Self Search is a computerized questionnaire for enhancing self-knowledge. It presents 83 multiple-choice questions about your interests and out-look on life, and how you respond in various circumstances.

The program analyzes your answers to determine to what degree you express each of seven qualities of character. It prints a graphic representation of your qualities together with a description of your type. The questionnaire and analysis is based on the spiritual-psychological types of Alice A. Bailey--see list of books below.

The seven character types (psychological-spiritual types) recognized by Self Search are called "rays." The names of the seven rays or types are: Will, Love, Intelligence, Harmony, Intellect, Idealism, and Order.

Each ray or type corresponds to a pattern of personal characteristics and spiritual potentials. You can think of the ray types as analogous to the types that astrologers define in relation to the signs of the zodiac.

The seven ray types are a way of defining an individual's personal and spiritual style or quality of life. Everyone expresses all rays or qualities in various degrees. Self Search is a tool for discovering how the seven qualities express in the individual. Self Search also suggests ways to enhance the ray qualities, and more fully express the better potentialities of your character.

The seven types, in their many combinations, correlate to all aspects of life. To name a few: choice of profession, thinking style, philosophy, values, and way of communicating.

At a deeper level, the seven types are qualities of soul expression, and relate to the individual's life-purpose and destiny. It is therefore meaningful to ask: What is the type of the personality, and what is the type of the soul, and how are these two related? Self Search is a spiritual-psychological assessment that can help bring an individual a closer to these answers.

Self Search prints about five pages of information that includes lists of your character traits together with suggestions for personal growth and insight. Quotations often illuminate the reading.

Using your answers, the program prints a bar graph showing the relative strength of each of the seven types. The graph is based on a comparison of your answers with group averages.

Self Search was the subject of a doctoral dissertation that compared it to other established personality types tests. It was shown to be a reliable and valid tool for assessment of character types.

A body of literature exists on the seven rays. Here is a list of some of the books published on the subject:

The Seven Human Temperaments, Geoffrey Hodson, The Theosophical Press, Wheaton, Illinois

The Tapestry of the Gods, Dr. Michael Robbins, The Seven Ray Institute, 128 Manhattan Ave., Jersey City Heights, NJ 07307

Psychosynthesis Typology, Roberto Assagioli, M.D. Institute of Psychosynthesis, 1 Cambridge Gate Regents Park London NW1

The Seven Rays of Energy, Michal J. Eastcott Sundial House, Nevill Court, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, TN4 8NJ

Esoteric Psychology, A Treatise On The Seven Rays, Alice A. Bailey, Lucis Publishing Co., New York