Extracts from the writings by Alice A. Bailey and Master D. K.
The first of the cosmic laws is the Law of Synthesis. It is almost impossible for those of us who have not the buddhic faculty in any way developed, to comprehend the scope of this law. It is the law that demonstrates the fact that all things - abstract and concrete - exist as one; it is the law governing the thought form of that One of the cosmic Logoi in Whose consciousness both our system, and our greater center, have a part. It is a unit of His thought, a thought form in its entirety, a concrete whole, and not the differentiated process that we feel our evolving system to be. It is the sumtotal, the center and the periphery, and the circle of manifestation regarded as a unit.
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The Law of Synthesis, as you know, is the law of spiritual existence, and one of the three major laws of our solar system, as well as of our planet. It is a basic cosmic law, applied from sources of which we know nothing, as are the Laws of Attraction (see) and of Economy (see).
[…] Of the Law of Synthesis, I can tell you but little. It is the law governing the activities of the Spiritual Triad, and the conditioning law of monadic living. It works neither through the use of the energy of love nor through the application of the principle of economy. The fulfilment of these laws is necessary and preparatory to an understanding of the Law of Synthesis, and under the Law of Synthesis the worlds of illusion and glamor are mastered and the control of maya is negated; under the Law of Attraction the nature of love is revealed, first of all through desire for form life, and then through attraction to the soul and a consequent resolution of the dualities of soul and personality. This brings about a unity which - in due time - serves to reveal a greater potential dualism - that of soul and spirit; this fundamental duality must also be resolved, leaving the essential, universal planetary duality, spirit-matter, present in time and space.
The Law of Synthesis has reference to this relationship and to the factual nature of the tremendous assertion of H. P. Blavatsky that "Matter is spirit at its lowest point of manifestation and spirit is matter at its highest." It is of this synthesis that the group must learn; it is this relation which they must begin to comprehend, and the distinction (for there is a distinction) between synthesis, unity and fusion must in due time be mastered.
To you, it may seem that these three words connote the same thing, but that is not so; fusion is ever related to the conscious merging of soul and substance until a point of equilibrium is achieved; at this point, unity becomes possible and the point of balance - through the attainment of a point of tension - is disturbed. This takes place in three definitely defined stages when the fusion of personality and soul is brought about through the self-initiated effort of the disciple: first of all upon the Probationary Path, then upon the Path of Discipleship, and finally at the third initiation, upon the Path of Initiation. It is essential that you ever remember that this third initiation, the Transfiguration, is the first major initiation from the standpoint of the Hierarchy, though the third from the limited vision of the aspirant. The initiate then goes on to learn the significance of unity in its true sense; this is only possible when monadic influence can be consciously registered and when the antahkarana (is the imaginary path [or bridge] between the personal and the impersonal self, and is the highway of sensation; it is the battlefield for mastery over the personal self. It is the path of aspiration, and where one longing for goodness exists the antahkarana persists - H.P.B.) is in process of conscious construction. […] The work now being, done on the three stages of the Path has to be intentional and, therefore, consciously undertaken and intelligently planned; it must be backed, first of all by determination, then by the spiritual will, and finally as an implemented aspect of purpose.
Fusion might therefore be regarded as the individual process of spiritual integration, relating - in full waking consciousness - the three divine aspects in man. Unity might be regarded as the conscious adaptation of the initiated disciple to the greater whole, as his absorption into the group through his obedience to the laws of the soul, and as governing his attitude to that in which he lives and moves and has his being. This goes on until he sees no distinction, registers no differences and is aware of no separate reaction, and all this because the instinct to separation no longer exists in him. It refers to his oneness in the world of energies in which he moves, making him an unimpeded channel for energy and, therefore, an integral and smoothly working part of his total environment and, above all, of the group to which, automatically and under the laws which govern his soul, he has been attracted.
[…] If the Way of the Higher Evolution is to be trodden and a choice between the seven cosmic Paths made - a choice which curiously enough is not dependent upon ray, for all rays are to be found on all these paths.
This can only be done through synthesis. This Law of Synthesis: "works through the Seven which yet are One; which points to the seven ways and yet those upon the seven ways are one; which initiates the universal into the many but preserves its integrity; which originates the plan but preserves intact the purpose; which sees the multiplicity needed under the Law of Sacrifice but subordinates that law unto the Law of Synthesis; which breathes forth the many Breaths and yet is Life Itself."
In this attempt to paraphrase an ancient definition of the Law of Synthesis, I have said all that I can upon the theme. Only as disciples build the antahkarana and function as the Spiritual Triad within the monadic Life will inspiration come, just as they learnt to make contact with the soul and to function as the threefold personality within the soul, and then revelation ensued.
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The Law of Economy is the law governing the matter aspect of manifestation, and is the law characterizing the work of the third Logos, and of the entities who are the embodiment of His will and the agents of His purposes. Each of the great cosmic Entities who take form as the three Logoi, is distinguished by different methods of activity, which might be described thus:
The third Aspect or Brahma aspect of the activities of those Entities who are His expression, is characterized by that method in the distribution of matter which we call the Law of Economy. It is the law governing the scattering of the atoms of matter and their dissociation from one another, wide distribution, vibratory rhythm, heterogeneity and quality and their inherent rotary action. This Law of Economy causes matter always to follow the line of least resistance, and is the basis of the separative action of atomic matter. It governs matter, the opposite pole of spirit.
The second Aspect, the building, or Vishnu aspect, is governed by the Law of Attraction; the activities of the entities who embody this aspect are directed to the attracting of matter to Spirit, and the gradual approximation of the two poles. It results in cohesion, in the production of congeries of atoms in various formations, and this attraction is brought about by the attractive power of Spirit itself. It shows itself in:
1. Association,
2. Form building,
3. Adaptation of form to vibration,
4. Relative homogeneity of group unity,
5. Cyclic spiraling movement.
The line of least resistance is not the law for this aspect. The attractive power of Spirit in form-building, and in the adaptation of the form to the need, is the secret of the pain and resistance in the world; pain is only caused by resistance, and is a necessary phase in the process of evolution. This law of attraction is the law governing the Spirit, the opposite pole of matter.
The first Aspect, or the will to exist, is governed by the Law of Synthesis, and the activities of the cosmic entities who are its embodiments are governed by the law of enforced unity, and of essential homogeneity. It is the law that eventually comes into play after spirit and matter are blending, and adapting themselves each to each; it governs the eventual synthesis of Self with Self, and finally with the All-Self, and also of essence with essence in contradistinction to the synthesis of matter and Spirit. It demonstrates as:
1. Abstraction,
2. Spiritual liberation,
3. Destruction of form through the withdrawal of Spirit (the Destroyer aspect),
4. Absolute homogeneity and absolute essential unity,
5. Progressive forward motion.
Thus can be seen the wonderful synthesis brought about by the evolutionary working of these three cosmic laws, - each of them embodying the mode of work of certain cosmic Entities or Existences.
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The Mahadeva, aspect or the first Logos (who embodies cosmic will) is controlled by the Law of Synthesis, the cosmic law governing the tendency to unification; only in this case, it is not the unification of matter and Spirit, but the unification of the seven into the three, and into the one. These three figures primarily stand for Spirit, for quality, for principle, and not so primarily for matter, although matter, being inspired by spirit, conforms. The Law of Synthesis has a direct connection with One Who is still higher than our Logos, and is the law of control exercised by Him upon the Logos of our system. This is a spiritual relationship that tends to abstraction or to that synthesis of the spiritual elements that will result in their conscious return (the whole point lying in that word "conscious ") to their cosmic point of synthesis, or of unification with their source. Their source is the One About Whom Naught May Be Said, as we have earlier seen.
Therefore, in connection with the first Logos, we can sum up as we did with the other Logoi:
a. His goal is the synthesis of the Spirits who are gaining consciousness through manifestation, and who, by means of experience in matter, are gaining in quality.
b. His function is, by means of will, to hold them in manifestation for the desired period, and later to abstract them, and blend them again with their spiritual source. Hence the necessity of remembering that fundamentally, the first Logos controls the cosmic entities or extra-systemic beings; the second Logos controls the solar entities; the third Logos controls the lunar entities and their correspondences elsewhere in the system.
This rule must not be carried too far in detail as long as man's mind is of its present caliber. The mystery lies in the realization that all is carried on in a divine cooperation that has its base outside the system. Hence too the fact that the first Logos is called the Destroyer, because He is abstraction, if viewed from below upwards. His work is the synthesis of Spirit with Spirit, their eventual abstraction from matter, and their unification with their cosmic source. Hence also He is the one who brings about pralaya or the disintegration of form, - the form from which the Spirit has been abstracted.
If we carry the analogy down to the microcosm a glimpse can be gained of the same idea and hence ability to comprehend with greater facility. The Ego (being to the man on the physical plane what the Logos is to His system) is likewise the animating will, the destroyer of forms, the producer of pralaya and the One Who withdraws the inner spiritual man from out of his threefold body; he draws them to himself the center of his little system. The Ego is extra-cosmic as far as the human being on the physical plane is concerned, and in the realization of this fact may come elucidation of the true cosmic problem involving the Logos and "the spirits in prison", as the Christian puts it.
c. His mode of action is a driving forward; the will that lies back of evolutionary development is His, and He it is who drives Spirit onward through matter till it eventually emerges from matter, having achieved two things:
First, Added quality to quality, and therefore emerging plus the gained faculty that experience has engendered.
Second, Increased the vibration of matter itself by means of its own energy, so that matter at the moment of pralaya and obscuration will have two main characteristics, - activity, the result of the Law of Economy, and a dual magnetism which will be the result of the Law of Attraction.
All of these three concepts are governed by the Law of Synthesis, which is the law of a coherent will-to-be, persisting not only in time and space, but within a still vaster cycle.
These preliminary statements have been laid down in an endeavor to show the synthesis of the whole. In the use of words comes limitation, and a clouding of the idea; words literally veil or hide thoughts, detract from their clarity, and confuse them by expression. The work of the second and third Logoi (being the production of the objectivity of the essential Spirit) is more easy to grasp in broad outline than the more esoteric work of the first Logos, which is that of the animating will. 
