another keyword for this ray. Playing is being spontaneous and free, and able to "act out" the contents of ones imaginations.

Fighting spirit:
These people are filled with "the fighting spirit or that spirit of conflict which finally brings strength and poise...." 4th ray people fight for the sake of harmony; they wage war for the sake of peace and are ready to discontinue the fight if reconciliation is at hand. On some level of their being, the 4th ray is a fighter. Their conflict may be unseen. They may be fighting to bring beauty out of ugliness, aesthetic order out of chaos, psychological health and harmony out of neurosis or psychosis, or the physio-therapeutic approach to healing and harmonizing of bodily dissonances and ailments. Whatever the arena they will struggle for harmony.

Ability to make peace:
For 4th ray individuals, the essence of peace may well be harmony and beauty. To the artistic sense, peace is a perfect composition. Each person by learning to express his or her true nature beautifully, will enter into harmony with others who are doing the same. Humanity then becomes a great work of divine art-a work characterised by an extraordinary multiplicity of colors, tones, and movements, but one which is utterly synthesized and harmonized.

The mobility of the 4th ray reminds us that no true peace is a static one, and that the process of preserving harmony calls for constant, moment-to-moment adjustment in the immediacy of experience. "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."

By NN,
Copyright 2002

Litterature:

1. Tapestry of the Gods Vol. 1&2, Michael D. Robbins, Ph.D.
2. Esoteric Psychology Vol. 1&2, Alice A. Bailey