1. The life thread comes directly from the monad or the ONE. This thread is anchored in the heart during incarnation. There is the seat of life.
2. The consciousness thread comes directly from the soul. It is anchored in the head. There is the seat of consciousness.
3. The thread of creative activity is initiated and constructed by the human being. It is anchored, when sufficiently constructed, in the throat. This thread is an extension or synthesis of the two basic threads. [147]

The creative thread itself is triple in nature. It is slowly constructed down the ages by the man. As he becomes truly alive, from the standpoint of intelligent awareness and the desire fully to express himself, the process is materially hastened. These three self-created lesser threads which constitute the third thread of the antahkarana extend eventually:

1. From the physical body to the etheric body, passing from the heart to the spleen, and thence to the body of prana, the vital or etheric body, unites with force from the egoic will petals.
2. From the etheric body to the astral body. This thread passes from the solar plexus to the heart and from thence to the astral body, picking up the energy of the thread mentioned above, unites with force from the love petals.
3. From the astral body to the mental vehicle. This thread passes from the ajna center to the head center and from thence to the mind body, picking up the energy of the other two threads mentioned above, unites with the force from the knowledge petals.

Though these three energies are woven into one thread finally, yet they remain distinct. It should be borne in mind that the soul body is constructed of pure white light, whilst the light out of which the etheric body is made is golden.

8. The Science of the Antahkarana deals, therefore, with the entire incoming system of energy, with the processes of usage and transformation and fusion. It deals also with the outgoing energies and their relationship to the environment and is the basis of [148] the science of the force centers. The incoming and the outgoing energies constitute finally two great stations of energy, one characterized by power and the other by love, and all directed to the illumination of the individual and of humanity as a whole, through the medium of the Hierarchy composed of individuals. This is basically the Science of the Path.

The antahkarana, therefore, is the thread of consciousness, of intelligence, and the responsive agent in all sentient reactions. The interesting point to bear in mind, and where we must now lay the emphasis, is that this thread of consciousness is evolved by the soul and not by the monad. The World Soul pours its gossamer thread of sentient consciousness into all forms, into all body cells and into all atoms. The human soul, the solar angel, repeats the process in relation to its shadow and reflection, the personality. This is part of the creative work of the soul. But, in its turn, the human being has also to become creative in the mental sense of the term and must repeat the process, for in all points the microcosm resembles the macrocosm. Therefore, through the life thread, the soul creates and reproduces a personality through which to function. Then through the building of the antahkarana, the soul first of all develops sentiency down upon the physical plane, and later bridges the gap - through meditation and service - between the three mental aspects. It thus completes the creation of the path of return to the Center, which must parallel the path of outgoing.

I have now completed my introductory presentation of the fundamentals which will in the future age dominate the educational systems. It was necessary for all of you - and for those who will later study these instructions anent the new education - to have some grasp of past foundational implications and basic tendencies and also some ideas, however [149] vague, of the line along which major changes can be expected to come. You can begin, therefore, to work intelligently and with as little loss of time as possible.

It remains now to make the teaching which I have given practical in its implications. The New Education now must take the place of that which is old and which has proved so wrong that it could not prevent the universal holocaust which distinguished the years 1914-1945. It must be superseded. The next stage of human evolution will emerge as a result of the purificatory action of the World War. There are steps which humanity must take, and only a new type of education and a different attitude to the educational processes (imposed upon the very young of every nation) will enable mankind to take them.