As we have often stated in these pages, humanity is a mediating Kingdom. Standing at the midway point between the material side of evolution and pure, divine energy, humanity is a product of the union of the two. This point is symbolically portrayed when the Buddha is depicted astride a water buffalo or Jesus is depicted on top of a donkey before he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday or St. Francis of Assisi is quoted about the need to apply discipline to "brother ass"—his lower, personal self. A more contemporary version of this same truth is depicted for us in the story of Beauty and the Beast—Beauty representing the Soul nature and the Beast representing the lower nature.

These examples and others point to the fact that wo/man is in a constant state of conflict—and ever seeking a point of harmony. This point of harmony is attained when the spiritual principle prevails over the lesser materialistic nature, which in time learns to respond and yield to the Greater Good.

Another dimension of this truth is brought home by the fact that matter—the opposite pole of spirit and the substance of the personal self from which are created the three lower bodies of the physical, emotional and mental units within humanity—is characterized by the relationship of fire-by-friction. By contrast, the fifth Kingdom of the Hierarchy of Love-Wisdom is characterized by solar fire and the sixth Kingdom of Shamballa is characterized by the relationship of electric fire. Fire-by-friction, as its name implies results in conflict and "confused combat." Solar fire results in unity. And, electric fire results in synthesis. The intensity of the fire indicates the degree of coherence and harmony and thus, the degree to which the spiritual nature prevails.

Humanity then, suffers both as a result of its inherent duality as well as a result of its singular identification with the material plane.

This struggle within every human being as he/she experiences the pull of this dual nature is made more understandable if we recognize that humanity is ruled by the fourth Ray of "Harmony through Conflict." Herein, we also find the promise of resolution. This fourth of the seven Rays impacting humanity is responsible for the strains and stresses of the initial conflict between spirit and matter—the major pairs of opposites. According to the Ageless Wisdom, this conflict began in Old Atlantis when humanity chose to emphasize the matter aspect, thus inaugurating the "Age of Materialism"—the effects of which are yet being worked out in our current time.

The culminating point of this Age of Materialism with its attendant qualities of greed, hate, separativeness and aggression climaxed in the horrific world wars fought out in the last century. As we daily witness both in our personal and the global life, the tug and pull between spirit and matter continue, yet because of humanity's increasing ability to discriminate between the Real and the unreal, the lesser and the Greater, the balance is ever so slowly swinging over to the side of that which is spiritual. From conflict and confused combat, humanity is incrementally moving towards unity and harmony.

Referring to the matter, which imprisons humanity as the "Dweller on the Threshold" and to humanity's potential of spirituality as the "Angel of the Presence," the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul asks the poignant and compelling question: "Will expediency win or will the Dweller be sacrificed with love and understanding to the Angel?"² In the same discourse, from the vantage point of a Master of the Wisdom, he reassures humanity: "Humanity has advanced in consciousness to the very boundaries of the world of spiritual values and the kingdom of Light and of God."

He affirms and extends our understanding that the conflicts besetting humanity can only be resolved as each individual learns to yield to the spiritual within him/herself: "And so they stand—Humanity and the Hierarchy. And so you stand, my brother, personality and soul, with freedom to go forward into the light if you so determine or to remain static and unprogressive …Will humanity's third ray materialistic personality dominate the present situation or will its soul of love prove the most powerful factor, taking hold of the personality and its little issues, leading it to discriminate rightly and to recognise the true values and thus bring in the age of soul or hierarchical control? Time alone will show."³ And so we each must choose: the way of conflict or the way of harmony.