Searchable Theosophical Texts
Theosophy House
Study in Consciousness
by
Annie Besant
Study in Consciousness
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE SCIENCE
OF PSYCHOLOGY.
BY
Annie Besant
SECOND EDITION
Theosophical Publishing Society
The
Secret Doctrine by H P Blavatsky
Reprinted
1915
FOREWORD.
THIS
book is intended as an aid to student in their study of the growth and
development of consciousness, offering hints and suggestions which may prove
serviceable to them. It does not pretend to be a complete exposition, but
rather, as its sub-title states, a contribution to the science of Psychology.
Far ampler materials than are within my reach are necessary for any complete
exposition of the far-reaching science which deals with the unfolding of
consciousness. These materials are slowly accumulating in the hands of earnest
and painstaking students, but no effort has yet been made to arrange and
systematise them into a co-ordinated whole. In this little volume I have only
arranged a small part of this material, in the hope that it may be useful now
to some of the toilers in the great field of the Evolution of Consciousness,
and may serve, in the future, as a stone in the complete building. It will need
a great architect to plan that temple of knowledge, and skilful master masons
to direct the building; enough, for the moment, to do the apprentice task, and
prepare the rough stones for the use of the more expert workmen.
ANNIE
BESANT
PART I
CONSCIOUSNESS
Introduction
Origins
Origination of Monads
CHAPTER I.
THE PREPARATION OF THE FIELD.
1. The Formation of the Atom
2. Spirit-Matter
3. The Sub-Planes
4. The Five Planes
CHAPTER II.
CONSCIOUSNESS.
1. The Meaning of the Word
2. The Monads
CHAPTER III.
THE PEOPLING OF THE FIELD.
1. The Coming
2. The Weaving
3. The Seven Streams
4. The Shining Ones
CHAPTER IV.
THE PERMANENT ATOM.
1. The Attaching of the Atoms
2. The Web of Life
3. The Choosing of the Permanent Atoms
4. The Use of the Permanent Atom
5. Monadic Action on the Permanent Atoms
CHAPTER V.
GROUP-SOULS.
1. The Meaning of the Term
2. The Division of the Group-Soul
CHAPTER VI.
UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
1. Consciousness a Unit
2. The Unity of Physical Consciousness
3. The Meaning of Physical Consciousness
-------
CHAPTER VII.
THE MECHANISM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
1. The Development of the Mechanism
2. The Astral or Desire Body
3. Correspondence in Root-Races
-------
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST HUMAN STEPS.
1. The Third Life-Wave
2. Human Development
3. Incongruous Souls and Bodies
4. Dawn of Consciousness on the Astral
Plane
-------
CHAPTER IX.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.
1. Consciousness
2. Self-Consciousness
3. Real and Unreal
-------
CHAPTER X.
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
1. The Sub-Consciousness
2. The Waking Consciousness
3. The Super-Physical Consciousness
-------
CHAPTER XI.
THE MONAD AT WORK.
1. Building his Vehicles
2. An Evolving Man
3. The Pituitary Body and Pineal Gland
4. The Paths of Consciousness
-------
CHAPTER XII.
THE NATURE OF MEMORY.
1. The Great Self and the Little Selves
2. Changes in the Vehicles and in
Consciousness
3. Memories
4. What is Memory
5. Remembering and Forgetting
6. Attention
7. The One Consciousness
PART II
WILL, DESIRE AND EMOTION
CHAPTER I.
THE WILL TO LIVE
CHAPTER II.
DESIRE
1. The Nature of Desire
2. The Awakening of Desire
3. The Relation of Desire to Thought
4. Desire, Thought, Action
5. The Binding Nature of Desire
6. The Breaking of the Bonds
CHAPTER III.
DESIRE (Continued)
1. The Vehicle of Desire
2. The Conflict of Desire and Thought
3. The Value of an Ideal
4. The Purification of Desire
CHAPTER IV.
EMOTION
1. The Birth of Emotion
2. The Play of Emotion in the Family
3. The Birth of Virtues
4. Right and Wrong
5. Virtue and Bliss
6. The Transmutation of the Emotions into
Virtues and Vices
7. Application of the Theory to Conduct
8. The Uses of Emotion
CHAPTER V.
EMOTION (Continued)
1. The Training of Emotion
2.
The Distorting Force of Emotion
3. Methods of Ruling the Emotions
4. The Using of Emotion
5. The Value of Emotion in Evolution
CHAPTER VI.
THE WILL
1. The Will winning its Freedom
2. Why so much Struggle
3. The Power of the Will
4. White and Black Magic
5. Entering into Peace
INTRODUCTION.
THE
subject of the unfolding of consciousness in the beings whose field of
evolution is a solar system is one of considerable difficulty; none of us may
at present hope to do more than master a small portion of its complexity, but
it may be possible to study it in such fashion as may fill up some of the gaps
in our thinking, and as may yield us a fairly clear outline to guide our future
work.
We
cannot, however, trace this outline in any way satisfactory to the
intelligence, without considering first our solar system as a whole, and
endeavouring to grasp some idea, however vague that idea may be, of "the
beginnings" in such a system.
1.
ORIGINS.
We
have learned that the matter in a solar system exists in seven great
modifications, [1] or planes; on three of these, the physical, emotional
(astral), and mental - often spoken of as "the three worlds", the
well-known Triloki, or Tribhuvanam, of
the Hindu cosmogony - is proceeding the normal evolution of humanity. On
the next two planes, the spiritual - those of wisdom and power, the buddhic and
the atmic - goes on the specific evolution of the Initiate, after the first of
the Great Initiations. These five planes form the field of the evolution of
consciousness, until the human merges in the divine. The two planes beyond the
five represent the sphere of divine activity, encircling and enveloping all,
out of which pour forth all the divine energies which vivify and sustain the
whole system. They are at present entirely beyond our knowledge, and the few
hints that have been given regarding them probably convey as much information
as our limited capacity is able to grasp. We are taught that they are the
planes of divine Consciousness, wherein the LOGOS, or the divine Trinity of
Logoi, is manifested, and wherefrom He shines forth as the Creator, the
Preserver, the [2] Dissolver, evolving a universe, maintaining it during its
life-period, withdrawing it into Himself at its ending. We have been given the
names of these two planes: the lower is the Anupadaka, that wherein "no
vehicle has yet been formed";[1] the higher is the Adi, "the
first", the foundation of a universe, its support and the fount of its
life. We have thus the seven planes of a universe, a solar system, which, as we
see by this brief description, may be regarded as making up three groups:
[3]
The
two highest planes may be conceived of as existing before the solar system is
formed, and we may imagine the highest, the Adi, as consisting of so much of
the matter of space - symbolised by points - as the LOGOS has marked out to
form the material basis of the system. He is about to produce. As a workman
chooses out the material he is going to shape into his product, so does the
LOGOS choose the material and the place for His universe. Similarly we may
imagine the Anupadaka - symbolised by lines - as consisting of this same
matter, modified by His individual life, coloured, to use a significant
metaphor, by His all-ensouling Consciousness, and thus differing in some way
from the corresponding plane in another solar system. We are told that the
supreme facts of this preparatory work may be further imaged forth in symbols;
of these we are given two [4] sets, one of which images the triple
manifestation of the Logic Consciousness, the other the triple change in
matter corresponding to the triple Life - the life and form aspects of the
three Logoi. We may place them side by side, as simultaneous happenings:
We
have here, under Life, the primeval Point in the centre of the Circle, the
LOGOS as One within the self-imposed encircling sphere of subtlest matter, in
which He has enclosed Himself for the purpose of manifestation, of shining
forth from the Darkness. At once the question arises: Why three Logoi? Though
we touch here on the deepest question of metaphysics, to expound which even
inadequately requires a volume, we must indicate the answer, to be wrought out
by close thinking. In the analysis of all that exists, we come to the great
generalisation: [5]
"All
is separable into 'I' and 'Not I', the 'SELF' and the 'Not-Self'. Every
separate thing is summed up under one or other of the headings, SELF or Not-Self.
There is nothing which cannot be placed under one of them. SELF is Life,
Consciousness; Not-Self is Matter, Form." Here, then, we have a duality.
But the Twain are not two separate things isolated and unrelated; there is a
continual Relation between them, a continual approach and withdrawal; an
identification and a repudiation; this inter-play shows itself as the
ever-changing universe. Thus we have a Trinity, not a Duality - the SELF, the
Not-Self, and the Relation between them. All is here summed up, all things and
all relations, actual and possible, and hence Three, neither more nor less, is
the foundation of all universes in their totality, and of each universe in
particular.[2] This fundamental fact imposes on a Locos a triplicity of manifestation
in [6] a solar system, and hence the One, the Point, going forth in three
directions to the circumference of the Circle of Matter and returning on
Itself, manifests a different aspect at each place of contact with the
Circle-the three fundamental expressions of Consciousness: or Will, Wisdom, and
Activity - the divine Triad or Trinity.[3] For the Universal SELF, the
Pratyag-atma, the "Inner-Self", thinking of the Not-Self, identifies Himself with it, thereby
sharing with it His Being; this is the divine Activity, Sat, Existence lent to
the Non-existent, the Universal Mind. The SELF, realising Himself, is Wisdom,
Chit, the principle of preservation. The SELF, withdrawing Himself from the Not-Self,
in His own pure nature, is Bliss, [7] Ananda, free from form. Every LOGOS of a
universe repeats this universal SELF-Consciousness: in His Activity, He is the
creative Mind, Kriya - corresponding to the universal Sat - the Brahma of the
Hindu, the Holy Spirit of the Christian, the Chochmah of the Kabbalist. In His
Wisdom, He is the preserving ordering Reason, Jnana - corresponding to the
universal Chit - the Vishnu of the Hindu, the Son of the Christian, the Binah
of the Kabbalist. In His Bliss, He is the Dissolver of forms, the Will, Ichchha
- corresponding to the universal Ananda - the Shiva of the Hindu, the Father
of the Christian, the Kepher of the Kabbalist. Thus appear in every universe
the three Logoi, the three Beings who create, preserve, and destroy Their
universe, each showing forth predominantly in His function in the universe one ruling Aspect,
to which the other two are subordinate, though of course ever-present. Hence
every manifested GOD is spoken of as a Trinity. The joining of these three
Aspects, or phases of manifestation, at their outer points of contact with the
[8] circle, gives the basic Triangle of contact with Matter, which, with the
three Triangles made with the lines traced by the Point, thus yields the divine
Tetractys, sometimes called the Kosmic Quaternary, the three divine Aspects in
contact with Matter, ready to create. These, in their totality, are the
Oversoul[4] of the kosmos that is to be.
Under
Form we may first glance at the effects of these Aspects as responded to from
the side of Matter. These are not, of course, due to the LOGOS of a system, but
are the correspondences in universal Matter with the Aspects of the universal
SELF. The Aspect of Bliss, or Will, imposes on Matter the quality of Inertia -
Tamas, the power of resistance, stability, quietude. The Aspect of Activity
gives to Matter its responsiveness to action - Rajas, mobility. The Aspect of
Wisdom gives it Rhythm - Satva, vibration, harmony. It is by the aid of Matter
thus prepared that the Aspects of Logic Consciousness manifest themselves as
Beings. [9]
The
LOGOS - not yet a first, since there is yet no second - is seen as a Point irradiating a sphere of Matter, drawn round
Him as the field of the future universe, flashing with unimaginable splendour,
a true Mountain of Light, as Manu has it, but Light invisible save on the
spiritual planes. This great sphere has been spoken of as primary Substance: it
is the SELF-conditioned LOGOS, inseparate at every point with the Matter He has
appropriated for His universe, ere He draws Himself a little apart from it in the
second manifestation; it is the sphere of SELF-conditioning Will, which is to
lead to the creative Activity: "I am This," when the
"This," the Not-Self, is cognised. The Point, speaking symbolically -
in order to make the suggestion of Form as seen from the side of appearances vibrates
between centre and circumference, thus making the Line which marks the drawing
apart of Spirit and Matter[5], [10] rendering cognition possible, and thus
generating the Form for the second Aspect, the Being we call the Second Logos,
symbolically the Line, or Diameter of the Circle. It is said of this in mystic
phrase: "Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee"[6]; this
relation of Father and Son within the unity of the Divine Existence, of the
first and Second Logoi, belongs, of course, to the Day of Manifestation, the
life-period of a universe. It is this begetting of the Son, this appearance of
the Second Logos, the Wisdom, which is marked in the world of Form by the
differentiation, the drawing apart, of Spirit and Matter, the two poles between
which is spun the web of a universe; the separation, as it were, of the neutral
inactive Electricity - which may symbolise the First Logos - into the dual form
of positive and negative - symbolising the Second - thus making the unmanifest
manifest. This separation [11] within the First Logos is vividly imaged for us
in the preparation for cell-multiplication that we may study on the physical
plane, wherein we see the processes that lead up to the appearance of a
dividing wall, whereby the one cell becomes two. For all that happens down here
is but the reflexion in gross matter of the happenings on higher planes, and we
may often find a crutch for our halting imagination in our studies of physical
development. "As above, so below." The physical is the reflexion of
the spiritual.
Then
the Point, with Line revolving with it, vibrates at right angles to the former
vibration, and thus is formed the Cross, still within the Circle, the Cross
which thus "proceedeth from the Father and the Son," the symbol of
the Third Logos, the Creative Mind, the divine Activity now ready to manifest
as Creator. Then He manifests Himself as the Active Cross, or Svastika, the
first of the Logoi to manifest outside the two highest planes, though the third
stage of the divine Unfolding. [12]
But
before considering the creative Activity of the Third Logos, we must note the
origination of the Monads, or Units of Consciousness, for whose evolution in
matter the field of a universe is to be prepared. We shall return to their
fuller consideration in Chapter II. The myriads of such Units who are to be
developed in that coming universe are generated within the divine Life, as
germ-cells in organisms, before the field for their evolution is formed. Of this
forthgiving it is written: "THAT willed: I shall multiply and be
born"[7]; and the Many arise in the One by that act of Will. [13] Will has
its two aspects of attraction and repulsion, of in-breathing and out-breathing,
and when the repulsion-aspect energises there is separation, driving apart.
This
multiplication within the One by the action of Will marks the place of origin -
the first Logos, the undivided Lord, the Eternal Father. These are the sparks
of the Supreme Fire, the "divine Fragments"[8], named generally
"Monads". A Monad is a fragment of the divine Life, separated off as
an individual entity by rarest film of matter, matter so rare that, while it
gives a separate form to each, it offers no obstacle to the free
inter-communication of a life thus incased with the surrounding similar lives.
The life of the Monads is thus of the First Logos, and is therefore of triple
aspect, Consciousness existing as Will, Wisdom, and Activity; this life takes
form on the plane of divine Manifestation, the second, or Anupadaka, Sons of the Father even as is the Second
Logos, but younger Sons, with [14] none of their divine powers capable of
acting in matter denser than that of their own planes; while He, with ages of evolution behind Him, stands ready to
exercise His divine powers, "the First-born among many brethren"[9].
Fitly they dwell on the Anupadaka plane, the roots of their life in the Adi, as
yet without vehicles in which they can express themselves, awaiting the day of
"manifestation of the Sons of God"[10]. There they remain while the
Third Logos begins the external work of manifestation, the shaping of the
objective universe. He is going to put forth His life into matter, to fashion
it into the materials fitted for the building of the vehicles which the Monads
need for their evolution. But he will not be merged in His work; for, vast as
that work seems to us, to Him it is but a little thing: "Having pervaded
this whole universe with a portion of Myself, I remain"[11]." That
marvellous Individuality is not lost, and only a portion [15] thereof suffices
for the life of a kosmos. The LOGOS, the Oversoul, remains, the God of His
universe. [16]
STUDY
IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
-------
CHAPTER I.
THE
PREPARATION OF THE FIELD.
1.
THE FORMATION OF THE ATOM.
THE
Third Logos, the Universal Mind, begins His creative Activity by working on the
matter drawn in from the infinite space on every side for the building of our
solar system. This matter exists in space in forms incognisable by us, but is
apparently already shaped to the needs of vaster systems. For we have been told by H. P. Blavatsky that the atomic
sub-planes of our planes make up the first, or lowest, kosmic plane. If we
think of the atoms of that kosmic plane as symbolised by [17] a musical note.
Our atoms, as formed by the Third Logos, may perhaps be symbolised by the
overtones in such a note. What seems clear is that they are in close relation
to the "atoms of space", correspond with them, but are not, in their
present form, identical with them. But the seven types of matter, that become
our "atoms", are indicated in the matter drawn from space to form the
solar system, and are ultimately reducible again to them. H. P. Blavatsky hints
at the repeated seven-fold division into atoms of lower and lower grade, when
she writes: "The One Kosmic Atom becomes seven atoms on the plane of matter,
and each is transformed into a centre of energy. That same atom becomes seven
rays on the plane of spirit ... separate till the end of the kalpa and yet in
close embrace".[12]
Outside
the limits of a universe this matter is in a very peculiar state; the three
qualities of matter, inertia, mobility, and rhythm[13], are balanced against
each [18] other, and are in a state of equilibrium. They might be thought of as
existing as a closed circle, quiescent. In fact, in some ancient books, matter
in its totality is described in this state as inertia. It is also spoken of as
virgin; it is the celestial Virgin Mary, the ocean of virgin matter, that is to
become the Mother by the action of the Third Logos. The beginning of creative
Activity is the breaking of that closed circle, throwing the qualities out of
stable into unstable equilibrium. Life is motion, and the life of the Solar
LOGOS - His Breath, as it is poetically called - touching this quiescent
matter, threw the qualities into a condition of unstable equilibrium, and
therefore of continual motion in relation to each other. During the life-period
of a universe matter is ever in a condition of incessant internal motion. H. P.
Blavatsky says: "Fohat hardens and scatters the seven Brothers . electrifies
into life and separates primordial stuff, or pregenetic matter, into
atoms"[14].
The
formation of the atom has three [19] stages. First, the fixing of the limit
within which the ensouling life - the Life of the Logos in the atom - shall
vibrate; this limiting and fixing of the wave-length of the vibration is
technically called "the divine measure"[15]; this gives to the atoms
of a plane their distinctive peculiarity. Secondly, the Logos marks out,
according to this divine measure, the lines which determine the shape of the
atom, the fundamental axes of growth, the angular relation of these, which
determines the form, being that of the corresponding kosmic atom[16]; the
nearest analogy to these are the axes of crystals. Thirdly, by the measure of
the vibration and the angular relation of the axes of growth with each other,
the size and form of the surface, which we may call the surface or wall of the
atom, is determined. Thus in every atom we have the measure of its ensouling
life, its axes of growth, and its enclosing surface or wall. [20]
Of
such atoms the Third Logos creates five different kinds, the five different
"measures" implying five different vibrations, and each kind forms
the basic material of a plane; each plane, however various the objects in it,
has its own fundamental type of atom, into which any of its objects may
ultimately be reduced.
2.
SPIRIT-MATTER.
The
epithet, spirit-matter, will perhaps be better appreciated if we pause for a
moment on the method of the formation of the atoms of the successive planes.
For each system the matter of space around it is its Root of Matter,
Mulaprakriti, as the Hindus graphically call it. The matter of each system has
that surrounding matter for its root, or base, and its own special matter grows
out of, is developed from, that. The LOGOS, the Oversoul, of the system,
drawing round Himself the necessary matter from space, ensouls it with His own
life, and this life within this [21] subtle matter, this Mulaprakriti, is the
Atma, the SELF, the Spirit, in every particle. Fohat, the energy of the Locos,
says H. P. B., "digs holes in space", and no description could be
finer and truer. That whirling energy forms innumerable vortices, each shaped
by the divine energy and the axes of growth, and each shelled with the matter
of space, Atma in a shell of Mulaprakriti, spirit in a shell of matter, the
"atoms" of the Adi, or highest plane, the first. Some of these remain
as "atoms"; others join together and form "molecules";
"molecules" join together and make more complex molecular combinations;
and so on till six sub-planes below the atomic are formed. [This by analogy
with what may be observed below, since these highest planes are incognisable.]
Now comes the forming of the atoms of the second plane. Their measure and axes
of growth being fixed as above described by the Third Logos, some of the atoms
of the adi, or first, pane draw round themselves a shell of the combinations of
their own lowest sub-plane; the Spirit plus its original shell of [22] kosmic
matter (Mulaprakriti), or the atom of the first plane, is the spirit of the
second plane, and permeates the new shell, formed out of the lowest-grade
combinations of itself. These shells, thus ensouled, are the atoms of the
anupadaka, or second, plane. By the ever more complicated aggregations of these
the remaining six sub-planes are brought into being. Some of the atoms of the
anupadaka plane, in like manner, become clothed with the aggregations of their
own lowest sub-plane, and thus become the atmic atoms, the Spirit now being
clothed with two shells, inside its atomic wall of aggregations of the lowest
sub-plane of the anupadaka, and the original Spirit, or Life, plus its two
shells, being called the spirit of the atmic plane, while the wall of its atom is
regarded as the matter. This atom, ensheathed once more in the aggregations of
the lowest atmic sub-plane, becomes the atom of the buddhic plane, Spirit on
the buddhic plane having thus three enclosing films within its atomic shell of
lowest atmic aggregations. On the mental plane the Spirit has a fourfold sheath
within the [23] atomic wall, on the astral plane a fivefold, and on the
physical a sixfold, with the atomic wall in each case in addition. But the
Spirit plus all its sheaths save the outermost is ever regarded as Spirit, and
the outermost sheath only as form or body. It is this involution of Spirit
which makes evolution possible, and complicated as the description may sound,
the principle is simple and can be easily grasped. Truly, then, may we speak of
"spirit-matter" everywhere.
3.
THE SUB-PLANES.
Now
the ultimate atoms of the physical plane are not the "atoms" of the
modern chemist; the ultimate atoms are
aggregated into successive typical groups, forming "states of
matter", and the chemical atom may be in the fifth, sixth, or seventh of
these states, a gas, a liquid, or a solid.
Familiar are the gaseous, the liquid, and the solid states of matter,
or, as they are often called, the gaseous, liquid, and solid sub-planes; [24]
and above the gaseous are four less familiar conditions, the three etheric
states of matter, or sub-planes, and the true atomic. These true atoms are
aggregated into groups, which then act as units, and these groups are called
molecules; the atoms in a molecule are held together by magnetic attraction,
and the molecules on each sub-plane are arranged geometrically in relation to
each other on axes identical with the axes of growth of the atom of the
corresponding plane. By these successive aggregations of atoms into molecules,
and of simpler into more complex
molecules, the sub-planes of each plane are formed under the directive
Activity of the Third Logos, until the field of evolution, consisting of five
planes, each showing seven sub-planes - the first and second planes being
beyond this field - is completed. But it must not be supposed that these seven
sub-planes, as formed by the Third Logos, are at all identical with those which
are now existing. Taking the physical plane as an illustration, they bear
something of the same [25] relation to the present sub-planes as that which the
chemist calls proto-hydrogen bears to the chemical element said to be built up
out of it. The present conditions were not brought about by the work of the
Third Logos only, in whom Activity predominates; the more strongly attractive
or cohesive energies of the Second Logos, who is Wisdom and therefore Love,
were needed for the further integrations.
It
is important to remember that the planes are interpenetrating, and that corresponding sub-planes are directly related
to each other, and are not really separated from each other by intervening
layers of denser matter. Thus we must not think of the atomic sub-planes as
being separated from each other by six sub-planes of generally increasing
density, but as being in immediate connexion with each other. We may figure
this in a diagram as follows: [26]
It
must be understood that this is a diagram, not a picture i.e., it represents relations, not material
facts-the relations existing between the planes by virtue of their
intermingling, and not forty-nine separate bricks placed in seven rows, one an
the top of another.
Now
this relation is a most important one, for it implies that life can pass from
[27] plane to plane by the short road of the communicating atomic sub-planes,
and need not necessarily circle round through the six molecular sub-planes
before it can reach the next atomic sub-plane to continue its descent. As a
matter of fact we shall find presently that life-streams from the Monad do
follow this atomic road in their descent to the physical plane. If we now
consider a physical atom, looking at it as a whole, we see a vortex of life,
the life of the Third Logos, whirling with inconceivable rapidity. By the
attraction between these whirling vortices, molecules are built up, and the
plane with its sub-planes formed. But at the limiting surface of this whirling
vortex are the spirillae, whirling currents, each at right angles to the one
within it and the one without it. These whirling currents are made by the life
of the Monad, not by the life of the Third Logos, and are not present at the
early stage we are considering; they develop one after another into full
activity in the course of evolution, normally one in each Round; their rudiments
are indeed completed by the Fourth [28] Round by the action of the Second
Logos, but the life-stream of the Monad circulates in only four of them, the
other three being but faintly indicated. The atoms of the higher planes are
formed on the same general plan, as regards the Logic central vortex and its
enclosing currents, but all details are at present lacking to us. Many of the
practices of yoga are directed to bring about the more rapid evolution of the
atoms by quickening this spirillae vivifying work of the Monad upon it. As
these currents of the monadic life are added to the Logic vortex, the note of
life grows richer and richer in its quality. We may compare the central vortex
to the fundamental note, the whirling encircling currents to the overtones; the
addition of each overtone means an added richness to the note. New forces, new
beauties, are thus ever added to the seven-fold chord of life.
4.
THE FIVE PLANES.
The
different responses which the matter of the planes will later give under [29]
the impulse of consciousness depend on the work of the Third Logos, on the
"measure" by which He limits the atom. The atom of each plane has its
own measure, as we have seen, and this limits its power of response, its vibratory
action, and gives it its specific character. As the eye is so constituted that
it is able to respond to vibrations of ether within a certain range, so is each
type of atom, by its constitution, able to respond to vibrations within a
certain range. One plane is called the plane made of "mind-stuff",
because the "measure" of its atoms makes their dominant response that
which answers to a certain range of the vibrations of the Knowledge Aspect of
the LOGOS, as modified by the Creative Activity.[17] Another is called the
plane of "desire-stuff", because the "measure" of its
atoms makes their dominant response that which answers to a certain range of
the vibrations of the Will[18] Aspect of the LOGOS. Each type of atom has thus
its own peculiar [30] power of response, determined by its own measure of
vibration. In each atom lie involved numberless possibilities of response to
the three aspects of consciousness, and these possibilities within the atom
will be brought out of the atom as powers in the course of evolution. But the
capacity of the matter to respond, and the nature of the response, these are
determined by the original action of the triple Self on it, and by the measure
imposed on the atoms by the Third Logos; He, out of the infinite capacity of
His own multitude of vibratory powers, gives a certain portion to the matter of
a particular system in a particular cycle of evolution. This capacity is
stamped on matter by the Third Logos, and is ever maintained in matter by His
life infolded in the atom. Thus is formed the fivefold field of evolution in
which consciousness is to develop.
This
work of the Third Logos is usually spoken of as the First Life Wave. [31]
-------
CHAPTER II.
CONSCIOUSNESS.
1.
THE MEANING OF THE WORD.
LET
us now consider what we mean by consciousness, and see if this consideration
will build for us the much longed -for "bridge", which is the despair
of modern thought, between consciousness and matter, will span for us the
"gulf" alleged to exist for ever between them.
To
begin with a definition of terms consciousness and life are identical, two
names for one thing as regarded from within and from without. There is no life
without consciousness; there is no consciousness without life. When we vaguely
separate them in thought and analyse what we have done, we find that we have
called consciousness turned inward by the name of life, and life [32] turned outwards
by the name of consciousness. When our attention is fixed on unity we say
life; when it is fixed upon multiplicity we say consciousness; and we forget
that the multiplicity is due to, is the essence of, matter, the reflecting
surface in which the One becomes the Many. When it is said that life is
"more or less conscious", it is not the abstraction life that is
thought of, but "a living thing" more or less aware of its
surroundings. The more or less awareness depends on the thickness, the density,
of the enwrapping veil which makes it a living thing, separate from its
fellows. Annihilate in thought that veil and you annihilate in thought also
life, and are in THAT into which all opposites are resolved, the ALL.
This
leads us to our next point: the existence of consciousness implies a separation
into two aspects of the fundamental all-underlying UNITY. The modern name of
consciousness, "awareness", equally implies this. For you cannot hang
up awareness in the void; awareness [33] implies something of which it is
aware, a duality at the least. Otherwise it exists not. In the highest
abstraction of consciousness, of awareness, this duality is implied;
consciousness ceases if the sense of limitation be withdrawn, is dependent on
limitation for existence. Awareness is essentially awareness of limitation, and
only secondarily awareness of others. Awareness of others comes into being with
what we call Self-consciousness, Self-awareness. This abstract Twain-in-One,
consciousness - limitation, spirit - matter, life - form, are ever
inseparable, they appear and disappear together; they exist only in relation
to each other; they resolve into a necessarily unmanifest Unity, the supreme
synthesis.
"As
above, so below." Again let the "below" help us; let us look at
consciousness as it appears when considered from the side of form, as we see
it in a universe of conscious things. Electricity manifests only as positive
and negative; when these neutralise each other, electricity vanishes. In all
things electricity [34] exists, neutral, unmanifest; from all things it can
appear, but not as positive only, or as negative only; always as balancing
amounts of both, over against each other, and these ever tending to re-enter
together into apparent nothingness, which is not nothingness but the source
equally of both.
But
if this be so, what becomes of the "gulf "? what need of the
"bridge"? Consciousness and matter affect each other because they are
the two constituents of one whole, both appearing as they draw apart, both
disappearing as they unite, and as they draw apart a relation exists ever
between them.[19] There is no such thing as a conscious unit which does not
consist of this inseparate duality, a magnet with two poles ever in relation to
each other. We think of a separate something we call consciousness, and ask
how it works on another [35] separate something we call matter. There are no
such two separate somethings, but only two drawn-apart but inseparate aspects
of THAT which, without both, is unmanifest, which cannot manifest in the one or
the other alone, and is equally in both. There are no fronts without backs, no
aboves without belows, no outsides without insides, no spirit without matter.
They affect each other because inseparable parts of a unity, manifesting as a
duality in space and time. The "gulf" appears when we think of a
"spirit" wholly immaterial, and a "body" wholly material -
i.e., of two things neither of which exists. There is no spirit which is not
matter-enveloped: there is no matter which is not spirit-ensouled. The highest
separated Self has its film of matter, and though such a Self is called "a
spirit" because the consciousness aspect is so predominant, none the less
is it true that it has its vibrating sheath
of matter, and that from this sheath all impulses come forth, which
affect all other denser material sheaths in succession. To say this is not to
materialise consciousness, [36] but only to recognise the fact that the two
primary opposites, consciousness and matter, are straitly bound together, are
never apart, not even in the highest Being. Matter is limitation, and without
limitation consciousness is not. So far from materialising consciousness, it
puts it as a concept in sharp antithesis to matter, but it recognises the fact
that in an entity the one is not found without the other. The densest matter,
the physical, has its core of consciousness; the gas, the stone, the metal, is
living, conscious, aware. Thus oxygen becomes aware of hydrogen at a certain
temperature, and rushes into combination with it.
Let
us now look out of consciousness from within, and see the meaning of the
phrase: "Matter is limitation". Consciousness is the one Reality, in
the fullest sense of that much-used phrase; it follows from this that any
reality found anywhere is drawn from consciousness. Hence, everything which is
thought, is. That consciousness in which everything is, everything literally,
"possible" as well as "actual" - actual being that which is
[37] thought of as existent by a separated consciousness in time and space, and
possible all that which is not so being thought of at any period in time and
any point in space - we call Absolute Consciousness. It is the ALL, the
ETERNAL, the INFINITE, the CHANGELESS. Consciousness, thinking time and space,
and of all forms as existing in them in succession and in places, is the
Universal Consciousness, the ONE, called by the Hindu the Saguna BRAHMAN - the
ETERNAL with attributes - the
PRATYAG-ATMA - the INNER SELF; - by the
Christian, God; by the Parsi, HORMUZD;
by the Mussulman, ALLAH. Consciousness dealing with a definite time, however
long or short, with a definite space, however vast or restricted, is
individual, that of a concrete Being, a Lord of many universes, or some
universes, or a universe, or of any so-called portion of a universe, his
portion and to him therefore a universe - these terms varying as to extent with the power of the consciousness;
so much of the universal thought as a separate consciousness can completely
think, i.e., on which he can [38] impose his own reality, can think of as
existing like himself, is his universe. To each universe, the Being who is its
Lord gives a share of his own indefeasible Reality; but is ever himself limited
and controlled by the thought of his superior, the Lord of the universe in
which he exists as a form. Thus we, who are human beings, existing in a solar
system, are surrounded by innumerable forms which are the thought-forms of the
LORD of our system, our ISHVARA, or RULER; the "divine measure" and
the "axes of growth", thought by the Third Logos, govern the forms of
our atoms, and the surface thought of by Him as the limit of the atom and
resistant, offers resistance to all similar atoms. Thus we receive our matter,
and cannot alter it, save by the
employment of methods also made by His thought; only so long as His
thought continues can the atoms, with all composed of them, continue to exist,
since they have no Reality save that given by His thought. So long as He
retains them as His body by declaring: "I am this; these atoms are My
body; they share My life"; so [39] long they will impose themselves as
real on all the beings in this solar system, whose consciousnesses are clothed
in similar garments. When at the end of the Day of Manifestation He declares:
"I am not this; these atoms are no longer My body; they no longer share My
life"; then shall they vanish as the dream they are, and only that shall
remain which is the thought-form of the Monarch of a vaster system.
Thus,
as Spirits, we are inherently, indefensibly divine, with all the splendour and
freedom implied in that word. But we are clothed in matter which is not ours,
which is the thought-forms of the RULER of our system - controlled again by the
RULERS of vaster systems in which ours is included - and we are only slowly
learning to master and use it. When we realise our oneness with our RULER, then
the matter shall have no longer power over us, and we shall see it as the
unreality it is, dependent on His will, which then we shall know as also ours.
Then we can "play" with it, as we cannot while it blinds us with its
borrowed Reality. [40]
Looking
thus out of consciousness from within, we see even more plainly than we saw looking at it from the world of forms,
that there is no "gulf", and no need for a "bridge".
Consciousness changes, and each change appears in the matter surrounding it as
a vibration, because the LOGOS has thought vibrations of matter as the
invariable concomitant of changes in consciousness; and as the matter is but the
resultant of consciousness and its
attributes are imposed upon it by active
thought, any change in the Logic Consciousness would change the
attributes of the matter of the system,
and any change in a consciousness derived from Him shows itself in that matter
as a change; this change in matter is a vibration, a rhythmical movement within the limits set by
Him for the mobility of masses of matter in that relation. "Change in consciousness
and vibration of the matter limiting it" is a "pair", imposed by
the thought of the Locos on all embodied consciousnesses in His universe.
That such a constant relation exists is
shown by the fact that a vibration in a material [41] sheath accompanying a
change in the ensouling consciousness, and causing a similar vibration in the
sheath ensouled by another consciousness, is found to be accompanied by a
change in that second consciousness similar to the change in the first.
In
matter far subtler than the physical - as mind-stuff - the creative power of consciousness
is more readily seen than in the dense material of the physical plane. Matter
becomes dense or rare, and changes its combinations and forms, according to the
thoughts of a consciousness active therein. While the fundamental atoms - due
to the Logic thought - remain unchanged, they can be combined or dissociated
at will. Such experiences open the mind to the metaphysical conception of
matter, and enable it to realise at once the borrowed reality and the nonentity
of matter.
A
word of warning may be useful with regard to the often repeated phrases of
"Consciousness in a body", "Consciousness ensouling a
body", and the like. The student is a little apt to figure consciousness
[42] as a kind of rarefied gas enclosed in a material receptacle, a kind of
bottle. If he will think carefully he will realise that the resistant surface
of the body is but a Logic thought-form, and it is there because thought there.
Consciousness appears as conscious entities, because the LOGOS thinks such
separations, thinks the enclosing walls, makes such thought limitations. And
these thoughts of the LOGOS are due to His unity with the Universal SELF, and
are but a repetition within the area of a particular universe of the Will to
multiply.
A
careful dwelling in mind on the distinctions above traced between Absolute
Consciousness, Universal Consciousness, and Individual Consciousness, will
prevent the student from asking the question so often heard: Why is there any
universe? Why does All-Consciousness limit itself? Why should the Perfect
become the imperfect, All-Power become the powerless, God become the mineral,
the brute, the man? In this form the question is unanswerable, for it is
founded on false premises. The Perfect is the All, the Totality, the Sum of
Being. Within [43] its infinity, as above said, is everything contained, every
potentiality, as well as actuality, of existence. All that has been, is, will
be, can be, ever is in that Fulness, that ETERNAL. Only Itself knows Itself in
its infinite unimaginable wealth of Being. Because it contains all pairs of
opposites, and each pair, in affirming itself, to the eye of reason annihilates
itself and vanishes, It seems a Void. But endless universes arising in It
proclaim It a Plenum. This Perfect never becomes the imperfect; it becomes
nothing; It as all Spirit and Matter, Strength and Weakness, Knowledge and
Ignorance, Peace and Strife, Bliss and Pain, Power and Impotence; the
innumerable opposites of manifestation merge into each other and vanish in
non-manifestation. The All includes manifestation and non-manifestation, the
diastole and systole of the Heart which is Being. The one no more requires
explanation than the other; the one cannot be without the other. The puzzle
arises because men assert separately one of the inseparate pair of opposites -
Spirit, Strength, Knowledge, [44] Peace, Bliss, Power - and then ask: "Why
should these become their opposites?" They do not. No attribute exists
without its opposite; a pair only can manifest; every front has a back, spirit
and matter arise together; it is not that spirit exists, and then miraculously
produces matter to limit and blind itself, but that spirit and matter arise in
the ETERNAL simultaneously as a mode of Its Being, a form of Self-expression of
the All, Pratyagatma and Mulaprakriti, expressing in time and space the
Timeless and Spaceless.
2.
THE MONADS.
We
have seen that by the action of the Third Logos a five-fold field has been
provided for the development of Units of Consciousness, and that a Unit of
Consciousness is a fragment, a portion of the Universal Consciousness, thought
into separation as an individual entity veiled in matter, a Unit of the
substance of the First Logos, to be sent forth on the second plane as a
separate Being. [45] Such Units are called technically Monads. These are the
Sons, abiding from everlasting, from the beginning of a creative age, in the
Bosom of the Father, who have not yet been "made perfect through sufferings";[20] each of them is truly
"equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, but inferior to the Father
as touching his manhood"[21], and each of them is to go forth into matter
in order to render all things subject to himself[22]; he is to be "sown in
weakness" that he may be "raised in power"[23]; from a static
Logos enfolding all divine potentialities, he is to become a dynamic Logos
unfolding all divine powers; omniscient, omnipresent, on his own second plane,
but unconscious, "senseless", on all the others,[24] he is to veil
his glory in matter that blinds him, in order that he may become omniscient,
omnipresent, on all planes, able to answer to all divine vibrations in the
universe instead of to those on the highest only. [46]
The
meaning of this feeble description of a great truth may be glimpsed by the student
by a consideration of the facts of embryonic life and birth. When an Ego is
re-incarnating, he broods over the human mother in whom his future body is a
building, the vehicle he will one day inhabit. That body is slowly built up of
the substance of the mother, and the Ego can do little as to its shaping: it is
an embryo, unconscious of its future, dimly
conscious only of the flow of the maternal life, impressed by maternal
hopes and fears, thoughts and desires; nothing from the Ego affects it, save a
feeble influence coming through the permanent physical atom, and it does not
share, because it cannot answer to, the wide-reaching thoughts, the aspiring
emotions of the Ego, as expressed by him in his causal body. That embryo must
develop, must gradually assume a human form, must enter on an independent life,
separate from that of his mother, must pass through seven years - as men count
time - of such independent life, ere the Ego can fully ensoul it. But during
that slow evolution, with [47] its infantile helplessness, its childish
follies, pleasures and pains, the Ego to whom it belongs is carrying on his own
wider, richer, life, and is gradually coming into nearer and nearer touch with
this body, in which alone he can work in the physical world, his touch being
manifested as the growth of the brain-consciousness.
The
condition of the Monad in relation to the evolution of his consciousness in a
universe resembles that of the Ego in relation to his new physical body. His
own world is that of the second, the anupadaka, plane, and there he is fully
conscious with the all-embracing SELF-consciousness of his world, but not at
first of selves, among whom he is separate, of "others". Let us try
to see the stages through which he passes. He is first a spark in a flame:
"I sense one Flame, O Gurudeva; I see countless undetached sparks shining
in it"[25]. The Flame is the First Logos, the undetached sparks the
Monads. His Will to manifest is also theirs, for they are the germ-cells in His
[48] body, that will presently have a separate life in His coming universe.
Moved by this Will, the sparks share the change called "the begetting of
the Son", and pass into the Second Logos and dwell in Him. Then, with the
"proceeding" of the Third, there comes to them from Him the
"spiritual individuality", that H. P. Blavatsky speaks of, the
dawning separateness. But still there is no sense of "others", needed
to re-act as the sense of "I". The three aspects of consciousness,
theirs as sharing the Logic life, are still, to use a figure of speech,
"turned inwards", playing on each other, asleep, unaware of a
"without", sharing the all-SELF-consciousness. The great Beings,
called the Creative Orders,[26] arouse them to "outer" life; Will,
Wisdom, Activity awake to awareness of the "without"; a dim sense of
"others" arises, so far as "others" may be in a world where
all "'forms' intermingle and interpenetrate," and each becomes
"an individual Dhyan Chohan, distinct from others".[27] [49] At the
first stage, spoken of above, when the Monads are, in the fullest sense[28] of
the term, undetached, as "germ-cells in His body", the Will, Wisdom,
and Activity in them are latent, not potent. His Will to manifest is also their
will, but theirs unconsciously; He, Self-conscious, knows His object and His
path; they, not yet Self-conscious, have in them, as parts of His body, the
moving energy of His Will, which will presently be their own individual Will
to Live, and which impels them into the conditions wherein a separate-Self-conscious,
instead of an all-Self-conscious, life is possible. This leads them to the
second stage in the life of the Second Logos, and to the Third. Then,
comparatively separate, the awakening by the Creative Orders brings with it the
"dim sense of 'others'" and of "I", and with this a thrill
of longing for a more clearly-defined sense of "I" and of
"others"; and this is the "individual Will to Live", and
this leads them forth [50] into the denser worlds, wherein such sharper
definition alone becomes possible.
It
is important to understand that the evolution of the individual "I"
is a Self-chosen activity. We are here because we Will to Live; "none else
compels". This aspect of consciousness, the Will, is dealt with in later
chapters of this book, and here we need only emphasise the fact that the Monads
are Self-moved, Self-determined, in their entry into the lower planes of
matter, the field of manifestation, the five-fold universe. To their vehicles
in it, they remain as the Ego to his physical body, with their radiant divine
life in loftier spheres, but brooding over their lower vehicles and manifesting
more and more in them as they become more plastic. H. P. Blavatsky speaks of
this, as the "Monad is cycling on downwards into matter".[29]
Everywhere
in nature we see this same striving after fuller manifestation of life, this
constant Will to Live. The seed, buried in the ground, pushes its growing [51]
point upwards to the light. The bud fettered in its sheathing calyx bursts its
prison and expands in the sunshine. The chick within the egg splits its
confining shell in twain. Everywhere life seeks expression, powers press to
exercise themselves. See the painter, the sculptor, the poet, with creative
genius struggling within him; to create yields the subtlest pleasure, the
keenest savour of exquisite delight. Therein is but another instance of the
omnipresent nature of life, whether in the LOGOS, the genius, or in the
ephemeral creature of a day; all joy in the bliss of living, and feel most
alive when they multiply themselves by creation. To feel life expressing
itself, flowing forth, expanding, increasing, this is at once the result of
the Will to Live, and its fruition in the Bliss of living.
Some
of the Monads, willing to live through the toils of the five-fold universe, in
order to master matter and in turn to create a universe therein, enter into it
to become a developed God therein, a Tree of Life, another Fount of Being. The
shaping of a universe is the Day of [52] Forth-going; living is becoming; life
knows itself by change. Those who will not to become masters of matter,
creators, remain in their static bliss, excluded from the five-fold universe,
unconscious of its activities. For it must be remembered that all the seven
planes are interpenetrating, and that Consciousness on any plane means the
power of answering to the vibrations of that particular plane. Just as a man
may be conscious on the physical plane because his physical body is organised
to receive and transmit to him its vibrations, but be totally unconscious of
the higher planes though their vibrations are playing on him, because he has
not yet organised sufficiently his higher bodies to receive and transmit to him
their vibrations; so is the Monad, the Unit of Consciousness, able to be conscious
on the second plane, but totally unconscious on the lower five.
He
will evolve his consciousness on these by taking from each plane some of its
matter, veiling himself in this matter and forming it into a sheath by which he
can come into contact with [53] that plane, gradually organising this sheath of
matter into a body capable of functioning on its own plane as an expression of
himself, receiving vibrations from the plane and transmitting them to him,
receiving vibrations from him and transmitting them to the plane. As he veils
himself in the matter of each successive plane he shuts away some of his
consciousness, that of it which is too subtle for receiving or setting up
vibrations in the matter of that plane. He has within him seven typical vibratory
powers - each capable of producing an indefinite number of sub-vibrations of
its own type - and these are shut off one by one as he endues veil after veil
of grosser matter. The powers in consciousness of expressing itself in certain
typical ways - using the word power in the mathematical sense, consciousness
"to the third", consciousness "to the fourth", etc.- are
seen in matter as what we call dimensions. The physical power of consciousness
has its expression in "three-dimensional matter", while the astral,
mental, and other powers of [54] consciousness need for their expression other
dimensions of matter.
Speaking
thus of Monads, we may feel as if we were dealing with something far away. Yet
is the Monad very near to us, our SELF, the very root of our being, the
innermost source of our life, the one Reality. Hidden, unmanifest, wrapt in
silence and darkness is our Self, but our consciousness is the limited
manifestation of that Self, the manifested God in the kosmos of our bodies,
which are His garments. As the Unmanifest is partially manifest in the LOGOS,
as Divine Consciousness, and in the universe as the Body of the LOGOS[30], so
is our unmanifest Self partially manifest in our consciousness, as the Logos
of our individual system, and in our
body as the kosmos which clothes the consciousness. As above, so below.
This
hidden SELF it is which is called the Monad, being verily the One. It is this
which gives the subtle sense of unity [55] that ever persists in us amid all
changes; the sense of identity has here its source, for this is the ETERNAL in
us. The three out-streaming rays which come from the Monad - to be dealt with
presently - are his three aspects, or modes of being, or hypostases,
reproducing the Logoi of a universe, the Will, Wisdom, and Activity which are
the three essential expressions of embodied consciousness, the familiar
Atma-Buddhi-Manas of the Theosophist.
This
consciousness ever works as a unit on the various planes, but shows out its triplicity
on each. When we study consciousness working on the mental plane, we see Will
appearing as choice, Wisdom as discrimination, Activity as cognition. On the
astral plane we see Will appearing as desire, Wisdom as love, Activity as sensation.
On the physical plane, Will has for its instruments the motor organs (karmendriyas),
Wisdom the cerebral hemispheres, Activity the organs of sense (jnanendriyas).[31]
[56]
The
full manifestation of these three aspects of consciousness in their highest
forms takes place in man in the same order as the manifestation of the triple
LOGOS in the universe. The third aspect, Activity, revealed as the creative
mind, as the gatherer of knowledge, is the first to perfect its vehicles, and
show forth its full energies. The second aspect, Wisdom, revealed as the Pure
and Compassionate Reason, is the second to shine forth, the
-------
CHAPTER III.
THE
PEOPLING OF THE FIELD.
1.
THE COMING
WHEN
the five-fold field is ready, when the five planes, each with its seven
sub-planes, are completed, so far as their primary constitution is concerned,
then begins the activity of the Second Logos, the Builder and Preserver of
forms. His activity is spoken of as the Second Life Wave, the pouring out of
Wisdom and Love - the Wisdom, the directing force, needed for the organisation
and evolution of forms, the Love, the attractive force, needed for holding them together as stable
though complex wholes. When this great stream of Logic life pours forth into
the five-fold field of manifestation, it brings with it into activity the
Monads, the Units of Consciousness, ready to begin their [58] work of
evolution, to clothe themselves in matter.
Yet
the phrase that the Monads go forth is somewhat inaccurate; that they shine
forth, send out their rays of life, would be truer. For they remain ever
"in the bosom of the Father", while their life-rays stream out into
the ocean of matter, and therein appropriate the materials needed for their
energising in the universe. The matter must be appropriated, rendered plastic,
shaped into fitting vehicles.
H.
P. Blavatsky has described their forth-shining in graphic allegorical terms,
using a symbolism more expressive than literal-meaning words: "The
primordial triangle, which - as soon as it has reflected itself in the
'Heavenly Man', the highest of the lower seven - disappears, returning into
'Silence and Darkness'; and the astral paradigmatic man, whose Monad (Atma) is
also represented by a triangle, as it has to become a ternary in conscious
devachanic interludes"[32]. The primordial triangle, or the three-faced
Monad of Will, [59] Wisdom, and Activity, "reflects itself" in the
"Heavenly Man", as Atma-Buddhi Manas, and then "returns into Silence
and Darkness". Atma - often spoken of as the Monad of the lower, or astral
man - has to become a ternary, a triple-faced unit, by assimilating Buddhi and
Manas. The word "reflexion" demands explanation here. Speaking
generally, the term reflexion is used when a force manifested on a higher plane
shows itself again on a lower plane, and is conditioned by a grosser kind of
matter in that lower manifestation, so that some of the effective energy of the
force is lost, and it shows itself in a feebler form. As now used in a special
instance, it means that a stream of the life of the Monad pours forth, taking
as the vessel to contain it an atom from each of the three higher planes of the
five-fold field -the third, the fourth, and the fifth - thus producing the
"Heavenly Man", the "Living Ruler, Immortal", the Pilgrim
who is to evolve, for whose evolution the system was brought into being.
"As
the mighty vibrations of the Sun throw matter into the vibrations we call [60]
his rays (which express his heat, electricity, and other energies), so does the
Monad cause the atomic matter of the atmic, buddhic, and manasic planes -
surrounding him as the ether of space surrounds the Sun - to vibrate, and thus
makes to himself a Ray, triple like his own three-fold nature. In this he is
aided by Devas from a previous universe who have passed through a similar
experience before; these guide the vibratory wave from the Will aspect to the
atmic atom, and the atmic atom, vibrating to the Will-aspect, is called Atma;
they guide the vibratory wave from the
Wisdom-aspect to the buddhic atom, and the buddhic atom, vibrating to the
Wisdom-aspect, is called Buddhi; also they guide the vibratory wave from the
Activity-aspect to the manasic atom, and the manasic atom, vibrating to the
Activity-aspect, is called Manas. Thus Atma-Buddhi-Manas, the Monad in the
world of manifestation, is formed, the Ray of the Monad, beyond the five-fold
universe. Here is the mystery of the Watcher, the Spectator, the action-less
Atma, who abides ever in his triple [61] nature on his own plane, and lives in
the world of men by his Ray, which animates his shadows, the fleeting lives on
earth. . The shadows do the work on the lower planes, and are moved by the
Monad through his Image or Ray; at first so feebly that his influence is
well-nigh imperceptible, later with ever-increasing power."[33]
Atma-Buddhi-Manas
is the Heavenly Man, the Spiritual Man, and he is the expression of the Monad, whose
reflected aspect of Will is Atma, whose reflected aspect of Wisdom is Buddhi,
whose reflected aspect of Activity is Manas. Hence we may regard the human Atma
as the Will-aspect of the Monad, ensouling an akashic atom; the human Buddhi as
the Wisdom-aspect of the Monad, ensouling an air (divine flame) atom; the human
Manas as the Activity-aspect of the Monad, ensouling a fiery atom. Thus in
Atma-Buddhi-Manas, the spiritual Triad,
or the Heavenly [62] Man, we have the three aspects, or energies, of the Monad,
embodied in atomic matter, and this is the "Spirit" in man, the
Jivatma or Life-Self, the separated
Self.[34] It is the germinal Spirit, and in its third aspect the "baby
Ego". It is identical in nature with the Monad, is the Monad, but is
lessened in force and activity by the veils of matter round it. This lessening
of power must not blind us to the identity of nature. We must ever remember
that the human consciousness is a unit, and that though its manifestations
vary, these variations are only due to the predominance of one or other of its
aspects and to the relative density of the materials in which an aspect is
working. Its manifestations, thus conditioned, vary, but it is itself ever one.
Such
part, then, of the consciousness of the Monad as can express itself in a fivefold
universe enters at first thus into the higher matter of this universe,
embodying itself in an atom of each of the three [63] higher planes; having
thus shone forth and appropriated these atoms for his own use, the Monad has
begun his work; in his own subtle nature
he cannot as yet descend below the anupadaka plane, and he is therefore said to
be in "Silence and Darkness",
unmanifest; but he lives and works in and by means of these appropriated
atoms, which form the garment of his life on the planes nearest to his own. We
may figure this action thus:
[64]
This
spiritual Triad, as it is often called, Atma-Buddi-Manas, the Jivatma, is
described as a seed, a germ, of divine Life, containing the potentialities of
its own heavenly Father, its Monad, to be unfolded into powers in the course of
evolution. This is the "manhood" of the divine Son of the First
Logos, animated by the "Godhead", the Monad - a mystery truly, but
one which is repeated in many forms around us.
And
now the nature, which was free in the subtle matter of his own plane, becomes
bound by the denser matter, and his powers of consciousness cannot as yet
function in this blinding veil. He is therein as a mere germ, an embryo,
powerless, senseless, helpless, while the Monad on his own plane is strong,
conscious, capable, so far as his internal life is concerned; the one is the
Monad in Eternity, the other is the Monad in time and space; the content of the
Monad eternal is to become the extent of the Monad temporal and spatial. This
at present embryonic life will evolve into a complex being, the expression of
the [65] Monad on each plane of the universe. All-powerful internally on his
own subtle plane, he is at first powerless, fettered, helpless, when enwrapped
externally in denser matter, unable to receive through it, or to give out
through it, vibrations. But he will gradually master the matter that at first
enslaves him; slowly, surely, he will mould it for Self-expression; he is aided
and watched over by the all-sustaining and preserving Second Logos, until he
can live in it fully as he lives above, and become in his turn a creative Logos
and bring forth out of himself a universe. The power of creating a universe is
only gained, according to THE WISDOM, by involving within the Self all that is
later to be put forth. A Logos does not create out of nothing, but evolves all
from Himself; and from the experiences we are now passing through, we are
gathering the materials out of which we may build a system in the future.
But
this spiritual Triad, this Jivatma, which is the Monad in the five-fold
universe, cannot himself commence at [66] once any separate self-directed
activity. He cannot gather round himself any aggregations of matter as yet, but
can only abide in his atomic vesture. The life of the Second Logos is to him as
its mother's womb to the embryo, and within this the building begins. We may,
in very truth, regard this stage of evolution, in which the Logos shapes,
nourishes, and develops the germinating life, as being, for the Heavenly Man,
or truly the Heavenly Embryo, a period corresponding to the ante-natal life of
a human being, during which he is slowly obtaining a body, which is nourished
meanwhile by the life-currents of the mother and formed out of her substance.
Thus also with the Jivatma, enclosing the life of the Monad; he must await the
building of his body on the lower planes, and he cannot emerge from this
ante-natal life and be "born", until there is a body builded on the
lower planes. The "birth" takes place at the formation of the causal
body, when the Heavenly Man is manifested as an infant Ego, a true
Individuality, dwelling in a body on the physical plane. A little [67] careful
thought will show how close is the analogy between the evolution of the Pilgrim
and that of each successive rebirth; in the latter case the Jivatma awaits the
formation of the physical body which is building as his habitation; in the
former the spiritual Triads, as a Collectivity, await the, building of the
systemic Quaternary. Until the vehicle on the lowest plane is ready, all is a
preparation for evolution, rather than evolution itself - it is often termed
involution. The evolution of the consciousness must begin by contacts received
by its outermost vehicle; that is, it must begin on the physical plane. It can
only become aware of an outside by impacts on its own outside; until then it
dreams within itself, as the faint inner thrillings ever outwelling from the
Monad cause slight outward-tending
pressures in the Jivatma, like a spring of water beneath the earth, seeking are
outlet.
2.
THE WEAVING.
Meanwhile
the preparation for the awakening, the giving of qualities to [68] matter, that
which may be likened to the formation of the tissues of the future body, is
done by the life-power of the Second Logos - the second life-wave, rolling
through plane after plane, imparting its own qualities to that seven-fold
proto-matter. The life-wave, as said above, carries the Jivatmas with it as far
as the atomic sub-plane of the fifth plane, the plane of Fire, of
individualised creative power, of mind. Here they each have already an atom,
the manasic, or mental veil of the Monad, the Logos flooding these and the
remaining atoms of the plane with His life. All these atoms, forming the whole
atomic sub-plane, whether free or attached to Jivatmas, may rightly be termed
Monadic Essence; but as in the course of evolution, presently to be explained,
differences arise between the attached and the non-attached atoms, the term Monadic
Essence is usually employed for the non-attached, while the attached are
called, for reasons which will appear, "permanent atoms". We may
define Monadic Essence then as atomic matter ensouled by the life of the [69]
Second Logos. It is His clothing for the vivifying and holding together of
forms; He is clad in atomic matter. His own life as Logos, separate from the
life of Atma-Buddhi-Manas in the man, separate from any lives on the plane -
though He supports, permeates, and
includes them all - is clothed only in atomic matter, and it is this which is
connoted by the term of Monadic Essence. The matter of that plane, already by the nature of its atoms[35]
capable of responding by vibrations to active thought-changes, is thrown by the
second life-wave into combinations fit to express thoughts - abstract thoughts
in the subtler matter, concrete thoughts in the coarser. The combinations of
the second and third higher sub-planes constitute the
The
second life-wave then rolls on into the sixth plane, the plane of Water, or
individualised sensation, of desire. The before-mentioned Devas link the
Jivatma - attached, or permanent, units of the fifth plane to a corresponding
number of atoms on the sixth plane, and the Second Logos floods these and the
remaining atoms with His own life - these atoms thus becoming Monadic Essence
as explained above. The life-wave passes onwards, forming on each sub-plane the
combinations fit to express sensations. These combinations constitute the
Elemental
Essence is thus seen to consist of aggregations of matter on each of the six
non-atomic sub-planes of the mental and desire planes, aggregations which do
not themselves serve as forms for any entity to inhabit, but as the [71]
materials out of which such forms may be built.
The
life-wave then rolls on into the seventh plane, the plane of Earth, of
individualised activities, of actions. As before the Jivatma-attached, or
permanent, atoms of the sixth plane are linked to a corresponding number on the
seventh plane, and the Second Logos floods these and the remaining atoms with
His own life - all these atoms thus becoming Monadic Essence. The life-wave
again passes onwards, forming on each sub-plane combinations fitted to
constitute physical bodies, the future chemical elements, as they are called on
the three lower sub-planes.
Looking
at this work of the second life wave as a whole, we see that its downward
sweep is concerned with what may fairly be called the making of primary tissues,
out of which hereafter subtle and dense bodies are to be formed. Well has it
been called in some ancient scriptures a "weaving", for such it
literally is. The materials prepared by the Third Logos are woven by the Second
Logos into threads [72] and into cloths of which future garments the subtle
and dense bodies - will be made. As a man may take separate threads of flax,
cotton, silk-themselves combinations of a simpler kind - and weave these into
linens, into cotton or silk cloth, these cloths in turn to be shaped into
garments by cutting and stitching, so does the second Logos weave the matter-threads,
weave these again into tissues, and then shape them into forms. He is the
Eternal Weaver, while we might think of the Third Logos as the Eternal Chemist.
The latter works in nature as in a laboratory, the former as in a manufactory.
These similes, materialistic as they are, are not to be despised, for they are
crutches to aid our limping attempts to understand.
This
"weaving" gives to matter its characteristics, as the characteristics
of the thread differ from those of the raw material, as the characteristics of
the cloth differ from those of the threads. The Logos weaves the two kinds of
cloth of manasic matter, of mind-stuff, and out of these will be made later the
causal and the mental [73] bodies. He weaves the cloth of astral matter, of
desire-stuff, and out of this will be made later the desire body. That is to
say, that the combinations of matter formed and held together by the second
life-wave have the characteristics which will act on the Monad when he comes
into touch with others, and will enable him to act on them. So will he be able
to receive all kinds of vibrations, mental, sensory, etc. The characteristics
depend on the nature of the aggregations. There are seven great types, fixed by
the nature of the atom, and within these innumerable sub-types. All this goes
to the making of the materials of the mechanism of consciousness, which will
be conditioned by all these textures, colourings, densities.
In
this downward sweep of the life-wave through the fifth, sixth, and seventh
planes, downward till the densest matter is reached, and the wave turns at that
point to begin its sweep upwards, we must think, then, of its work as that of
forming combinations which show qualities, and so we sometimes speak of this
work as the giving of qualities. In the upward sweep we shall [74] find that
bodies are built out of the matter thus prepared. But before we study the
shaping of these, we must consider the seven-fold division of this life-wave in
its descent, and the coming forth of the "Shining Ones", the
"Devas", the "Angels", the "Elementals", that
belong also to this downward sweep. These are the "Minor Gods" of
whom Plato speaks, from whom man derives his perishable bodies.
3.
THE SEVEN STREAMS.
The
question is constantly asked: Why this continual play by Theosophists upon the
number seven? We speak of it as the "root-number of our system", and
there is one obvious reason why this number should play an active part in the
grouping of things, since we are concerned with the triplicities previously
mentioned and explained. A triad naturally produces a septenate by its own
internal relations, since its three factors can group themselves in seven ways
and no more. We have spoken of [75] matter, outside the limits of a universe,
as having the three qualities of matter - inertia, mobility, and rhythm - in a
state of equilibrium. When the life of the Logos causes motion, we have at once
the possibility of seven groups, for in any given atom, or group of atoms, one
or other of these qualities may be more strongly energised than the others, and
thus a predominant quality will be shown forth. We may thus have three groups,
in one of which inertia will predominate, in mobility, in a third rhythm. Each
of these, again, subdivides, according to the predominance in it of one or
other of the remaining two qualities: thus in one of the two inertia groups,
mobility may predominate over rhythm, and in the other rhythm over mobility,
and so with the other two groups of mobility and rhythm. Hence arise the
well-known types, classified according to the predominant quality, usually
designated by their Samskrit terms, satvic, rajasic, and tamasic, rhythmical,
mobile, and inert, and we have satvic, rajasic, and tamasic foods, [76]
animals, men, etc.. And we obtain seven groups in all: six subdivisions of the
three, and a seventh in which the three qualities are equally active. [The
varieties of type are simply intended to mark in each triad the relative
energies of the qualities.]
The
Life of the Logos, which is to flow into this matter, itself manifests in seven
streams, or rays.
These
arise similarly out of the three Aspects of Consciousness present in Him, as in
all consciousnesses, since all are manifestations of the Universal SELF. These
are Bliss, or Ichchha, Will; Cognition, or Jnanam, Wisdom; [77] Existence, or
Kriya, Activity. So we have the seven streams or rays, of Logic life:
All
things may be regarded as grouped under these seven headings, the seven streams
of Logic life composing the second life-wave, and we may think of it as flowing
through the planes, descending through them; so that, if we draw the planes
horizontally, the life-wave would sweep vertically downwards through them.
Moreover in each stream there will be
seven primary sub-divisions, according to the type of matter concerned,
and within these secondary sub-divisions, according to the proportions of the
qualities within each type, and so on and on in [78] innumerable variations.
Into these we need not enter. It is enough to notice the seven types of matter
and the seven types of consciousnesses. The seven streams of Logic life show
out as the seven types of consciousnesses, and within each of these the seven
types of matter-combinations are found. There are to be seen seven distinct
types in each of the three Elemental Kingdoms and on the physical plane. Mme.
Blavatsky, in The Secret Doctrine, dealing with man, quotes from the stanzas of
the Book of Dzyan, the fact that there were: "Seven of Them [Creators]
each on His lot", forming the seven types of men, and these subdivided: "Seven times seven shadows
of future men were born"[36]. Here is the root of the differing temperaments
of men.
4.
THE SHINING ONES.
We
have now to consider another result of the downward-sweeping Life-Wave. We have
seen that it gives qualities to [79] aggregations of matter on the fifth and
sixth planes, and that we have in the First Elemental Kingdom materials ready
to clothe abstract thoughts; in the Second Elemental Kingdom materials ready to
clothe concrete thoughts; in the Third
Elemental Kingdom materials ready to clothe desires. But in addition to
imparting qualities to aggregations of matter, the Second Logos gives forth,
during this stage of His descent, evolved beings, at various stages of
development, who form the normal and typical inhabitants of these three
kingdoms. These beings have been brought over by the Logos from a preceding
evolution, and are sent forth from the treasure-house of His life, to inhabit
the plane for which their development fits them; and to cooperate with Him, and
later with man, in the working-out of His scheme of evolution. They have
received various names in the various religions, but all religions recognise
the fact of their existence and of their work. The Samskrit name Devas - the
Shining Ones - is the most general, and aptly describes the most marked
characteristic of their [80] appearance, a brilliant luminous radiance.[37] The
Hebrew, Christian, and Muhammadan religions call them Archangels and Angels.
The Theosophist - to avoid sectarian connotations - names them, after their
habitat, Elementals; and this title has the further advantage that it reminds
the student of their connection with the five "Elements" of the
ancient world: Ether, Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. For there are similar beings
of a higher type on the atmic and buddhic planes, as well as the Fire and Water
Elementals of the mental and desire planes, and the ethereal Elementals of the
physical. These beings have bodies formed out of the elemental essence of the
kingdom to which they belong, flashing many-hued bodies, changing form at the
will of the indwelling entity. They form a vast host, ever actively at work,
labouring at the elemental essence to improve its [81] quality, taking it to
form their own bodies, throwing it off and taking other portions of it, to
render it more responsive; they are also constantly busied in the shaping of
forms, in aiding human Egos on the way to re-incarnation in building their new
bodies, bringing materials of the needed kind and helping in its arrangements.
The less advanced the Ego the greater the directive work of the Deva; with
animals they do almost all the work, and practically all with vegetables and
minerals. They are the active agents in the work of the Logos, carrying out all
the details of His world-plan, and aiding the countless evolving lives to find
the materials they need for their clothing. All antiquity recognised the
indispensable work they do in the worlds, and
At
the stage we are considering, however, all this work, except that of the
improvement of the elemental essence, lay in the far future, but the Shining
Ones laboured diligently at that improvement.
There
was thus a vast work of preparation accomplished before anything in the way of
physical forms, such as we should recognise, could appear; a vast labour at the
Form side of things before embodied consciousnesses, save that of the Logos and
His Shining Ones, could do anything at all. That which was to be human
consciousness at this point was a seed, sown on the higher planes, unconscious
of all without it. Under the impelling warmth of the Logic life, it sends out
[83] a tiny rootlet downwards, which pushes its way into the lower planes,
blindly, unconsciously, and this rootlet must form cur next object of study.
[84]
-------
CHAPTER I V.
THE
PERMANENT ATOM.
1.
THE ATTACHING OF THE ATOMS.
LET
us consider the spiritual Triad, the tri-atomic Atma-Buddhi-Manas, the Jivatma,
the seed of consciousness, within which the warmth of the stream of Logic life,
which surrounds it, is causing faint thrillings of responsive life. These are
internal thrillings, preparatory to external activities. After long preparation,
a tiny thread, like a minute rootlet, appears, proceeding from the tri-atomic
molecule ensheathing consciousness, a golden-coloured thread of life sheathed
in buddhic matter; countless such threads appear from the countless Jivatmas,
waving vaguely at first in the seven great streams of life, and then becoming
anchored - if the expression may be [85] permitted - by attachment to a single
molecule or unit, on the fourth mental sub-plane. This anchoring - like the
previous one to the three higher atoms, and like the later ones to the astral
and physical atoms - is brought about by the action of the Shining Ones. Round
this attached unit gather temporary aggregations of elemental essence of the
This
whole process is repeated, when the
Once
more is the process repeated, when the great wave has travelled onwards into
the physical plane. The tiny thread of [88] buddhic-ensheathed life, with its
attached mental and desire units, pushes outwards once more, and annexes a
physical atom, adding this to itself as its stable centre on the physical plane.
Round this gather ethereal molecules, but the heavier physical matter is more
coherent than the subtler matter of the higher planes, and a much longer term
of life may be observed. Then - as are formed the ethereal types of the
proto-metals, and later proto-metals, metals, non-metallic elements, and
minerals - the Shining Ones of the Ethereal Physical Kingdom submerge these
attached atoms in their sheaths of ether into the one of the seven ethereal
types to which they respectively belong, and they begin their long physical
evolution. Before we can follow this further we must consider Group-Souls,
which on the atomic sub-plane receive their third enveloping layer. But it
will be well to pause for a while on the nature and the function of these
permanent atoms, the tri-units, or triads, which are as a reflexion on the
lower planes of the spiritual Triads on the higher, and each of which is
attached to [89] a spiritual Triad, its Jivatma. Each triad consists of a
physical atom, an astral atom, and a mental unit, permanently attached by a
thread of buddhic matter to a spiritual Triad. That thread has sometimes been
called the Sutratma, the Thread-Self, because the permanent particles are
threaded on it as "beads on a string".[39]
We
may again resort to a diagram, showing the relation.
[90]
2.
THE WEB OF LIFE.
It
has been said that the connexion with the spiritual Triad is through buddhic
matter, and this is indicated in the diagram by the dotted line which connects
the atoms coming down from the line in the buddhic plane, and not from the
manasic atom. It is of buddhic matter that is spun the marvellous web of life
which supports and vivifies all our bodies. If the bodies be looked at with
buddhic vision, they all disappear, and in their places is seen a shimmering
golden web of inconceivable fineness and delicate beauty, a tracery of all
their parts, in a network with minute meshes. This is formed of buddhic matter,
and within these meshes the coarser atoms are built together. Closer inspection
shows that the whole network is formed of a single thread, which is a
prolongation of the Sutratma. During the antenatal life of the babe, this
thread grows out from the permanent physical atom and branches out in every
direction, this growth continuing until the physical body is full grown; during
physical life the prana, the life-[91]breath, plays ever along it, following
all its branches and meshes; at death it is withdrawn, leaving the particles of
the body to scatter; it may be watched, slowly disentangling itself from the
dense physical matter, the life-breath accompanying it, and drawing itself
together in the heart round the permanent atom; as it withdraws, the deserted
limbs grow cold - its absence makes the "death-chill"; the
golden-violet flame of the life-breath is seen shining around it in the heart,
and the flame, and the golden life-web, and the
permanent atom rise along the secondary Sushumna-nadi[40] to the head,
into the third ventricle of the brain; the eyes glaze, as the life-web draws
itself away, and the whole of it is collected round the permanent atom in the
third ventricle; then the whole rises slowly to the point of junction of the parietal and occipital
sutures, and leaves the physical body - [92] dead. It thus surrounds the
permanent atom like a golden shell - recalling the closely woven cocoon of the
silk-worm - to remain enshrouding it till the building of a new physical body
again demands its unfolding. The same procedure is followed with the astral and
mental particles, so that, when these bodies have disintegrated, the lower
triad may be seen as a brilliantly scintillating nucleus within the causal
body, an appearance which had been noted, long ere closer observation revealed
its significance.
3.
THE CHOOSING OF THE PERMANENT ATOMS.
Let
us return to the original appropriation by the Monad of the permanent atoms of
the three higher planes, and seek to understand something of their use, of the
object of their appropriation; the same principles apply to the permanent atoms
of each plane.
In
the first place, it will be remembered that the matter of each plane shows out
seven main types, varying according to the dominance of one or other of the
[93] three great attributes of matter: inertia, mobility, and rhythm. Hence the
permanent atoms may be chosen out of any one of these types, but it appears
that, by a single Monad, they are all chosen out of the same type. It appears,
further, that while the actual attachment of the permanent atoms to the life-thread
on the three higher planes is the work of the Hierarchies before spoken of, the
choice which directs the appropriation is made by the Monad himself. He himself
belongs to one or other of the seven groups of Life already spoken of; at the
head of each of these groups stands a Planetary Logos, who "colours"
the whole, and the Monads are grouped by these colourings, each "being
coloured by his 'Father-Star'".[41] This is the first great determining
characteristic of each of us, our fundamental "colour", or
"key-note", or "temperament". The Monad may choose to use
his new pilgrimage for the strengthening and increasing of this special
characteristic; if so, the Hierarchies will attach to his life-thread atoms
belonging [94] to the group in matter corresponding to his life-group. This
choice would result in the secondary "colour", or "keynote",
or "temperament", emphasising and strengthening the first, and, in
the later evolution, the powers and the weaknesses of that doubled temperament
would show themselves with great force. Or, the Monad may choose to use his new
pilgrimage for the unfolding of another aspect of his nature; then the
Hierarchies will attach to his life-thread atoms belonging to the material
group corresponding to another life-group, that in which the aspect he wills to
develop is predominant. This choice would result in the secondary
"colour", or "key-note", or "temperament",
modifying the first, with corresponding results in the later evolution. This
latter choice is obviously by far the more frequent, and it tends to a greater
complexity of character, especially in the final stages of human evolution,
when the influence of the Monad makes itself felt more strongly.
As
said above, it appears that all the permanent atoms are taken from the same
[95] material group, so that those of the lower triad correspond with those of
the higher; but on the lower planes the influence of these atoms in determining
the type of materials used in the bodies of which they are the generating centres
- the question to which we must now turn our attention - is very much limited
and interfered with by other causes. On the higher planes the bodies are
relatively permanent, when once found, and reproduce definitely the keynote of
their permanent atoms, however enriched that note may be by overtones, ever
increasing in subtlety of harmony. But on the lower planes, while the keynote
of the permanent atoms will be the same, various other causes come in to
determine the choice of materials for the bodies, as will be better seen
presently.
4.
THE USE OF THE PERMANENT ATOMS.
To
put this use into a phrase: The use of the permanent atoms is to preserve
within themselves, as vibratory powers, the results of all the experiences
through [96] which they have passed. It will perhaps be best to take the
physical atom as an illustration, since this is susceptible of easier
explanation than those on higher planes.
A
physical impact of any kind will cause vibrations corresponding to its own in
the physical body it contacts; these may be local or general, according to the
nature and force of the impact. But whether local or general, they will reach
the permanent physical atom, transmitted by the web of life in all cases, and
in violent impacts by mere concussion also. This vibration, forced on the atom
from outside, becomes a vibratory power in the atom - a tendency therein to
repeat the vibration. Through the whole life of the body, innumerable impacts
strike it; not one but leaves its mark on the permanent atom; rot one but
leaves it with a new possibility of vibration. All the results of physical
experiences remain stored up in this permanent atom, as powers of vibrating. At
the end of a physical life, this permanent atom has thus stored up innumerable
vibratory powers; that is, has [97] learned to respond in countless ways to the
external world, to reproduce in itself the vibrations imposed upon it by
surrounding objects. The physical body disintegrates at death; its particles
scatter, all carrying with them the result of the experiences through which
they have passed - as indeed all particles of our bodies are ever doing day by
day, in their ceaseless dyings out of one body and ceaseless birthings into
another. But the physical permanent atom remains; it is the only atom that has
passed through all the experiences of the ever-changing conglomerations we call
our body, and it has acquired all the results of all those experiences. Wrapped
in its golden cocoon, it sleeps through the long years during which the Jivatma
that owns it is living through other experiences in other worlds. By these it
remains unaffected, being incapable of responding to them, and it sleeps
through its long night in undisturbed repose.[42]
When
the time for reincarnation comes, [98] and the presence of the permanent atom
renders possible the fertilisation of the ovum from which the new body is to
grow,[43] its keynote sounds out, and is one of the forces which guide the
ethereal builder, the elemental charged with the building of the physical body,
to choose the materials suitable for his work, for he can use none that cannot
be to some extent attuned to the permanent atom. But it is only one of the
forces; the karma of past lives, mental, emotional, and in relation to others,
demands materials capable of the most varied expressions; out of that karma,
the Lords of Karma have chosen such as is congruous, i.e., such as can be
expressed through a body of a particular
material group; this congruous mass of karma determines the material group,
over-riding the permanent atom, and out of that group are chosen by the
elemental such materials as can vibrate in [99] harmony with the permanent
atom, or in discords not disruptive in their violence. Hence, as said, the
permanent atom is only one of the forces in determining the third
"colour", or "keynote", or "temperament", which
characterises each of us. According to this temperament will be the time of the
birth of the body; it must be born into the world at a time when the physical
planetary influences are suitable to its third temperament, and it thus is born
"under its" astrological "Star". Needless to say, it is not
the Star that imposes the temperament, but the temperament that fixes the
epoch of birth under that Star. But herein lies the explanation of the
correspondences between Stars - Star-Angels, that is to say - and characters,
and the usefulness for educational purposes of a skilfully and carefully drawn
horoscope, as a guide to the personal temperament of a child.
That
such complicated results, capable of impressing their peculiarities on
surrounding matter, can exist in such minute space as an atom may, indeed,
appear inconceivable - yet so it is. And it is [100] worthy notice that
ordinary science countenances a similar idea, since the infinitesimal biophors
in the germinal cell of Weismann are supposed to thus carry on to the offspring
the characteristics of his line of progenitors. While the one brings to the
body its physical peculiarities from its ancestors, the other supplies those
which have been acquired by the evolving man during his own evolution. H. P.
Blavatsky has put this very clearly:
"The
German embryologist-philosopher - stepping over the heads of the Greek
Hippocrates and Aristotle, right back into the teachings of the old Aryans -
shows one infinitesimal cell, out of millions of others at work in the
formation of an organism, alone and unaided determining, by means of constant
segmentation and multiplication, the correct image of the future man, or
animal, in its physical, mental, and psychic characteristics.
Complete
the physical plasm, mentioned above, the 'germinal cell' of man with all its
material potentialities, with the 'spiritual plasm' so to say, or the fluid
that contains the five lower principles of [101] the six-principled Dhyani -
and you have the secret, if you are spiritual enough to understand
it."[44]
A
little study of physical heredity in the light of Weismann's teachings will be
sufficient to convince the student of the possibilities of such a body as the
permanent atom. A man reproduces the features of a long-past ancestor, shows
out a physical peculiarity that characterised a forbear several centuries ago.
We can trace the Stuart nose through a long series of portraits, and
innumerable cases of such resemblances can be found. Why then should there be
anything extraordinary in the idea that an atom should gather within itself not
biophors, as in the germinal cell, but tendencies to repeat innumerable
vibrations already practised. No spatial difficulty arises, any more than in
the case of a string, from which numerous notes can be drawn by bowing it at
different points, each note containing numerous overtones. We must not think of
the minute space of an atom as crowded with innumerable vibrating bodies, but of
a [102] limited number of bodies, each capable of setting up innumerable
vibrations.
Truly,
however, even the spatial difficulty is illusory, for there are no limits to
the minute any more than to the great. Modern science now sees in the atom a system
of revolving worlds, each world in its own orbit, the whole resembling a solar
system. The master of illusion, Space, like his brother master, Time, cannot
here daunt us. There is no limit of the possibilities of sub-division in
thought, and hence none in the thought-expression we call matter.
The
normal number of spirillae at work in the permanent atoms in this Round is
four; as in the ordinary unattached atoms of matter in general at this stage of
evolution. But let us take the permanent atom in the body of a very highly
evolved man, a man far in advance of his fellows. In such a case we may find
the permanent atom showing five spirillae at work, and may seek to learn the
bearing of this fact on the general materials of his body. In ante-natal life,
the presence of this five-spirillae-permanent-atom would have [103] caused the
building elemental to select among his materials any similar atoms that were
available. For the most part, he would be reduced to the use of any he could
find, which had been in temporary connexion with any body the centre of which
was a five-spirillae-permanent-atom. Its presence would have tended to arouse
in them a corresponding activity, especially - perhaps only - if they had
formed part of the brain or nerves of the highly developed tenant of the body.
The fifth spirilla would have become more or less active in them, and although
it would have dropped back into
inactivity after leaving such a body, its temporary activity would have
predisposed it to respond more readily in the future to the current of monadic
life. Such atoms, then, would be secured by the elemental for his work, as far
as possible. He would also, should opportunity serve, appropriate from the
paternal or maternal bodies, if they were of a high order, any such atoms as he
could secure, and build them into his charge. After birth, and throughout life,
such a body would attract to itself any [104] similar atoms which came within
its magnetic field. Such a body, in the company of highly evolved persons, would
profit to an exceptional degree by the propinquity, appropriating any
five-spirillae-atoms which were present in the shower of particles flung off
from their bodies, and thus gaining physically, as well as mentally and
morally, from their company.
The
permanent astral atom bears exactly the same relation to the astral body as
that borne by the physical permanent atom to the physical body. At the end of
the life in kamaloka - purgatory - the golden life-web withdraws from the
astral body, leaving it to disintegrate, as its physical comrade had previously
done, and enwraps the astral permanent atom for its long sleep. A similar
relation is borne to the mental body by the permanent mental particle during
physical, astral, and mental life; during the early stages of human evolution
little improvement is made in the mental permanent unit by the brief devachanic
lives, not only on account of their brevity, but because the feeble
thought-forms produced by the [105] undeveloped intelligence affect very slightly
the permanent unit. But when thought-power is more highly evolved, the
devachanic life is a time of great improvement, and innumerable vibratory
energies are stored up, and show their value when the time arrives for the
building of a new mental body for the next cycle of reincarnation. At the
close of the mental life in devachan, the golden web withdraws from the mental
body, leaving it also to disintegrate, while it enwraps the mental particle;
and the lower triad of permanent atoms alone remains as the representative of
the three lower bodies. These are stored up, as before said, as a radiant
nucleus-like particle within the causal body. They are thus all that remains to
the Ego of his bodies in the lower worlds, when that cycle of experience is completed,
as they were his means of communication with the lower planes during the life
of those bodies.
When
comes the period for re-birth, a thrill of life from the Ego arouses the mental
unit; the life-web begins to unfold again, and, the vibrating unit acts as a
[106] magnet, drawing towards itself materials with vibratory powers
resembling, or accordant with, its own. The Shining Ones of the Second
Elemental Kingdom bring such materials within its reach; in the earlier stages
of evolution they shape the matter into a loose cloud around the permanent
unit, but as evolution goes on the Ego exercises over the shaping an
ever-increasing influence. When the mental body is partially formed, the life-thrill
awakens the astral atom, and the same procedure is followed. Finally the
life-touch reaches the physical atom, and it acts in the way already described
on pp. 98-100.
A
questioner sometimes asks: How can these permanent atoms be stored up within
the causal body, without losing their physical, astral, and mental natures,
since the causal body exists on a higher plane, where the physical, as
physical, cannot be? Such a querent is forgetting, for a moment, that all the
planes are interpenetrating, and that it is no more difficult for the causal
body to encircle the triad of the lower planes, than for it to encircle the
[107] hundreds of millions of atoms that form the mental, astral, and physical
bodies belonging to it during a period of earth-life. The triad forms a minute
particle within the causal body; each constituent part of it belongs to its own
plane, but, as the planes have meeting points everywhere, no difficulty arises
in the necessary juxtaposition. We are all on all planes at all times.
5.
MONADIC ACTION ON THE PERMANENT ATOMS.
We
may here enquire: Is there anything that can be properly termed monadic action
- the action of the Monad on the anupadaka plane - on the permanent atom. Of
direct action there is none, nor can there be until the germinal spiritual
Triad has reached a high stage of evolution; indirect action, that is action
on the spiritual Triad, which in turn acts on the lower, there is continually.
But for all practical purposes we may consider it as the action of the
spiritual Triad, which, as we have seen, is the Monad veiled [108] in matter
denser than that of his native plane.
The
spiritual Triad is drawing most of his energy, and all the directive capacity
of that energy, from the Second Logos, bathed as he is in that stream of Life.
What may be called his own special activity does not concern itself with all
the shaping and building activity of the Second Life-Wave, but is directed to
the evolution of the atom itself, in association with the Third Logos. This
energy from the spiritual Triad confines itself to the atomic sub-planes, and,
until the fourth Round, appears to spend itself chiefly on the permanent atoms.
It is directed first to the shaping and then to the vivifying of the spirillae
which form the wall of the atom. The vortex, which is the atom, is the life of
the Third Logos; but the wall of the spirillae is gradually formed on the
external surface of this vortex during the descent of the Second Logos, not
vivified by Him, but faintly traced out over the surface of this revolving
vortex of life. They remain - so far as the Second Logos is concerned - merely
as these [109] filmy unused channels, but presently, as the life of the Monad
flows down, it plays into the first of these channels, vivifying that channel
and turning it into a working part of the atom. This goes on through the
successive Rounds, and by the time we reach the fourth Round we have four
distinct streams of life from each Monad, circulating through four sets of
spirillae in his own permanent atoms. Now as the Monad works in the permanent
atom, and it is put forward as the nucleus of a body, he begins to work
similarly in the atoms that are drawn round that permanent atom, and vivifies
in turn their spirillae; but that is temporary vivification, and not
continuous as in the case of the permanent atom. He thus brings into activity
these faint shadowy films, formed by the Second Life-Wave, and, when the life
of the body is broken up, the atoms thus stimulated return to the great mass
of atomic matter, improved and worked upon by the life which, during their
connexion with the permanent atom, has been vivifying them. The channels,
being thus [110] developed, are more capable of easily receiving another such
life-stream, as they enter another body, and therein come into relation with a
permanent atom belonging to some other Monad. Thus this work continually goes
on, on the physical and astral planes, and in the particle of mental matter on
the mental plane, improving the materials with which the Monads are permanently
or temporarily connected, and this evolution of atoms is constantly going on
under the influence of the Monads. The permanent atoms evolve more rapidly,
because of their continuity of connexion with the Monad, while the others
profit by their repeated temporary association with the permanent atoms.
During
the first Round of the terrene Chain, the first set of spirillae of the
physical plane atoms becomes thus vivified by the life of the Monad flowing
through the spiritual Triad. This is the set of spirillae used by the pranic,
or life-breath, currents affecting the dense part of the physical body.
Similarly in the second Round the second set of spirillae becomes active, and
herein play [111] the pranic currents connected with the etheric double. During
these two Rounds nothing can be found, in connexion with any form, that can be
called sensations of pleasure and pain. During the third Round, the third set
of spirillae becomes vivified, and here first appears what is called
sensibility; for, through these spirillae, kamic or desire energy can affect
the physical body, the kamic prana can play in them, and thus bring the
physical into direct communication with the astral. During the fourth Round,
the fourth set of spirillae becomes vivified, and the kama-manasic prana plays
in them, and makes them fit to be used for the building of a brain which is to
act as the instrument for thought.
When
a person passes out of the normal, and takes up the abnormal human evolution
involved in preparing for and entering the Path which lies beyond normal
evolution, he has then, in connexion with his permanent atoms, a task of
exceeding difficulty. He must vivify more sets of spirillae than are vivified
in the humanity of his time. [112] Four sets are already at his service, as a
fourth Round man. He begins to vivify a fifth, and thus to bring into
manifestation the fifth Round atom while still working in a fourth Round body.
It is to this that allusion is made in some early theosophical books, in which
"Fifth Rounders" and "Sixth Rounders" are spoken of as
appearing in our present humanity. Those thus designated have evolved the fifth
and sixth set of spirillae in their permanent atoms, thus obtaining a better
instrument for the use of their highly developed consciousness. The change is
brought about by certain yoga practices in the use of which great caution is
required, lest injury should be inflicted on the brain in which this work is
being carried on, and further progress along that particular line stopped
during the present incarnation. [113]
-------
CHAPTER V.
GROUP-SOULS.
1.
THE MEANING OF THE TERM.
SPEAKING
generally, a Group-Soul is a collection of permanent triads, in a triple envelope
of monadic essence. This description is true of all Group-Souls functioning on
the physical plane, but gives no idea of the extreme complexity of the subject
of Group-Souls. For they divide and sub-divide constantly, the contents of each
division and sub-division decreasing in number, as evolution goes on, until at
last a "Group-Soul" encloses but a single triad, to which it may
continue for many births to discharge the protective and nutrient functions of
a Group-Soul, while no longer technically describable as one, the
"Group" having separated off into its constituent parts. [114]
Seven
Group-Souls are to be seen, functioning on the physical plane, before any forms
appear. They first show themselves as vague, filmy forms, one in each stream
of the Second Life-Wave, on the mental plane, becoming more clearly outlined
on the astral plane, and yet more so on the physical. They float in the great
ocean of matter as balloons might float in the sea. Observing them more
closely, we see three separate layers of matter, forming an envelope, which
contains innumerable triads. Before any inmineralisation has taken place, no
golden life-web is, of course, visible around these; only the radiant golden
threads which connect them with their parent Jivatmas are to be seen, shining
with that strange lustre which belongs to their birth-plane. The innermost of
these three layers consists of physical monadic essence; that is, the layer is
composed of atoms of the physical plane, ensouled with the life of the Second
Logos. At first sight, these innermost layers appear to be identical in the
seven Group-Souls; but closer observation reveals that each layer is formed of
atoms [115] from only one of the seven Matter-groups before described. Each
Group-Soul, therefore, differs in material constitution from all the rest, and
the contained triads in each belong to the same matter-group. The second layer
of the Group-Soul envelope is composed of astral monadic essence, belonging to
the same matter-group as the first; and the third of units of the fourth
sub-plane of mental matter of the same type. This triple envelope is the
protector and nourisher of the triads contained within it, veritable embryos,
incapable, as yet, of separate independent activity.
The
seven Group-Souls soon multiply, division going on continually with the
multiplication of distinct sub-types, as the immediate forerunners of the
chemical elements appear, to be followed by the elements themselves, and the
minerals formed from them. The laws of space, for instance - apart from the
specialisation of the contents of the Group-Soul, the permanent triads - may
lead to a division of it.
Thus
a vein of gold in Australia may [116] lead to the inmineralisation of many such
triads within a single envelope, while the laying down of another vein in a
distant place, say the Rocky Mountains, may lead to the division of this
envelope, and the transfer of part of its contents to America in their own
envelope. But the more important causes which bring about sub-divisions will be
explained in the course of our study. The Group-Soul and its contents divide
by fission, like an ordinary cell - one becomes two, two four, and so on. All
the triads have to pass through the mineral kingdom, the place in which matter
reaches its grossest form, and the place where the great wave reaches the limit
of its descent, and turns to begin its upward climbing. Here it is that
physical consciousness must awaken; life must now turn definitely outwards, and
recognise contacts with other lives in an external world.
Now
the evolution of each being in these early stages depends chiefly on the
cherishing life of the Logos, and partly on the co-operating guidance of the
Shining Ones, and partly on its own [117] blind pressure against the limits of its
enclosing form. I have compared the evolution through the mineral, vegetable,
and animal kingdoms to an ante-natal period, and the resemblance is exact. As
the child is nourished by the life-streams of the mother, so does the
protective envelope of the Group-Soul nourish the lives within it, receiving
and distributing the experiences gathered in. The circulating life is the life
of the parent; the young plants, the young animals, the young human beings, are
not ready for independent life as yet, but must draw nourishment from the
parent. And so these germinating lives in the mineral kingdom are nourished by
the Group-Souls, by the envelopes of monadic essence, thrilling with Logic
life. A very fair picture of this stage may be seen in the carpel of a plant,
in which the ovules gradually appear, becoming more and more independent.
For
the sake of a clear conception, we may glance rapidly forward over the changes
through which the Group-Soul passes, as its contents evolve, before going [118]
into details. During the mineral evolution, the habitat of the Group-Soul may
be said to be that of its densest envelope, the physical; its most active
working is on the physical plane. As its contents pass onwards into the
vegetable kingdom, and ascend through it, the physical envelope slowly
disappears - as though absorbed by the contents for the strengthening of their
own etheric bodies - and its activity is transferred to the astral plane, to
the nourishing of the astral bodies of the contained triads. As these develop
yet further and pass into the animal kingdom, the astral envelope is similarly
absorbed, and the activity of the Group-Soul is transferred to the mental
plane, and it nourishes the inchoate mental bodies and shapes them gradually
into less vagueness of outline. When the Group-Soul contains but a single
triad, and has nourished this into readiness for the reception of the third
outpouring, what is left of it disintegrates into matter of the third
sub-plane, and becomes a constituent part of the causal body formed by the
downpouring from above meeting the upward-drawn column [119] from below - to
use the graphic waterspout simile. Then is the re-incarnating Ego born into
independent manifestation; the guarded ante-natal life is over.
2.
THE DIVISION OF THE GROUP-SOUL.
It
is on the physical plane that consciousness must first evolve into
Self-consciousness, must become aware of an external world that makes impacts
upon it, and must learn to refer those impacts to an external world, and to
realise as its own the changes which it undergoes in consequence of those
impacts. By prolonged experiences it will learn to identify with itself the
feeling of pleasure or pain that follows the impact, and to regard as not
itself that which touches its external surface. It will thus make its first
rough distinction of "Not-I" and "I". As experience
increases, the "I" will retreat ever inwards, and one veil of matter
after another will be relegated outwards as belonging to the "Not-I";
but while its connotations change, this fundamental distinction [120] between
subject and object will ever remain. "I" is the willing, thinking,
acting consciousness; while the "Not-I" is all as to which it wills,
about which it thinks, and on which it acts. We shall have to consider later
the way in which consciousness becomes Self-consciousness, but at present we
are concerned only with its expression in forms, and the part played by the
forms.
This
consciousness awakens on the physical plane, and its expression is the
permanent atom. In this it lies sleeping: "It sleeps in the mineral";
and therein some awakening into lighter slumber must take place, so that it may
be roused out of this deep dreamless sleep, and become sufficiently active to
pass on into the next stage: "It dreams in the vegetable".
Now
the Second Logos, acting in the envelope of the Group-Souls, energises the
permanent physical atoms and, by the mediation of the Shining Ones, as we have
seen, plunges them into the various conditions offered by the mineral kingdom,
where each attaches to itself many mineral particles. At once here we see a
large [121] variety of possible impacts, leading to a variety of experiences,
and so presently to lines of cleavage in a Group-Soul. Some will be whirled
high in air, to fall in torrents of burning lava; some will be exposed to
arctic cold, others to tropic heat; some will be crushed and sheathed in molten
metal in the bowels of the earth; some will be in the sand tossed roughly by
rushing billows. Infinite variety of external impacts will shake and strike and
burn and freeze, and in vague answers of sympathetic vibrations will the
deep-slumbering consciousness respond. When any permanent atom has reached a
certain responsiveness, or when a mineral form, i.e., the particles to which a
permanent atom has attached itself, is broken up, the Group-Soul draws that
atom from its encasement. All the experiences acquired by that atom - and that
means the vibrations it has been forced to execute - remain as powers of
vibrating in particular ways, or as "vibratory powers". That is the
outcome of its life in a form. The permanent atom, losing its embodiment and
remaining for a while naked, as it [122] were, in its Group-Soul, and
continuing to repeat these vibrations, to go over within itself its
life-experiences, sets up pulses which run through the envelope of the
Group-Soul and are thus conveyed to other permanent atoms; thus each affects
and helps all the others while remaining itself. The permanent atoms which have
had experiences similar in character will be more strongly affected by each
other than will be those whose experiences have been very different, and thus
there will be a certain segregation going on within the Group-Soul, and
presently a filmy separating wall will
grow inwards from the envelope, and divide these segregated groups from each
other; and so there will be an ever-increasing number of Group-Souls with
contents showing an ever-increasing distinction of consciousness, while
sharing fundamental characteristics.
Now
the responses of consciousness to external stimuli in the mineral kingdom are
far greater than many quite realise, and some of them are of a nature which
shows that there is a dawning of consciousness also in the astral permanent
atom. [123] For chemical elements exhibit distinct mutual attractions, and
chemical marital relationships are continually disorganised by the intrusion of
couples, one or other of which has a stronger affinity for one of the partners
in the earlier marriage than the original mate. Thus a hitherto mutually
faithful couple, forming a silver salt, will suddenly prove faithless to each
other if another couple, hydro-chloric acid, enters their peaceful household;
and the silver will pounce upon the chlorine and take her to wife, preferring
her to his former mate, and set up a new household as silver chloride, leaving
the deserted hydrogen to mate with his own forsaken partner. Wherever these active interchanges go on
there is a slight stir in the astral atom, in consequence of the violent
physical vibrations set up by the violent wrenching apart, and formation, of
intimate ties, and vague internal thrillings appear. The astral must be roused
from the physical, and consciousness on the physical plane will long take the
lead in evolution. Still, a little cloud of astral matter is drawn round the
permanent astral atom by these [124] slight thrillings, but it is very loosely
held, and seems to be quite unorganised. There does not seem to be any
vibration in the mental atom at this stage.
After
ages of experience in the mineral kingdom, some of the permanent atoms will be
ready to pass into the vegetable kingdom, and will be distributed by the
agency of the Shining Ones over the vegetable world. It is not to be supposed
that every blade of grass, every plant, has a permanent atom within it,
evolving to humanity during the life of this system. Just as in the mineral
kingdom, so here; the vegetable kingdom forms the field of evolution for these
permanent atoms, and the Shining Ones guide them to habitat after habitat, so
that they may experience the vibrations that affect the vegetable world, and
again store up these as vibratory powers in the same fashion as before. The
principles of interchange and of consequent segregation work out as before,
and the Group-Souls in each stream of evolution become more numerous, and more
different in their leading characteristics. [125]
At
our present stage of knowledge, the laws according to which permanent atoms in
a Group-Soul are plunged into the kingdoms of nature are by no means clear.
Many things seem to indicate that the evolution of the mineral, vegetable, and
the lowest part of the animal kingdom belong more to the evolution of the earth
itself than to that of the Jivatmas representing the Monads who are evolving
within the Solar System, and who come, in due course, to this earth to pursue
their own evolution by utilising the conditions it affords. Grass and small
plants of every kind seem to be related to the earth as a man's hairs are
related to his body, and not to be connected with the Monads, represented by
Jivatmas in our five-fold universe. The life in them, holding them together as
forms, appears to be that of the Second Logos, and the life in the atoms and
molecules composing them to be that of the Third Logos, appropriated and
modified by the Planetary Logos of our system of Chains, and further
appropriated and modified by the Spirit of the Earth - [126] an entity wrapped
in great obscurity. These kingdoms offer a field for the evolution of the
Jivatmas truly, but do not exist, apparently, wholly for this purpose. We find
permanent atoms scattered through the mineral and vegetable kingdoms, but are
unable to pierce to the reasons which govern their distribution. A permanent
atom may be found in a pearl, in a ruby, in a diamond; many may be found
scattered through veins or ore, and so on. On the other hand much mineral does
not seem to contain any. So with short-lived plants. But in plants of long
continuance, such as trees, permanent atoms are constantly found. But here
again, the life of the tree seems to be more closely related to the Deva
evolution than to the evolution of the consciousness to which the permanent
atom is attached. It is rather as though advantage were taken of the evolution
of life and consciousness in the tree for the benefit of the permanent atom; it
seems to live there more as a parasite, profiting by the more highly evolved
life in which it is bathed. The fact is that our [127] knowledge on these
points is extremely fragmentary so far.
There
is more activity perceptible in the astral permanent atom during the course of
the accumulation of vegetable experiences by the physical, and it attracts
round itself astral matter which is arranged by the Shining Ones in a rather
more definite way. In the long life of a forest tree, the growing aggregation
of astral matter develops itself in all directions as the astral form of the
tree, and the consciousness attached to the permanent atoms shares, to some
extent, that of its surroundings, experiencing through that astral form the
vibrations causing massive pleasure and discomfort, these vibrations being the
result of those set up in the physical tree by sunshine and storm, wind and
rain, cold and heat. With the perishing of such a tree, the permanent astral
atom retreats to its Group-Soul, now established on the astral plane, with a
rich store of experiences, shared in the manner before described.
Further,
as the consciousness becomes more responsive in the astral, it sends little
[128] thrills downwards to the physical plane, and these give rise to feelings
felt as though in the physical, but really derived from the astral. Where there
has been a long separate life, as in a tree, the permanent mental unit will
also begin to attract round itself a little cloud of mental matter, and on this
the recurrence of seasons will slowly impress itself as a faint memory, which
becomes inevitably a faint anticipation.[45]
At
last some of the permanent physical atoms are ready to pass on into the animal
kingdom, and once more the agency of the Shining Ones guides them into animal
forms. During the later stages of their evolution in the vegetable world, it
appears to be the rule that each triad - physical and astral atoms and mental
unit - shall have a prolonged experience in a single form, so that some thrills
of mental life may be experienced, and the triad may thus be prepared to profit
by the wandering life of the animal. But it also appears that in some cases the
passage into the animal [129] kingdom is made at an earlier stage, and that the
first thrill in the mental unit occurs in some of the stationary forms of
animal life, and in very lowly animal organisms.
In
the lowest types of animals conditions similar to those described as existing
in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms also appear to prevail. Microbes,
amaebae, hydrae, etc., etc., only show a permanent atom as a visitor, now and
again, and obviously in no way depend upon it for life and growth, nor do they
break up when the permanent atom is withdrawn. They are hosts, not bodies
formed around a permanent atom. And it is noteworthy that, at this stage, the
golden life-web in no way represents the organisation of the host's body, but merely acts as rootlets
act in the soil, attaching particles of soil to themselves and sucking therefrom
nourishment. The permanent atoms in the animal kingdom have received and stored
up many experiences, before they are used by the Shining Ones as centres round
which forms are to be built.
Needless
to say that in the animal [130] kingdom, the permanent atoms receive far more
varied vibrations than in the lower kingdoms, and consequently differentiate
more quickly, the number of triads in the Group-Souls diminishing rapidly as
this differentiation proceeds, and the multiplication of Group-Souls therefore
going on with increasing rapidity. As the period of individuality approaches,
each separate triad becomes possessed of its own envelope, obtained from the
Group-Soul, and takes on successive embodiments as a separate entity, though
still within the enveloping case of protecting and nourishing monadic essence.
Large
numbers of the higher animals in a state of domestication have reached this
stage, and have really become separate re-incarnating entities, although not as
yet possessing a causal body - the mark of what is usually called
individualisation. The envelope derived
from the Group-Soul serves the purpose of a causal body, but consists
only of the third layer, as previously indicated, and is therefore composed of
molecules derived from the fourth grade of mental [131] matter, that which
corresponds to the coarsest ether of the physical plane. Following the analogy of human ante-natal
life, we see that this stage corresponds with its last two months. A
seven-months' babe may be born and may survive, but it will be stronger,
healthier, more vigorous, if it profits for yet another two months by its
mother's shielding and nourishing life. So is it better for the normal
development of the Ego that it should not too hastily burst the envelope of the
Group-Soul, but should still absorb life through it, and strengthen from its
constituents the finest part of its own mental body. When that body has reached
its limit of growth under these shielded conditions, the envelope disintegrates
into the finer molecules of the sub-plane above it, and becomes, as above said,
part of the causal body.
It
is the knowledge of these facts that has sometimes caused occultists to warn
people who are very fond of animals not to be exaggerated in their affection,
nor to show it in unwise ways. [132] The growth of the animal may be
unhealthily forced, and its birth into individuality be hastened out of due
time. Man, in order to fill rightly his place in the world, should seek to
understand nature and work with her laws, quickening indeed their action by
the co-operation of his intelligence, but not quickening it to the point
whereat growth is made unhealthy and its product frail and "out of
season". It is true that the Lord of Life seeks human co-operation in the
working out of evolution, but the co-operation should follow the lines which
His Wisdom has laid down. [133]
-------
CHAPTER VI.
UNITY
OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
1.
CONSCIOUSNESS A UNIT.
IN
studying the very varied manifestations of consciousness, we are apt to forget
two important facts: first, that the consciousness
of each man is a Unit, however separate and different from each other its
manifestations may appear to be; secondly, that all these Units themselves are parts of the consciousness of
the Locos, and therefore re-act similarly under similar conditions. We cannot
too often remind ourselves that consciousness is one; that all apparently
separate consciousnesses are truly one, as one sea might pour through many
holes in an embankment. That sea-water might issue from the holes differently
coloured, if the embankment were composed of [134] differently coloured earths;
but it would all be the same sea-water;
analysed, it would all show the presence of the same characteristic salts. So
are all consciousnesses from the same ocean of consciousness, and have many
essential identities. Enveiled in the same kind of matter, they will act in the
same kind of way, and reveal their fundamental identity of nature.
The
individual consciousness appears to be a complexity instead of a unity, when
its manifestations are concerned, and modern psychology speaks of dual and
treble and multiplex personality, losing sight of the fundamental unity among
the confusion of the manifold. Yet truly is our consciousness a Unit, and the
variety is due to the materials in which it is working.
The
ordinary waking-consciousness of a man is the consciousness working through the
physical brain at a certain rate imposed by it, conditioned by all the conditions
of that brain, limited by all its limitations, baulked by the varying obstructions
it offers, checked by a clot [135] of blood, silenced by the decay of tissue.
At every moment the brain hinders its manifestations, while at the same time it
is, on the physical plane, its only enabling instrument of manifestation.
When
the consciousness, turning its attention away from the external physical world,
ignores the denser part of the physical brain, and uses only the etheric
portions thereof, its manifestations at once change in character. The creative
imagination disports itself in etheric matter, and drawing on its accumulated
contents, obtained from the external world by its denser servant, it arranges
them, dissociates, and recombines them after its own fancies, and creates the
lower worlds of dream.
When
it casts aside for a while its ethereal garment, turning its attention away
completely from the physical world, and shedding its fetters of physical
matter, it roams through the astral world at will, or drifts through it
unconsciously, turning all its attention to its own contents, receiving many
impacts from that astral world, which it ignores or accepts according to its
stage [136] of evolution, or its humour of the moment. If it should manifest
itself to an outside observer - as may happen in trance-conditions - it shows
powers so superior to those it manifested when imprisoned in the physical
brain, that such an observer, judging only by physical experiences, may well
regard it as a different consciousness.
Still
more is this the case when, the astral body being thrown into trance, the Bird
of Heaven shows itself soaring into loftier regions, and its splendid flight so
enchants the observer that he deems it a new being, and no longer the same
entity as crawled in the physical world. Yet truly is it ever one and the same;
the differences are in the materials with which it is connected, and through
which it works, and not in itself.
As
to the second important fact stated above, man is not yet sufficiently
developed to appreciate any evidence as to the unity of consciousness in its
workings above the physical plane, but its unity on the physical plane is being
demonstrated. [137]
2.
UNITY OF PHYSICAL CONSCIOUSNESS.
Amid
the immense varieties of the mineral, vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms, the
underlying unity of physical consciousness has been lost sight of, and broad
lines of cleavage have been set up which
do not, in reality, exist. Life has been wholly denied to the mineral, grudged
to the vegetable, and H. P. Blavatsky was ridiculed when she declared that one
Life, one Consciousness vivified and informed all.
"With
every day, the identity between the animal and the physical man, between the
plant and man, and even between the reptile and its nest, the rock, and man, is
more and more clearly shown, the physical and chemical constituents of all
being found to be identical. Chemical Science may well say that there is no
difference between the matter which composes the ox, and that which forms man.
But the occult doctrine is far more explicit. It says: Not only the chemical
compounds are the same, but the same infinitesimal invisible Lives compose the
atoms of the [138] bodies of the mountain and the daisy, of man and the ant, of
the elephant and of the tree which shelters it from the sun. Each particle -
whether you call it organic or inorganic - is a Life."[46]
If
this be true, it should be possible to obtain from such living minerals,
vegetables, animals, and men, evidence of an identity of life, of sentiency, of
response to stimuli; and while we may freely admit that we should expect to
find gradations of sentiency, that as we ascend the ladder of life we should
expect the manifestations to become fuller and more complex, yet some definite
manifestations of sentiency should be found in all who share one life. The
evidence for this was lacking when H. P. Blavatsky wrote; it is available now;
and it is from an eastern scientist, whose rare ability has ensured his welcome
in the West, that the evidence appropriately comes.
Professor
Jagadish Chandra Bose, M.A., D.Sc., of
He
arranged apparatus to measure the stimulus applied, and to show in curves,
traced on a revolving cylinder, the response from the body receiving the
stimulus. He then compared the curves obtained in tin and in other metals with
those obtained from muscle, and found that the curves from tin were identical
with those from muscle, and that other metals gave curves of like nature but
varied in the period of recovery.
[140]
(a)
SERIES OF ELECTRIC RESPONSES TO SUCCESSIVE MECHANICAL STIMULI AT INTERVALS OF
HALF A MINUTE, IN TIN. (b) MECHANICAL RESPONSES IN MUSCLE.
Tetanus,
both complete and incomplete, due to repeated shocks, was caused, and similar
results accrued, in mineral as in muscle.
EFFECTS
ANALOGOUS TO (a) INCOMPLETE AND (b) COMPLETE TETANUS IN TIN. (a') INCOMPLETE
AND (b') COMPLETE TETANUS IN MUSCLE.
Fatigue
was shown by metals, least of all by tin. Chemical re-agents, such as drugs,
produced similar results on metals with those known to result with animals -
[141] exciting, depressing, and deadly. (By deadly is meant resulting in the
destruction of the power of response.)
A
poison will kill a metal, inducing a condition of immobility, so that no
response is obtainable. If the poisoned metal be taken in time, an antidote may
save its life.
(a)
NORMAL R&SPONSE; (b) EFFECT ON POISON; (c) REVIVAL BY ANTIDOTE.
A
stimulant will increase response, and as large and small doses of a drug have
been found to kill and stimulate respectively, so have they been found to act
on metals. "Among such phenomena," asks Professor Bose, "how can
we draw a line of demarcation and say: Here the physical process ends, and
there the physiological begins? No such barriers exist."[47] [142]
Professor
Bose has carried on a similar series of experiments on plants, and has obtained
similar results. A fresh piece of cabbage stalk, a fresh leaf, or other vegetable
body, can be stimulated and will show similar curves; it can be fatigued,
excited, depressed, poisoned. There is something rather pathetic in seeing the
way in which the tiny spot of light, which records the pulses in the plant,
travels, in ever weaker and weaker curves, when the plant is under the influence of poison, falls
into a final despairing straight line, and - stops. The plant is dead. One
feels as though a murder had been committed - as indeed it has.[48]
These
admirable series of experiment have established, on a definite basis of
physical facts, the teaching of occult science on the universality of life.
Mr.
Marcus Reed has made microscopical observations which show the [143] presence
of consciousness in the vegetable kingdom. He has observed symptoms as of
fright when tissue is injured, and further he has seen that male and female
cells, floating in the sap, become aware of each other's presence without
contact; the circulation quickens, and they put out processes towards each
other.[49]
More
than three years after the publication of Professor Bose's experiments, some interesting
confirmation of his observations arose in the course of M. Jean Becquerel's
study of the N-rays, communicated by him to the Paris Academy of Sciences.
Animals under chloroform cease to emit these rays, and they are never emitted
by a corpse. Flowers normally emit them, but under chloroform the emanation
ceases. Metals also emit them, and under chloroform the emanation again ceases.
Thus animals, flowers, and metals alike give out these rays, and alike cease to
emanate them under the action of chloroform.[50] [144]
3.
THE MEANING OF PHYSICAL CONSCIOUSNESS.
The
term "physical consciousness" is used in two distinct senses, and it
may be useful to pause a moment, in order to define these. It is often used to
indicate what is above termed "ordinary waking-consciousness", i.e.,
the consciousness of the man, of the Jivatma -or, if the phrase be preferred,
of the Monad working through the Jivatma, and the lower triad of permanent
atoms. It is also used in the sense in which it is used here, as consciousness
working in physical matter, receiving and responding to physical impacts,
unconcerned with any transmission of impulses onward to the higher planes, or
with any impulses sent to the physical body from those planes.
In
this more restricted and accurate sense, it would include (a) any out-thrillings
from the atoms and molecules ensouled by the life of the Third Logos; (b) any
[145] similar out-thrillings from organised forms ensouled by the life of the
Second Logos; and (c) any similar out-thrillings from the life of the Monad,
proceeding from the permanent atoms, in which the spirillae are not directly
concerned. When the spirillae are active, the "ordinary wakingconsciousness"
is affected. For instance ammonia sniffed up by the nose shows two results;
there is a rapid secretion; that is the response of the cells in the olfactory
tract; there is also a "smell"; that is the result of a vibration
running up to the sense-centres in the astral body, and there recognised in
consciousness; the change in consciousness affects the first set of spirillae
in the atoms of the olfactory tract, and thus reaches the
"waking-consciousness" - consciousness working in the physical brain.
It is only through the spirillae that changes in consciousness on the higher planes
bring about changes in the "waking-consciousness".
It
must be remembered that as the Solar System is a field for the evolution of all
the developing consciousnesses [146] within it, so are there smaller areas
within it, serving as smaller fields. Man is the microcosm of the universe, and
his body serves as a field of evolution for myriads of consciousnesses less
evolved than his own. Thus the three activities mentioned above under (a),
(b), and (c) are all present in his body, and all enter into the physical
consciousness working therein; that in which the atomic spirillae are
concerned does not enter it; that belongs to the consciousness of the Jivatma.
The workings of physical consciousness do not now directly affect the
"waking-consciousness" in the higher animals or in man. They affected
it in the earlier part of the embryonic life in the Group-Soul, while the
consciousness of the Second Logos was "mothering" the dawning
consciousnesses derived from it. But physical consciousness has now sunk below
the "threshold of consciousness", while showing itself as "the
memory of the cell", as the selective action in glands and papillae, and
generally in the carrying on of functions necessary for the support [147] of
bodies. It is the lowest activity of consciousness, and as consciousness functions
more and more actively on the higher plane, its lowest workings no longer
attract its attention, and they become what we call automatic.
Now
it is physical consciousness that is appealed to in Professor Bose's experiments,
and it is the response of this consciousness in the tin and in the animal that
is the same, and is shown in the pulse indicated by the curves; the animal will
feel the stimulus while the tin will not - that is the result of the
additional working of the consciousness in astral matter.
We
may thus allege that consciousness, working in physical matter, responds to
various kinds of stimulation, and that the response is the same, whether it be
obtained from mineral, vegetable, or animal. The consciousness shows the same
characteristic workings, is the same. The differences which, as already said,
we observe as we ascend, lie in the improvement of the physical apparatus, an
apparatus which enables astral and mental - not physical - activities of
consciousness [148] to manifest themselves on the physical plane. Men and
animals feel and think better than minerals and vegetables, because their more
highly evolved consciousness has shaped for itself on the physical plane this
much improved apparatus; but even so, our bodies answer as the lower bodies
answer to the same stimuli, and this purely physical consciousness is the same
in all.
Now
in the mineral, the astral matter connected with the permanent astral atom is
so little active, and consciousness is sleeping so deeply therein, that there
is no perceptible working from the astral to the physical. In the higher plants
there seems to be a sort of forth-shadowing of a nervous system, but it is too
little developed and organised to serve anything but the simplest purposes.
The added activity on the astral plane improves the astral sheath in connexion
with the plant, and the vibrations of the astral sheath affect the etheric
portion of the plant, and thus its denser matter. Hence the forth-shadowing of
a nervous system above alluded to. [149]
When
we come to the animal stage, the much greater activity of the consciousness on
the astral plane causes more powerful vibrations, which pass to the etheric
double of the animal, and by the etheric vibrations thus caused, the nervous
system is builded. The shaping of it is due to the Logos through the
Group-Soul, and to the active assistance of the Shining Ones of the
Consciousness
does not do much building on the astral plane at this stage, and works there in
an unorganised sheath; the organising is done on the [150] physical plane by
the efforts of consciousness to express itself - dim and vaguely groping as
these efforts are - aided and directed by the Group-Soul and the Shining Ones.
This work has to be completed to a great extent before the Third Life-Wave
pours down, for animal man has evolved, with his brain and nervous systems,
before that great outpouring comes which gives the Jivatma a working body, and
makes possible the higher evolution of man. [151]
-------
CHAPTER VII.
THE
MECHANISM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
1.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MECHANISM.
IN
a very real sense the whole of the bodies of man form the mechanism of
consciousness, as organs for willing, thinking, and acting; but the nervous
apparatus may be called its special mechanism, as that whereby, in the physical
body, it controls and directs all. Every
cell in the body is composed of myriads of tiny lives, each with its own
germinal consciousness;[51] each cell has its [152] own dawning consciousness,
controlling and organising these; but the central ruling consciousness which
uses the whole body controls and organises it, in turn, and the mechanism in
which it functions for this purpose is the nervous.
This
nervous mechanism is the outcome of astral impulses, and consciousness must be
active on the astral plane before it can be constructed. Impulses set up by the
consciousness - willing to experience and vaguely endeavouring to give effect
to this Will -cause vibrations in etheric matter, and these vibrations, by the
very nature of the matter[52], become electric, magnetic, heat, and other energies.
These are the masons which work under the impulse of the master-builder,
Consciousness. The impulse is from him; the execution is by them. The directive
intelligence, which as yet he cannot furnish, is supplied by the Logic life in
the Group-Soul, and by the [153] Nature-Spirits working under the guidance, as
already said, of the Shining Ones of the Third Elemental Kingdom.
We
have then to understand that nervous matter is built up on the physical plane
under impulses from the astral, the directly constructive forces being indeed
physical, but the guidance and the setting in motion of them being astral,
i.e., proceeding from consciousness active on the astral plane. The
life-energy, the prana, which flows in rosy waves, pulsing along the etheric matter
in all nerves, not in their medullary sheaths but in their substance, comes
down immediately from the astral plane; it is drawn from the great reservoir of
life, the LOGOS, and is specialised on the astral plane and sent down thence
into the nervous system, blending there with the magnetic, electrical, and
other currents which form the purely
physical prana, drawn from the same reservoir, but through the Sun, His
physical body; close examination shows that the constituents of the prana of
the mineral kingdom are fewer and less complex in arrangement than those of the
[154] prana in the higher vegetable kingdom, and this again less so than that
in the animal and human, and this difference is due to the fact that the astral
prana mingles in the latter and not in the former - to any perceptible degree,
at least. After the formation of the causal body, this complexity of the prana
circulating in the nervous systems of the physical body much increases, and it
appears to become yet more enriched in the progress of human evolution. For as
the consciousness becomes active on the mental plane, the prana of that plane
mingles also with the lower, and so on as the activity of consciousness is
carried on in higher regions.
We
may pause a moment on this word "prana", that I have translated as
"life-energy". Pran is a Samskrit root, meaning to breathe, to live,
to blow, made up of an, to breathe, move, live, and hence the Spirit, joined
with the prefix pra, forth. Thus pra-an, pran, means to breathe forth, and life-breath,
or life-energy, is the nearest English equivalent to the Samskrit term. As
[155] according to Hindu thought there is but one Life, one Consciousness,
everywhere, the word Prana has been used for the Supreme Self, the
all-sustaining Breath. It is the forth-giving energy of the One; for us, the
Life of the LOGOS. Hence that Life on every plane may be spoken of as the Prana
of the plane; it becomes the life-breath in every creature. On the physical plane it is energy, appearing in
many forms, electricity, heat, light, magnetism, etc., transmutable into each
other, because fundamentally one; on other planes we have no names whereby to
designate it, but the idea is definite enough. Appropriated by a being, it is
prana in the narrower sense in which it is generally used in theosophical
literature, the individual's life-breath. It is the vital energy, the vital
force, of which all other energies, chemical, electrical, and the rest, are
merely derivatives and fractional parts; and it is a little quaint for the
occultist when he hears scientific men talking glibly of chemical or electrical
energy, and denouncing their parent, vital energy, as an "exploded [156]
superstition". These partial manifestations of vital energy are merely due
to the arrangements of matter in which it plays, cutting off one or another of
its characteristics, or perhaps all of them save one, as blue glass will shut
off all the rays except the blue ones, and red all except the red.
In
The Secret Doctrine H. P. Blavatsky speaks of the relation of prana to the
nervous system. She quotes, and partly endorses, partly corrects, the view of
"nervous ether", put forward by Dr. B. W. Richardson; the Sun-force
is "the primal cause of all life on earth"[53], and the Sun is "the
store-house of vital force, which is the noumenon of electricity"[54]. The
"'nervous ether' is the lowest principle of the Primordial Essence which
is Life. It is animal vitality diffused in all Nature, and acting according to
the conditions it finds for its activity. It is not an 'animal product'; but
the living animal, the living flower and plant, are its products"[55].
On
the physical plane this prana, this [157] life-force, builds up all minerals,
and is the controlling agent in the chemico-physiological changes in protoplasm,
which lead to differentiation and the building of the various tissues of the
bodies of plants, animals, and men. They show its presence by the power of
responding to stimuli, but for a time this power is not accompanied by distinct
sentiency; consciousness has not unfolded enough to feel pleasure and pain.
When
the current of prana from the astral plane, with its attribute of sentiency,
blends with that of the prana of the physical plane, it begins the building of
a new arrangement of matter - the nervous. This, nervous arrangement is
fundamentally a cell, details as to which
can be studied in any modern text-book dealing with the subject[56], and
the development consists of internal changes and of outgrowths of the matter of
the cell, these outgrowths becoming sheathed [158] in medullary matter and then
appearing a threads or fibres. Every nervous system, however elaborate,
consists of cells and their outgrowths, these outgrowths becoming more
numerous, and forming ever multiplying connexions between the cells, as
consciousness demands, for its expression, a more and more elaborated nervous
system. This fundamental simplicity at the root of such complexity of details
is found even in man, the possessor of the most highly evolved nervous
organisation. The many millions of neural ganglia[57] in the brain and body are
all produced by the end of the third month of ante-natal life, and their
development consists in expansion, and the outgrowth of their substance into
fibres. This development in later life results from the activity of thought; as
a man thinks strenuously and continuously, the thought-vibrations cause
chemical activity, and the dendrons[58] shoot out from the [159] cells, making
connexions and cross-connexions in every direction, literal pathways along
which prana pulsates - prana which is now composed of factors from the
physical, astral and mental planes - and thought-vibrations travel.
Returning
from this digression into the human kingdom, let us see how the building of the
nervous system, by vibratory impulses from the astral, begins and is carried
on. We find a minute group of nerve cells and tiny processes connecting them.
This is formed by the action of a centre which has previously appeared in the
astral body - of which something will presently be said - an aggregation of
astral matter arranged to form a centre for receiving and responding to
impulses from outside. From that astral centre vibrations pass into the etheric
body, causing little etheric whirlpools which draw into themselves particles
of denser physical matter, forming at last a nerve cell, and groups of nerve
cells. These physical centres, receiving vibrations from the outer world, send
impulses back to the astral centres, increasing their vibrations; thus the
[160] physical and the astral centres act and re-act on each other, and each
becomes more complicated and more effective. As we pass up the animal kingdom,
we find the physical nervous system constantly improving, and becoming a more
and more dominant factor in the body, and this first-formed system becomes, in
the vertebrates, the sympathetic system, controlling and energising the vital
organs - the heart, the lungs, the digestive tract; beside it slowly develops
the cerebro-spinal system, closely connected in its lower workings with the
sympathetic, and becoming gradually more and more dominant, while it also
becomes in its most important development the normal organ for the expression
of the "waking consciousness". This cerebro-spinal system is built up
by impulses originating in the mental, not in the astral plane, and is only
indirectly related to the astral through the sympathetic system, built up from
the astral. We shall see later the bearing of this on the astral sensitiveness
of animals, and lowly-developed human beings, the disappearance, of this
sensitiveness with the [161] development of intellect, and its reappearance in
the higher human evolution.
The
permanent atoms form the imperfect but only direct channel between the
consciousness manifesting as the spiritual Triad and the forms he is connected
with. In the case of the higher animals these atoms are exceedingly active, and
in the brief time between the physical lives considerable changes occur in
these. As evolution goes on the increasing flow of life from the Group-Soul and
through the permanent atom, as well as the increasing complexity of the
physical apparatus, rapidly augment the sensitiveness of the animal. There is
comparatively little sensitiveness in the lower animal lives, and little in
fishes, despite their cerebrospinal system. As evolution proceeds, the
sense-centres continue to develop in the astral sheath, and in the higher
animal these are well organised and the senses are acute. But with this
acuteness there is brevity of sensations, and except with the highest animals
little of the mental element mingles to lend increased and longer continued
sensitiveness to sensation. [162]
2.
THE ASTRAL OR DESIRE BODY.
The
evolution of the astral body must be studied in relation to the physical, for
while it plays the part of a creator on the physical plane, as we have seen,
its own further development largely depends on the impulses received through
the very organism it has created. It does not, for a long time, enjoy an
independent life of its own on its own plane, and the organisation of the
astral body in relation to the physical is quite a different matter, and much
earlier in time, than its organisation in relation to the astral world. In the
East they speak of the astral and mental vehicles of consciousness, when acting
in relation to the physical, as koshas, or sheaths, and use the term sharira,
or body, for a form capable of independent action in the visible and invisible
worlds. This distinction may serve us here.
The
astral sheath of the mineral is a mere cloud of appropriated astral matter, and
does not show any perceptible signs of organisation. The same is the case with
most vegetables, but in some there [163] seem to be certain indications of
aggregations and lines, which, in the light of later evolution, appear to be
the dawn of incipient organisation; and in some old forest trees distinct aggregations of astral
matter are visible at certain points. In animals these aggregations become
clearly marked and definite, forming centres in the astral sheath of a
permanent and specialised kind.
These
aggregations in the astral sheath are the beginnings of the centres which will
build up the necessary organs in the physical body, and are not the often-named
chakras, or wheels, which belong to the organisation of the astral body itself,
and fit it for functioning on its own plane in connexion with the mental
sheath, as the lower type of the eastern sukshma sharira, or subtle body. The
astral chakras are connected with the astral senses, so that a person in whom
they are developed can see, hear, etc., on the astral plane; they lie far ahead
of the point in evolution that we are considering, a point at which the perceptive
powers of consciousness have not yet any organ, even on the physical plane.
[164]
As
these aggregations in the astral sheath appear, the impulses of consciousness
on the astral plane, guided as before explained, play on the etheric double,
forming the etheric whirlpools already mentioned, and corresponding centres
thus arise in the astral sheath and physical body, the sympathetic system being
thus built up. This system always remains thus directly connected with the
astral centres, even after the cerebro-spinal system is evolved. But from the
aggregations in the fore-part or the astral sheath, ten important centres are
formed, which become connected with the brain through the sympathetic system,
and gradually become the dominant organs for the activities of the physical, or
waking-consciousness - that is, for that part of the consciousness which functions
normally through the cerebro-spinal system. Five out of the ten serve to
receive special impressions from the outside world, and are the centres through
which consciousness uses its perceptive powers; they are called in Samskrit,
Jnanendriyas, literally "knowledge-senses", [165] i.e., senses, or
sense-centres, by which knowledge is obtained. These set up, in the way before
explained, five distinct etheric whirlpools, and thus construct five centres in
the physical brain; these, in turn, severally shape and remain connected with
their appropriate sense-organs. Thus arise the five sense-organs: the eyes,
ears, tongue, nose, skin, specialised to receive impressions from the outer
world, corresponding to the five perceptive powers of seeing, hearing, tasting,
smelling, feeling. These are specialised ways in the lower worlds by which part
of the perceptive ability of consciousness, its power of receiving external
contacts, is exercised. They belong to the lower worlds and to the grosser
forms of matter which shut consciousness in, and prevent it, thus enwrapped,
from knowing other lives; they are openings in this dense veil of matter,
permitting vibrations to enter in and reach the shrouded consciousness.
The
remaining five of these ten astral centres serve to convey vibrations from
consciousness to the outer word; they [166] are the avenues outwards, as the
knowledge-senses are the avenues inwards; they are named Karmendriyas,
literally action-senses, senses or sense-centres which cause action. These
develop like the others, forming etheric whirlpools, which make the
motor-centres in the physical brain; these, again, severally shape and remain
connected with their appropriate motor-organs, hands, feet, larynx, and organs
of generation and excretion.
We
have now an organised astral sheath, and the continual action and re-action
between this and the physical body improve both, and these together act on the
consciousness and it re-acts on them, both again gaining by this mutual
interaction. And as we have already seen, these blind impulses of consciousness
are guided in their play upon matter by the Logic life in the Group-Soul and by
the Nature-Spirits. Always it is life, consciousness, seeking to realise
itself in matter, and matter responding in virtue of its own inherent
qualities, vitalised by the action of the Third Logos. [167]
3.
CORRESPONDENCE IN ROOT-RACES.
A
similar succession in the present, the fourth, Round marks the evolution of
the kingdoms of Nature, the main
characteristics of the previous Rounds being, as it were, repeated in the
Root-Races, just as the history of evolution wrought out during long ages is
repeated during the embryonic life of each new body. During the existence of
the first two human Races there were conditions of temperature which would
render sensibility destructive of any life-manifestation, and those Races show
no sensibility to pleasure and pain on the physical plane. In the third Race
there is sensibility to violent impacts, causing coarse pleasures and pains,
but only some of the senses are evolved, those of hearing, touch, and sight,
and these but to a low stage, as we
shall presently see.
Now
in the first two Races there are visible the beginnings of aggregations in the
astral matter of the sheaths, arid if these could connect themselves with
appropriate physical matter there would be in the physical consciousness
sensations [168] of pleasure and pain. But the appropriate connexions are
lacking. The first Race shows a feeble sense of hearing, the second a vague
response to impacts, the dawning sense of touch.
The
spiritual Triad, at this stage or evolution, is so insensitive to vibrations from
external matter that it is only when he receives the tremendous vibrations
caused by impacts on the physical plane that he begins slowly to respond. Everything
begins for him on the physical plane. He does not respond directly, but
indirectly, through the mediation of the Logic life, and only as the primary
physical apparatus is built up do the subtler impulses come through with
sufficient force to cause pleasure and pain. The violent vibrations from the
physical plane cause corresponding vibration on the astral, and he becomes
dimly conscious of sensation. [169]
-------Cardiff Theosophical Society
in Wales-------
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST
HUMAN STEPS.
1.
THE THIRD LIFE-WAVE.
THE
middle of the Third Root-Race had been reached; the nervous apparatus of animal man had been built up to a point at
which it needed for its further improvement the more direct flow of thought
from the spiritual Triad to which it was attached; the Group-Soul had completed
its work for these, the higher products of evolution, as the medium by which
the life of the Second Logos protected and nourished His infant children; it
was now to form the foundation of the causal body, the vessel into which the
down-pouring life was, to be received; the term of the ante-natal life of the
Monad was touched, and the time was ripe for his birth into the [170] lower
world. The mother-life of the Logos had built for him the bodies in which he
could now live as a separate entity in the world of forms, and he was to come
into direct possession of his bodies and take up his human evolution.
We
have seen that the Monads derive their being from the First Logos, and dwell on
the anupadaka, the second, plane during the ages over which we have glanced. We
have also seen that they appropriated to themselves with the help of different
agents the three permanent atoms that represent them as Jivatmas on the third,
fourth, and fifth planes, and also those which form the lower triad on the
fifth, sixth, and seventh. All the communication of the Monad with the planes
below his own has been through the Sutratma, the life-thread, on which the
atoms are strung, that life-thread - of second plane matter - passing from the
atmic atom to the buddhic, from the buddhic to the manasic, and from the
manasic re-entering the atmic, thus making the "Triangle of Light" on
the higher planes. We have seen further [171] that from the line of this
Triangle on the buddhic plane comes forth a thread, the Sutratma of the lower
planes, on which the lower triad is strung.
The
time has now come for a fuller communication than is represented by this
delicate thread in its original form, and it, as it were, widens out. This is
but a clumsy way of picturing the fact that the Ray from the Monad glows and
increases, assuming more the form of a funnel: "The thread between the
Silent Watcher and his shadow becomes stronger an radiant"[59]. This
downflow of monadic life is accompanied by much increased flow between the
buddhic and manasic permanent atoms, and the latter seems to awaken, sending
out thrills in every direction. Other manasic atoms and molecules gather round
it, and a whirling vortex is seen on the three upper sub-planes of the mental
plane. A similar whirling motion is seen in the cloudy mass surrounding the
attached mental unit below, enveloped in the remaining layer of the Group-Soul,
as already described. The layer is torn [172] asunder, and caught up into the
vortex above, where it is disintegrated, and the causal body is formed, a
delicate filmy envelope, as the whirlpool subsides. This downflow of life,
resulting in the formation of the causal body, is called the Third Life-Wave,
and is properly ascribed to the First Logos, since the Monads came forth from
Him and represent His triune life.
The
causal body once formed, the spiritual Triad has a permanent vehicle for
further evolution, and when Consciousness becomes able to function freely in
this vehicle, the Triad will be able to control and direct, far more
effectively than ever before, the evolution of the lower vehicles.
The
earlier efforts to control are not, however, of a very intelligent description,
any more than the first movements of the body of the infant show they are
directed by any intelligence, although we know that an intelligence is
connected with it. The Monad is now, in a very real sense, born on the physical
plane, but still he must be regarded as a babe there, and must pass through an
immense period of time before [173] his power over the physical body will be
anything but infantile.
2.
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT.
And
this is clearly seen if we look at man as he was in his early days. Those long-perished
Lemurians - if we except those entities who had already developed consciousness
to a considerable extent, and who took birth in the clumsy Lemurian bodies in
order to lead human evolution - were very poorly developed as to their sense
organs; those of smell and taste were
not developed, but were only in process of building. Their sensitiveness to
pleasure and pain was slight.
In
the Atlanteans the senses were much more active; sight was very keen and
hearing was acute; taste was more developed than among the Lemurians, but was
still not highly evolved; coarse and rank foods were found perfectly tolerable
and even agreeable, and very highly-flavoured articles of diet, such as
decaying meat, were preferred to more delicate viands, which were considered
[174] tasteless. The body was not very sensitive to injuries, and severe wounds
did not cause much pain, nor were followed by prostration - even extensive
lacerations failing to incapacitate the sufferer - and healing very quickly.
The remnants of the Lemurian Race now existing, as well as the widely spread
Atlantean, still show a relative insensitiveness to pain, and undergo, with
very partial disablement, lacerations that would utterly prostrate a fifth Race
man. A North American Indian has been reported as fighting on after the side of the thigh had been slashed
away, and taking the field again after twelve or fifteen hours. This
characteristic of the fourth Race body enables a savage to bear with composure,
and to recover from, tortures that would prostrate a fifth Race man from
nervous shock.
These
differences derive largely from the varying developments of the permanent
atom, the nucleus of the physical body. There is, in the fifth Root-Race, a
fuller stream of life pouring down, causing the greater internal development of
the permanent atom, and increasing as [175] that development proceeds. As
evolution goes on, there is an increasing complexity of vibratory powers in the
physical permanent atom, a similar increase in the astral atom, and again in
the mental unit. As birth follows birth, and these permanent nuclei are put out
on each plane to gather round them the new mental, astral and physical
encasements, the more highly developed permanent atoms draw round them the more
highly developed atoms on the planes to which they belong, and thus build up a
better nervous apparatus through which the ever-increasing stream of consciousness
can flow. In this way is built up the delicately organised nervous apparatus of
the fifth Race man.
In
the fifth Race man the internal differentiation of the nervous cells is much
increased, and the intercommunications are much more numerous. Speaking
generally, the consciousness of the fifth Race man is working on the astral
plane, and is withdrawn from the physical body except so far as the
cerebro-spinal nervous system is concerned. The control of the vital organs of
the body is left to the [176] sympathetic system, trained through long ages to
perform this work, and now kept going by impulses from the astral centres other
than the ten, without deliberate attention from the otherwise occupied
consciousness, although of course sustained by it. It is, however, as we shall
presently see, quite possible to draw the attention of consciousness again to
this part of its mechanism, and to reassume intelligent control of it. In the
more highly evolved members of the fifth Race, the main impulses of
consciousness are sent down from the lower mental world; and work down through
the astral to the physical, and there stimulate the physical nervous activity.
This is the keen, subtle, intelligent consciousness, moved by ideas more than
by sensations, and showing itself more actively in the mental and emotional
brain-centres than in those concerned with sensory and motor phenomena.
The
sense-organs of the fifth Race body are less active and acute than those of the
highest fourth Race in responding to purely physical impacts. The eye, the
[177] ear, the touch do not respond to vibrations which would affect the
fourth Race sense-organs. It is significant, also, that these organs are at
their keenest in early childhood, and diminish in sensitiveness from about the
sixth year onward. On the other hand, while less acute in receiving pure
sense-impacts, they become more sensitive to sensations intermingled with
emotions, and delicacies of colour and of sound, whether of nature or of art,
appeal to them more effectively. The higher and more intricate organisation of
the sense-centres in the brain and in the astral body seems to bring about
increased sensitiveness to beauty of colour, form, and sound, but diminished
response to the sensations in which the emotions play no part.
The
fifth Race body is also far more sensitive to shock than are the bodies of the
fourth and third Races, being more dependent upon consciousness for its upkeep.
A nervous shock is far more keenly felt, and entails far greater prostration.
A severe mutilation is no longer a question merely of lacerated muscle, of
[178] torn tissues, but of dangerous nervous shock; the highly organised
nervous system carries the message of distress to the brain centres, and it is
sent on from them to the astral body, disturbing and upsetting the astral
consciousness. This is followed by disturbance on the mental plane; imagination
is aroused, memory stimulates anticipation, and the rush of mental impulses
intensifies and prolongs sensations. These again stimulate and excite the
nervous system, and its undue excitation acts on the vital organs, causing
organic disturbance; hence depression of vitality and slow recovery.
So
also in the highly evolved fifth Race body, mental conditions largely rule
the physical, and intense anxiety,
mental suffering, and worry, producing nervous tension, readily disturb organic
processes and bring about weakness or disease. Hence mental strength and
serenity directly promote physical health, and when the consciousness is
definitely established on the astral or the mental plane, emotional and mental
disturbance are far more productive of ill-health than [179] any privations
inflicted on the physical body. The evolved fifth Race man lives physically
literally in his nervous system.
2.
INCONGRUOUS SOULS AND BODIES.
But
we should here notice a significant fact, bearing on the all-important question
of the relation of the nervous organisation to consciousness. When a human consciousness
has not yet grown beyond the later Lemurian or earlier Atlantean type, but is
born into a fifth Race body, it presents a curious and interesting study. (The
reasons for such a birth cannot here be enlarged upon; briefly, as the more advanced nations annex
the lands occupied by little evolved
tribes, and kill them off either directly or indirectly, the people thus
summarily evicted from their bodies have
to find new habitats; the suitable savage conditions are becoming rarer and rarer, under the ever-expanding
flood of higher races, and they have to take birth under the lowest available
conditions, such as the slums of large cities, in families of criminal types.
They [180] are drawn to the conquering nation by karmic necessity.) Such
persons incarnate in fifth Race bodies of the worst available material. They
then show out in these fifth Race bodies the qualities that belong to the
earlier fourth or the third; and though they have the physical outer nervous
organisation, they have not the internal differentiation in the nervous matter
that only comes with the play on physical matter of energies coming from the astral and mental worlds. We observe in
them the non-responsiveness to impressions from outside, unless the
impressions are of a violent order, that marks the low grade of development of
the individual consciousness. We notice the falling back into inertia when a
violent physical stimulus is absent; the recurrent craving for such violent
stimulus when roused by physical necessities; the stirring into faint mental
activity under vehement impact on the sense-organs, and the blankness when the
sense-organs are at rest; the complete absence of any response to a thought or
a high emotion - not a rejection but an un-consciousness of it. Excitement or
violence [181] in such a person is caused as a rule by something outside - by
something coming before him physically which his dawning mind connects with the
possibility of gratifying some passion which he remembers, and desires again
to feel. Such a person may not be intent on robbery or murder at all, but may
be stimulated into either or both by the
mere sight of a well-dressed passer-by who seems likely to have money - money,
that means gratification by food, drink, or sex. The stimulus to attack the
passer-by is at once given, and will be followed at once by action, unless
checked by a physical and obvious danger, such as the sight of a policeman. It
is the embodied physical temptation which arouses the idea of committing the
crime; a man who plans a crime beforehand is more highly developed; the mere
savage commits a crime on the impulse of the moment, unless faced by another
physical embodiment, that of a force which he fears. And when the crime is
committed, he is impervious to all appeals to shame or remorse; he is
susceptible only to terror.
These
remarks do not, of course, apply [182] to the intelligent criminal, but only to
the congenital brutal and obtuse type, the third or fourth Race savage in a
fifth Race body.
As
the truths of the Ancient Wisdom more and more colour modern thought, they will
inevitably, among other things, modify the treatment of the criminal. Such criminals
as are here spoken of will not be punished brutally, but will be kept
permanently under strict discipline; and will be, as far as is practicable,
aided to progress more quickly than would have been possible under the
conditions of savage life. But the further consideration of this would lead us
too far from our main study, and we must now return to the workings of
consciousness on the astral plane, as they show themselves in the higher
animals and in the lower human types.
4.
DAWN OF CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE ASTRAL PLANE.
We
have seen that astral organisation precedes and shapes the physical nervous
[183] system, and we have now to consider how this must affect the workings of
consciousness. We should expect to find that consciousness on the astral plane
will become aware of impacts on its astral sheath in a vague and un-precise
way, just as, in the minerals and the plants and the lowest animals, it became
aware of impacts on its physical body. This awareness of astral impacts will
long precede any definite organisation in the astral sheath, the bridge between
the mental and the physical, that will gradually evolve it into an astral body,
the independent vehicle of consciousness on the astral plane. And, as we have
seen, the first organisation in the astral sheath is a response to impacts
received through the physical body, and is related to the physical body in its
evolution. This organisation has nothing to do directly with the reception,
co-ordination, and understanding of astral impacts, but is engaged in being
acted upon by, and re-acting on, the physical nervous system. Consciousness
everywhere precedes Self-consciousness and the evolution of [184] consciousness
on the astral plane proceeds contemporaneously with the evolution of
Self-consciousnesss - to be dealt with presently - on the physical.
The
impacts on the astral sheath from the astral plane produce vibratory waves over
the whole astral sheath, and the ensheathed consciousness gradually becomes
dimly aware of these surgings, without relating them to any external cause. It
is groping after the much more violent physical impacts, and such power of
attention as it has evolved is turned on them. The aggregations of astral
matter, connected with the physical nervous systems, naturally share in the
general surgings of the astral sheath, and the vibrations caused by these
surgings mingle with those coming from
the physical body, and affect also the vibrations sent down to it by the
consciousness through these aggregations. Thus a connexion is established
between astral impacts and the sympathetic system, and they play a
considerable part in its evolution. As the consciousness working in the
physical body begins slowly to recognise an external world, [185] these impacts
from the astral - gradually classified under the five senses as are the impacts
from the physical - mingle with those from the physical plane and are not
distinguished as being different from them in origin. This recognition is the
lower clairvoyance, that which precedes the great evolution of mind. So long as
the sympathetic system is acting as the dominant apparatus of consciousness, so
long will the origin, astral or physical, of impacts remain as the same to consciousness.
Even the higher animals - in whom the cerebro-spinal system is well developed,
but in whom it is not yet, save in its sense-centres, the chief mechanism of
consciousness - fail to distinguish between physical and astral sights, sounds,
etc. A horse will leap over an astral body as though it were a physical one; a
cat will rub herself against the legs of an astral figure; a dog will growl at
a similar appearance. In the dog and the horse there is the dawning of an
uneasy sense of some difference, shown by the fear of such appearances often
manifested by the dog, and by the timidity of the horse. [186] The nervousness
of the horse - despite which he can be trained to face the dangers of a
battle-field, and even, as with Arab mares, learn to pick up and carry away his
fallen rider through all the alarming surroundings - seems chiefly due to his
confusion and bewilderment as to his environment, and his inability to
distinguish between what later he will learnedly call "objective
realities", against which he can injure his body, and "delusions",
or "hallucinations", through which his body can pass unscathed. To
him they are all "real", and the difference of their behaviour alarms
him; in the case of an exceptionally intelligent horse the nervousness is often greater, as he
evolves a dawning sense of difference in the phenomena themselves, and this at
first, not being understood, is yet more disquieting.
The
savage, living more in the cerebro-spinal system, distinguishes between the
physical and the astral phenomena, though the latter to him are as
"real" as the physical: he relates them to another world, to which he
relegates [187] all things that do not behave in the way he considers normal.
He does not know that, with regard to these, he is conscious through the
sympathetic and not through the cerebro-spinal system; he is conscious of them
- that is all. The Lemurians and early Atlanteans were almost more conscious
astrally than they were physically. Astral impacts, throwing the whole astral
sheath into waves, came through the sense-centres of the astral to the
sympathetic centres in the physical body, and they were vividly aware of them.
Their lives were dominated by sensations and passions more than by intellect,
and the special apparatus of the astral sheath, the sympathetic system, was
then the dominant mechanism of consciousness.
As
the cerebro-spinal system became elaborated, and more and more assumed its
peculiar position as the chief apparatus of consciousness on the physical
plane, the attention of consciousness was fixed more and more on the external
physical world, and its aspect of activity, as the concrete mind, was brought
into greater [188] and greater prominence. The sympathetic system became
subordinate, and its indications were less and less regarded, submerged under
the flood of the coarser and heavier physical impacts from without. Hence a
lessening of astral consciousness and an increase of intelligence, though there
still remains in almost every one a vague sense of non-understood impressions
received from time to time.
At
the present stage of evolution this lower form of clairvoyance is still found
among human beings, but in persons of very limited intellect; they have little
idea as to its rationale, and little control over its exercise. Attempts to
increase it are apt to cause nervous disturbances of a very refractory kind,
and these attempts are against the law of evolution, which works ever forward
towards a higher end, and does not move backwards. As the law cannot be
changed, attempts to work against it only cause disturbance and disease. We
cannot revert to the condition in which the sympathetic system was dominant,
save at the cost of health, and of the higher intellectual evolution. [189]
Hence the serious danger of following many of the directions now published
broadcast, to meditate on the solar plexus, and other sympathetic centres.
The
practices, a few of which have come over to the West, are systematised into
Hatha Yoga in
When
the cerebro-spinal system is thrown temporarily into abeyance, the impulses
from the astral sheath through the sympathetic system make themselves felt in
consciousness. Hence "lucidity" in trance, self-induced or imposed,
the power of reading in the astral by the use of crystals, and other similar
devices. The partial or complete suspension of the action of consciousness in
the higher vehicle causes it to direct attention on the lower.
It
may be well to add here, to prevent misconception, that the higher clairvoyance
follows, instead of preceding, the growth of mind, and cannot appear until the
organisation of the astral body, in contradistinction to the astral sheath,
has been carried to a considerable height. When this is effected by the play of
intellect and the perfecting of the physical intellectual apparatus, then the
true astral senses [191] before mentioned, called the chakras, or wheels, from
their whirling appearance, are gradually evolved. These develop on the astral
plane, as astral senses and organs, and are built and controlled from the
mental plane, as were the brain-centres from the astral. Consciousness is then
working on the mental plane and building its astral mechanism, as before it
worked on the astral plane, building its physical mechanism. But now it works
with far greater power and greater understanding, having unfolded so many of
its powers. Further, it shapes centres in the physical body from the
sympathetic and cerebrospinal systems, to act as physical plane apparatus for
bringing into the brain-consciousness the vibrations from the higher planes.
As these centres are vivified, knowledge is "brought through", i.e.,
is available for the use of consciousness working in the physical nervous
system. This, as said, is the higher clairvoyance, the intelligent and
self-directed exercise of the powers of consciousness in the astral body.
In
this upward-climbing, then, the [192] powers of consciousness are awakened on
the physical plane, and are then severally awakened on the astral and the
mental. The astral and mental sheaths must be highly evolved ere they can be
farther developed into the subtle body, acting independently on the higher
planes, and then building for itself the necessary apparatus for the exercise
of these higher powers in the physical world. And even here when the apparatus
is ready, built by pure thought and pure desire, it must be vivified on the
physical plane by the fire of Kundalini, aroused and directed by the
consciousness working in the physical brain. [193]
-------
CHAPTER IX.
CONSCIOUSNESS
AND SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.
1.
CONSCIOUSNESS.
For
an immense period of time - throughout the later vegetable and the animal
evolution, and throughout the evolution of normal humanity up to the present
time - the astral, or desire, sheath is, as we have seen, subordinate to the
physical, so far as the workings of consciousness are concerned. We have now
to trace the unfolding of the consciousness, of the life becoming aware of its
surroundings. While the nervous system is truly said to be created from the
astral plane, it is none the less created for the expression of consciousness
on the physical plane, and for its effective working thereon. It is there that
consciousness is first to become Self-consciousness. [194]
When
the vibrations of the outer world play on the physical sheath of the
infolded infant Self, the Jivatma, the
Ray of the Monad, they at first cause responsive thrills within that Self, a
dawning consciousness within itself, a feeling, unrelated by that Self to
anything outside, though caused by impacts from outside. It is a change outside
the enveloping film of the Self, clothed in sheaths of denser matter, which
outside change causes a change within that envelope, and this change causes an
act of consciousness - consciousness of change, of a changed condition. It may
be an attraction, a drawing towards, exerted by an external object over the
sheaths, reaching to the envelope of the Self, causing a slight expansion in
the envelope, following an expansion in the sheaths, towards the attractive
object; and this expansion is a change of condition, and causes a feeling, an
act of consciousness. Or it may be a repulsion, a driving away, again exerted
by an external object against the sheaths, reaching to the envelope of the
Self, causing a slight shrinking in the envelope, following the shrinking [195]
away of the sheaths from the repellent object; and this shrinking is also a
change of condition, and causes a corresponding change in consciousness.
When
we examine the conditions of the enveloping sheaths under an attraction and a
repulsion, we find they are entirely different. When the impact of an external
object causes a rhythmical vibration in these envelopes - that is, when their
materials are made to arrange themselves in undulating regular lines of
rarefaction and densification - this arrangement of the enclosing matter
permits an interchange of life between the two objects that have come into
contact, and in proportion to the correspondence of the rarefactions and densifications
in the two is the fulness of the interchange. This interchange, this partial
union of two separated Lives through the separating sheaths of matter, is
"pleasure", and the going out of the Lives towards each other is
"attraction"; however complicated pleasure may become, herein lies
its essence; it is a sense of "moreness", of increased, expanded
life. The more fully developed the Life, the [196] greater the pleasure in the
realisation of this moreness, in the expansion into the other Life, and each of
the Lives thus uniting gains the moreness by union with the other. As
rhythmical vibrations and corresponding rarefactions and densifications make
this interchange of life possible, it is truly said that "harmonious
vibrations are pleasurable". When, on the contrary, the impact of an
external object causes a jangle of vibrations in the envelopes of the impacted
object - that is, when the materials are made to arrange themselves
irregularly, moving in conflicting directions, striking themselves against each
other - the contained Life is shut in, isolated, its normal out-flowing rays
are checked, intercepted, even turned back on themselves. This check to normal
action is "pain", increasing with the energy of the in-driving, and
the result of the driving-in process is "repulsion". Here, also, the
more fully developed the Life, the greater the pain in this violent reversal of
its normal action, and in the sense of frustration that accompanies the
reversal. Hence, again, "inharmonious vibrations are [197] painful".
Be it observed that this is true of all the sheaths, although the astral sheath
becomes specialised as the recipient of the class of sensations later called
pleasurable and painful. Constantly, in the course of evolution, a general
life-function thus becomes specialised, and a particular organ is normally used
for its exercise. The astral body being the vehicle of desires, the need for
its special susceptibility to pleasure and pain is obvious.
To
return from this brief digression into the state of the envelopes to the germ
of consciousness itself; we shall find
it important to notice that there is herein no "awareness" of an
external object, no such awareness as is ordinarily conveyed by the use of the
word. Consciousness, as yet, knows nothing of an outer and an inner, of an
object and a subject; the divine germ is now becoming conscious. It becomes
consciousness with this change of conditions, with this movement in the
sheaths, this expanding and contracting, for consciousness exists only in, and
by, change. Here, then, for the separated divine germ is the birth of
consciousness; [198] it is born of change, of motion; where and when this first
change occurs, there, consciousness, for that separated germ, is born.
The
mere clothing of this germ with successive envelopes of matter on successive
planes gives rise to these first vague changes within the germ that are the
birthing of consciousness; and none of us may count the ages which roll on as
these changes become more defined, and as the envelopes become more definitely
shaped by the ceaseless impacts from without, and the no less ceaseless
responsive thrillings from within. The state of consciousness at this stage can
only be described as one of "feeling", feeling becoming slowly more
and more definite, and assuming two phases, pleasure and pain - pleasure
with expansion, pain with contraction.
And, be it noted, this primary state of consciousness does not manifest the
three well-known aspects of Will, Wisdom, and Activity, even in the most
germinal stage; "feeling" precedes these, and belongs to
consciousness as a whole, though in later stages of evolution it shows itself
so much in connexion with the Will-Desire aspect [199] as to become almost
identified with it; in the plural, as feelings, indeed, it belongs to that
aspect, which is the first to arise as a differentiation within consciousness.
As
the states of pleasure and pain become more definitely established in
consciousness, they give rise to the three aspects: with the fading away of
pleasure there is a continuance of the attraction in consciousness, a memory,
and this becomes a dim groping after it, a vague following of the vanishing
feeling, a movement - too indefinite to be called an effort - to hold it, to
retain it; similarly with the fading away of pain there is a continuance of the repulsion in consciousness, again a
memory, and this becomes an equally vague
movement to push it away. These states give birth to: Memory of past
pleasure and pain, indicating the germination o the Thought-aspect; longing to
experience again pleasure, or avoid pain, the germination of the Desire-aspect;
this stimulating a movement, the germination of the Activity-aspect. Thus
Consciousness is differentiated into its three aspects from its primary unity
of Feeling, repeating [200] in miniature the kosmic process in which the triple
Divinity ever arises from the One Existence. The Hermetic axiom is here, as
always, exemplified: "As above, so below".
2.
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.
Desire,
thus germinated, gropes after pleasure, not, as yet, after the pleasure giving
object; for consciousness is as yet limited within its own kingdom, is
conscious only in the within, is conscious only of changes in that within. It
has not yet turned its attention outwards, is not yet conscious even that there
is an outwards. Meanwhile that outwards of which it is not aware is continually
hammering at its vehicles, and most vehemently at its physical vehicle, the
vehicle most easily affected from outside, and with most difficulty from
within. Gradually the persistent and violent shocks from outside draw its
attention in their direction; their irregularity, their unexpectedness, their
constant assaults, their unrelatedness to its slow, groping [201] movements, their
unexplained appearances and disappearances, are in opposition to its dim sense
of regularity, continuity, of being always there, of slow surges of change
rising and falling within what is not yet to it "himself"; there is a
consciousness of difference, and this grows into a sense of a something that
remains within a changing hurly-burly, a sense of a "within" and a
"without", or, to speak more accurately, of a "without"
and a "within", since it is
the hammering outside that causes the difference of "without" and
"within" to arise in consciousness. "Without" comes first,
if only by a fraction of time, because its recognition alone makes possible and
inevitable the recognition of "within". So long as there is nothing
else, we cannot speak of "within"; it is everything. But when
"without" forces itself on consciousness, "within" rises up
as its inevitable opposite. This sense of a "without" arises
necessarily at the points of contact between the continuing consciousness and
the changing hurly-burly; that is, in its physical vehicle, its physical [202]
body. Herein is slowly established the awareness of "others", and
with the establishment of this "others" comes the establishment also
of "I", over against them. He becomes conscious of things outside
instead of being conscious only of changes, and then he comes to know that the
changes are in "himself", and that the things are outside himself.
Self-consciousness is born.
This
process of perceiving objects is a complex one. It must be remembered that
objects contact the body in various ways, and the body receives some of their
vibrations by the parts differentiated to receive such vibrations. The eye, the
ear, the skin, the tongue, the nose, receive various vibratory waves, and
certain cells in the organs affected vibrate similarly in response. The waves
set up pass to the sense-centres in the brain, and thence to the
knowledge-senses in the astral sheath; there the changes in consciousness take
place which correspond with them, as explained in Chapter II., and they are
sent on as these changes, the sensations of colour, [203] outline, sound,
form, taste, smell, etc., still as separate sensations, to consciousness
working in the mental sheath, and are there combined by it into a single image,
unified into a single perception of an object. This blending of the various
streams into one, this synthesis of sensations, is a specialty of the mind.
Hence, in Indian psychology, the mind is often called "the sixth
sense", "the senses, of which mind is the sixth".[60] When we
consider the five organs of action in relation to the mind, we find a
reverse process going on; the mind
pictures a certain act as a whole, and thereby brings about a corresponding set
of vibrations in the mental sheath; these vibrations are reproduced in the
motor senses in the astral sheath; they break it up, analyse it into its
constituent parts, and these are accompanied with vibrations in the matter of
the motor centres; these, in turn, are
repeated in the motor centres in the brain as separate waves; the motor
centres distribute these waves through the nervous system to the various
muscles that [204] must co-operate to produce the action. Regarded in this
double relation the mind becomes the eleventh sense, "the ten senses and
the one"[61].
3.
REAL AND UNREAL.
With
the change of consciousness into Self-consciousness comes the recognition of a
difference which later, in the more evolved Self-consciousness, becomes the
difference between the objective or "real" - in the ordinary western sense
of the word - and the subjective or "unreal", and
"imaginary". To the jelly-fish, the sea anemone, the hydra, waves
and currents, sunshine and blast, food and sand touching the periphery or the
tentacles, are not "real", are registered only as changes in
consciousness, as in truth they are also to the body of the human infant; I say
registered, not recognised, since no mental observation, analysis, and judgment
are possible in the lower stages of evolution. These creatures are not yet
sufficiently conscious of "others", to be conscious of [205]
"themselves"; and they only feel changes as occurring within the
circle of their own ill-defined consciousness. The external world grows into
"reality" as the consciousness, separating itself from it, realises its
own separateness, changes from a vague "am" into a definite "I
am".
As
this self-conscious "I" gradually gains in clearness of
self-identification, of separateness, and distinguishes between changes within
himself and the impact of external objects, he is ready to take the next step
of relating the changes within himself to the varying impacts from outside.
Then follows the development of Desire for pleasure into definite desires for
pleasure-giving objects, followed by
thoughts as to how to obtain them ;
these lead to efforts to move after them when in sight, to search for them when
absent, and the consequent slow
evolution of the outer vehicle into a body well-organised for movement, for
pursuit, for capture. The desire for the absent, the search, the success or
failure, all impress on the developing consciousness the difference [206]
between his desires and thoughts, of which he is, or can be, always conscious,
and the external objects which come and go without any reference to himself;
and with disconcerting irrelevance to his feelings. He distinguishes these as
"real", as having an existence which he does not control, and which
affects him without any regard to his likings or objections. And this sense of
"reality" is first established in the physical world, as being the
one in which these contacts between the "others" and the
"I" are first recognised by consciousness. Self-consciousness begins
its evolution in and through the physical body, and has its earliest centre in
the brain.
The
normal man, at the present stage of evolution, still identifies himself with
this brain-centre of Self-consciousness, and is hence restricted to the waking
consciousness, or consciousness working in the cerebro-spinal system, knowing
himself as "I", distinctly and consecutively, only on the physical
plane, that is, in the waking state. On this plane he is definitely
self-conscious, distinguishing [207] between himself and the outer world,
between his own thoughts and outside appearances, without hesitation; hence on
this plane, and on this plane only, external things are to him
"real", "objective", "outside himself".
On
other planes, the astral and the mental, he is, as yet, conscious but not
self-conscious; he recognises changes within himself, but does not yet distinguish
between the self-initiated changes and those caused by impacts from without on
his astral and mental vehicles. To him they are all alike changes within
himself. Hence all phenomena of consciousness occurring on super-physical
planes - planes on which Self-consciousness is not yet definitely established
- the normal, average man calls "unreal", "subjective",
"inside himself", just as the jellyfish, if he were a philosopher,
would designate the phenomena of the physical plane. He regards astral or
mental phenomena as the result of his "imagination", i.e., as forms
of his own creating, and not as the results of impacts upon his astral or
mental vehicle from external worlds, subtler [208] indeed, but as
"real" and "objective" as the external physical world. That
is, he is not yet sufficiently evolved to have reached self-realisation on
those planes, and thus to have become capable of objectivising there the
external worlds. He is only conscious there of the changes in himself, the
changes in consciousness, and the external world is consequently to him merely
the play of his own desires and thoughts. He is, in fact, an infant on the
astral and mental planes. [209]
-------
CHAPTER X.
HUMAN
STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS.[62]
1.
THE SUB-CONSCIOUSNESS.
WE
have already noticed the fact that many activities of consciousness, once
purposive, have become automatic, and have gradually sunk below the "threshold
of consciousness". The processes which maintain the life of the body -
such as the beating of the heart, the expansion and contraction of the heart,
the processes of digestion, etc. - have all fallen into a region of
consciousness on which the attention of consciousness is not fixed. And there are innumerable phenomena, not
directly connected with the [210] maintenance of bodily life, which also
inhabit this dim region. The sympathetic system is a storehouse of traces left
by long-past events - events not belonging to our present life at all, but
events that passed hundreds of centuries
ago, that occurred in long-past lives, when the Jivatma which is our Self was abiding in savage human
bodies, and even in the bodies of animals. Many a causeless terror, many a
Another
part of the sub-conscious in us is composed of the contents of all the
consciousnesses that use our bodies as fields of evolution - atoms, molecules,
cells of many grades. Some of the queer spectres and dainty figures that arise
from the sub-conscious in us do not belong to us at all, but are the dim
gropings, and foolish fears, and pretty fancies, of the Units of consciousness
at a lower stage of evolution than our own, that are our guests, inhabiting our
body as a lodging-house.
In
this part of the sub-conscious go on the wars, waged by one set of creatures in
our blood against another set, which do not enter our consciousness, save when
their results appear as diseases.
Human
sub-consciousness, working on the physical plane, is thus composed of very
varied elements, and it is necessary [213] thus to analyse and to understand
it, in order to distinguish its workings from those of the true human
super-consciousness, which resembles the instincts in its sudden irruptions
into consciousness, but differs entirely from them in its nature and place in
evolution, belonging to the future while they belong to the past. These two
differ as atrophied vestigial organs, recording the history of the past,
differ from germinal rudimentary organs, indicating the progress of the future.
We
have also seen that consciousness, working on the astral plane, built up and is
still building the nervous system for its instrument on the physical plane; but
this also does not form part of what is called the normal waking consciousness
at this stage of evolution. In the average man, consciousness, working on the
mental plane, is now building up and organising the astral body as its
instrument in the future on the astral plane; but this again does not form part
of the waking-consciousness. What then is the human waking-consciousness?
[214]
2.
THE WAKING CONSCIOUSNESS.
The
waking-consciousness is consciousness working on the mental plane and on the
astral, using mental and astral matter as its vehicle, seated in the physical
brain as Self-consciousness[63], and using that brain with its connected
nervous system as its instrument for willing, knowing, and acting on the
physical plane. In waking-consciousness the brain is always active, always
vibrating; its activity may be stimulated as a transmitting organ from outside through the senses, or it may be
stimulated by the consciousness from the inner planes; but it is ceaselessly
active, responding to the without and the within. In the average man, the brain
is the only part in which consciousness has definitely become
Self-consciousness, the only part in which he feels himself as "I",
and asserts himself [215] as a separate individual unit. In all the rest of him
consciousness is still vaguely groping about, answering to external impacts but
not yet defining them, conscious as to changes in its own conditions, but not
yet conscious of "others" and "myself". In the more
advanced members of the human family, consciousness, working on the astral and
mental planes, is very rich and active, but its attention is not yet turned outwards
to the astral and mental worlds in which it is living, and its activities find
their outer expression in Self-consciousness on the physical plane, to which
all the outer attention in consciousness is turned, and into which is poured as
much of the higher workings as it is capable of receiving. From time to time,
powerful impacts on the astral or mental plane create so violent a vibration in
consciousness, that a wave of thought or emotion surges outwards into the
waking consciousness and throws it into such furious motion, that its normal
activities are swept away, submerged, and the man is hurried into action which
is not directed or [216] controlled by Self-consciousness. We shall consider
this further when we come to the super-physical consciousness.
Waking-consciousness
may then be defined as that part of the total consciousness which is
functioning in the brain and nervous system, and which is definitely
Self-conscious. We may conceive of consciousness as symbolised by a great
light, which shines through a glass globe inserted in a ceiling, illuminating
the room below, while the light itself fills the room above, and sheds its
radiance freely in every direction. Consciousness is as a great egg of light,
of which only one end is inserted into the brain, and that end is the
waking-consciousness. As consciousness becomes Self-consciousness on the
astral plane, and the brain develops sufficiently to answer to its vibrations,
astral consciousness will become part of the waking-consciousness. Later still,
when consciousness becomes Self-consciousness on the mental plane, and the
brain develops sufficiently to answer to its vibrations, the
waking-consciousness will include mental consciousness. And [217] so on, until
all the consciousness on our five planes has evolved to waking-consciousness.
This
enlarging of waking-consciousness is accompanied with development in the atoms
of the brain, as well as with the development of certain organs in the brain,
and of the connexions between cells. For the inclusion of the astral Self-consciousness,
it is necessary that the pituitary body should be evolved beyond its present
condition, and that the fourth set of spirillae in the atoms should be
perfected. For the inclusion of the mental, the pineal gland must be rendered
active, and the fifth set of spirillae brought into thorough working order. So
long as these physical development remain unaccomplished, Self-consciousness
may be evolved on the astral and mental planes, but it remains super-consciousness
and its workings do not express themselves through the brain, and thus become
part of the waking-consciousness.
Waking-consciousness
is limited and conditioned by the brain so long as a man [218] possesses a physical
body, and any injury to the brain, any lesion, any disturbance, at once
interferes with its manifestation. However highly developed may be a man's
consciousness, he is limited by his brain so far as its manifestations on the
physical plane are concerned, and if that brain be ill-formed or ill-developed,
his waking-consciousness will be poor and restricted.
With
the loss of the physical body, the connotation of waking-consciousness changes,
and that which is here said of the physical conditions is transferred to the
astral. We may therefore enlarge our original definition to the general statement:
waking-consciousness is that part of the total consciousness which is working
through its outermost vehicle, that is, which is manifesting on the lowest
plane then touched by that consciousness.
In
the earlier stages of human evolution, there is little activity in
consciousness on the inner planes except as stimulated from the outer; but as
Self-consciousness grows more vivid on the physical plane, it enriches with
ever-increasing rapidity the [219] content of consciousness on the inner;
consciousness, working upon its content, rapidly evolves, until its internal
powers far outstrip the possibilities of their manifestation through the
brain, and the latter becomes a
limitation and a hindrance instead of feeder and a stimulator. Then the
pressure of consciousness on its physical instrument becomes at times
perilously great, causing a nervous tension which endangers the equilibrium of
the brain, unable to adapt itself with sufficient rapidity to the powerful
waves beating upon it. Hence the truth of the saying "Great wits to
madness near allied". Only the highly and delicately organised brain can
enable the "great wits" to manifest themselves on the physical plane;
but such a brain is the one most easily thrown off its balance by the strong
waves of these same "great wits", and this is "madness".
Madness - the incapacity of the brain to respond regularly to vibrations - may
indeed be due to lack or arrest of development, lack or arrest of brain
organisation, and such madness is not allied to "great wits"; but it
is a [220] significant and pregnant fact that a brain in advance of normal
evolution, developing new and delicately balanced combinations for the enriched
expression of consciousness on the physical plane, is the brain of all others
that may most easily be disabled by the throwing out of gear of some part of
its mechanism not yet sufficiently established to resist a strain. To this
again we must return in considering the super-physical consciousness.
3.
THE SUPER-PHYSICAL CONSCIOUSNESS.
Psychologists
in the West have lately betaken themselves to the study of states of
consciousness other than the waking; these are variously designated as
"abnormal", "sub-conscious", "inconscient", and
often as "dream-consciousness" - because the dream is the most
generally recognised and universal form of other-consciousness. At first there
was a tendency to regard these states as the result of disordered brain conditions,
and this view is still largely held; but the more advanced psychologists are
out-growing this narrow [221] idea, and are beginning to study such states as
definite manifestations of consciousness under conditions not yet understood,
but not necessarily disorderly; some definitely recognise a "larger
consciousness", a part only of which can find expression in the brain as
at present evolved. In the East, this state of other consciousness has for
long ages been regarded as higher than the waking state, as that of the
consciousness set free from the narrow limits of the physical brain, and acting
in a subtler and more plastic and congenial medium. Dream has been regarded as
one phase of this superphysical activity, and as a touch with higher worlds;
and means have been taken to arouse Self-consciousness in the dream-world, to
set Self-consciousness, clothed in its higher vestures, free from the physical
body at will; so that, instead of the vague and confused answers to impacts
from higher worlds in undeveloped dream states, Self-consciousness may be
established therein with clear and definite vision. To effect this,
Self-consciousness in its higher vehicles must be at first [222] removed from
the physical body and made active on the astral plane; for until it knows
itself out of the dense body, it cannot separate out in the "dream",
the extra-physical experiences from the chaotic fragments of physical
experiences mixed up with them in the brain. As clear water poured into a muddy
bucket becomes mixed up with the mud, so does an astral experience, poured down
into a brain full of fragments of past physical happenings, become blurred,
confused, incongruous[64]. Eastern psychology hence sought after methods of
separating the Self-consciousness from its physical vehicle, and it is
interesting to observe that these methods, wholly different as they are from
those used in the West, and directed to the intensifying of consciousness,
reduce the body to the same state of quiescence as that induced by physical
methods in the West, when the western psychologist betakes himself to the study
of other-consciousness.
Super-consciousness
includes the whole [223] of the consciousness above the waking-consciousness;
that is, all on the higher planes that does not express itself on the physical
plane as Self-consciousness working through the brain. It is therefore a great
complexity, and covers a large number of phenomena. Dream, as said, is part of
it; so are all the workings of the astral consciousness asserting themselves as
premonitions, warnings, visions of happenings distant in space or time, vague
touches from other worlds, sudden intuitions as regards character or events;
also all the workings of the mental consciousness, lower or higher, that
appear as intuitive grasp of truths, sudden insight into causal connexions,
inspirations - mental or moral - flashes of genius, visions of high artistic
beauty, etc., etc. These irruptions of the super-consciousness into the
physical plane have the character of unexpectedness, of conviction, of
imperious authority, of lack of apparent cause. They are unrelated, or only
indirectly related, to the contents of the waking-consciousness, and do not
justify themselves to it, but simply impose themselves on it. [224]
To
bring the super-consciousness into manifestation on the physical plane, it is
necessary - in the early stages - to reduce the brain to inactivity, to render
the sense-organs unresponsive to physical impacts, and, by expelling the
conscious entity from the body, reduce that body to the state called trance.
Trance is but the sleep-state, artificially or abnormally induced; whether
produced by mesmeric, hypnotic, medicinal, or other means, the result is the
same, so far as the physical body is concerned. But the result on the other
planes will depend entirely on the evolution of consciousness on those planes,
and a highly evolved consciousness would not permit the use of hypnotic or
medicinal means - unless, perhaps, of an anaesthetic for an operation - though
such a one might allow, under exceptional circumstances, the use of mesmerism
in producing the trance state. Trance may also be produced by action from the
higher planes, as by intense concentration of thought, or by rapt contemplation
of an object of devotion, inducing exstasy. These are the means [225] used from
time immemorial by the Raja Yogis of the East, and the exstasy of the Saint in
the West is produced by this rapt contemplation; the trance is
indistinguishable from that produced by the means above referred to in the Salpetriere
and elsewhere. The Hatha Yogis also reach this same trance condition, but by
means much resembling the last named, - by staring at a black spot on a white
ground, at the point of the nose, and other similar practices.
But
when other than physical vision and physical tests are used, how great is the
difference between the super-physical conditions of consciousness in the
hypnotised subject and in the Yogi. H. P. Blavatsky has well described this
difference: "In the trance state the Aura changes entirely, the seven
prismatic colours being no longer discernible. In sleep also they are not all
'at home'. For those which belong to the spiritual elements in the man, viz.,
yellow, Buddhi; indigo, Higher Manas; and the blue of the Auric Envelope, will
be either hardly discernible or altogether missing. The Spiritual Man is free
during sleep, [226] and though his physical memory may not become aware of it,
lives, robed in his highest essence, in realms on other planes, in realms which
are the land of reality, called dreams on our plane of illusion. A good
clairvoyant, moreover, if he had an opportunity of seeing a Yogi in the trance
state and a mesmerised subject side by side, would learn an important lesson in
Occultism. He would learn to know the difference between self-induced trance
and a hypnotic state resulting from extraneous influence In the Yogi, the
'principles' of the lower quaternary disappear entirely. Neither red, green,
red-violet, nor the auric blue of the body are to be seen; nothing but hardly
perceptible vibrations of the golden-hued Prana principle, and a violet flame
streaked with gold rushing upwards from the head, in the region where the Third
Eye rests, and culminating in a point. If the student remembers that the true
violet, or the extreme end of the spectrum, is no compound colour of red and
blue, but a homogeneous colour with vibrations seven times more rapid than
those of the red, and that the golden [227] hue is the essence of the three
yellow lines from orange-red to yellow-orange and yellow, he will understand
the reason why; he [the Yogi] lives in his own Auric Body, now become the
vehicle of Buddhi-Manas. On the other hand, in a subject in an artificially
produced hypnotic or mesmeric trance, an effect of unconscious when not of
conscious Black Magic, unless produced by a high Adept, the whole set of the
principles will be present, with the Higher Manas paralysed, Buddhi severed
from it through that paralysis, and the red-violet Astral Body entirely subjected
to the Lower Manas and Kama Rupa"[65].
This
difference in the appearance of the entranced person, as seen by the clear-seeing
eye, is connected with a difference of immense importance in the after outcome
of the trance. The Yogi, who thus leaves the body, leaves it in full Self-consciousness,
visits the higher worlds in full possession of his faculties, and, on returning
to the dense body, imprints on the evolved brain the memory of his experiences.
The little evolved person, [228] entranced, "loses consciousness";
when his Self-consciousness is not developed on the higher planes, his
awareness is not there turned outwards; he is practically as much asleep there,
in the astral and mental worlds, as he is in the physical plane, and on awaking
from the trance he knows nothing of what has occurred during its continuance,
either here or elsewhere.
If,
however, the subject be sufficiently evolved, as most people are at this stage
of evolution, to be Self-conscious on the astral plane, then others may be profited
by questioning him while entranced. For in the artificially induced trance
state, wherein the brain is cut off from the normal action and reaction between
itself and its environment, it becomes an instrument, however inadequate, of
the super-physical consciousness. Isolated from its physical environment,
rendered incapable of responding to its accustomed stimuli from outside, cut
off from its lower attachments while remaining united to its higher, it
continues to answer to the impacts from above, and can do this the [229] more
effectively since none of its energies are running out into the physical plane.
This is the essence of the trance state. In the forcible closure of the avenues
of the senses, through which its forces pour out into the external world, these
forces remain available as servants of the superphysical consciousness. In the
silence thus imposed on the physical plane, the voices of the other planes can
make themselves heard.
In
the hypnotic trance, a quickening of the mental faculties is observed: memory
is found to embrace a far larger area, for the faint pulsings left by far-off
events become audible when the stronger pulsings from the recent are
temporarily stilled; people forgotten in the waking state are remembered in
the trance; languages known in childhood, but since lost, reappear; trivial
events re-arise. Sometimes the perceptive powers range over a larger area;
distant occurrences are seen, vision pierces through physical barriers, far-off
speech becomes audible. Fragments of other planes are also occasionally
glimpsed, much mixed up with the thought-forms [230] of waking hours. A whole
literature exists on this subject, and can be studied by the investigator.
It
has also been found that the results of deeper trance are not identical with
those of the more superficial. As the trance deepens, higher strata of the
super-physical consciousness manifest themselves in the brain. The famous case
of
In
the mesmeric trance, the higher phenomena are more easily obtained than in the
hypnotic, and, in this, very clear statements may be had of the phenomena of
the astral and even of the mental plane - where the "subject" is
well-developed - and sometimes glimpses are gained of past lives.
When
we see that the exclusion of [231] the physical plane is the condition for
these manifestations of the super-physical consciousness, we begin to
understand the rationale of the methods of Yoga, practised in the East. When the
methods are physical, as in Hatha Yoga, the ordinary hypnotic trance is most
often obtained, and the subject, on re-awakening, remembers nothing of his
experiences. The method of the Raja Yoga, in which the consciousness is
withdrawn from the brain by intense concentration, leads the student to
continuity of consciousness on the successive planes, and he remembers his
super-physical experiences on his return to the waking state. Both in the West
and in the East, the same cessation of waking-consciousness is aimed at, in
order to obtain traces of the super-physical consciousness, or as the western
psychologist would say, from the unconscious in man. The eastern method,
however, with thousands of years of experience behind it, yields results
incomparably greater in the realms of the super-physical consciousness, and
establishes, on the sure basis of reiterated [232] experiences, the
independence of consciousness as regards its physical vehicle.
The
exstasy and the visions of Saints, in all ages and in all creeds, afford
another example of the irruptions from the "unconscious". In these,
prolonged and absorbing prayer, or contemplation, is the means for producing
the necessary brain-condition. The avenues of the senses become closed by the
intensity of the inner concentration, and the same state is reached
spasmodically and involuntarily which the practiser of Raja Yoga seeks
deliberately to attain. Hence we find that devotees of all faiths ascribe their
visions to the favour of the Deity worshipped, and not to the fact that they
have produced in themselves a passive brain-condition, which enables the
super-physical consciousness to imprint on that brain the sights and sounds of
the higher worlds.
Prof.
William James, in his Varieties of Religious Experience, points out that some
of the most striking of these irruptions from the "unconscious" are
cases of "sudden conversions", in which [233] a sudden thought, or
vision, or voice, has changed at once and completely the whole course of a
man's waking life. He rightly argues that a force, sufficiently powerful to
produce such effects, cannot be lightly waved aside, or contemptuously ignored,
by any serious student of human consciousness. This whole class of psychical
phenomena demands careful and scientific study, and promises a rich harvest of
results, as to the super-physical consciousness, to repay the serious investigator.
As
against this view, however, it is urged that these facts are observed in
connexion with morbid nervous states, and that the subjects are hysterical,
over-excited persons, whose experiences are vitiated by their condition. In the
first place, this is not always true; the eastern Raja Yogis are persons distinguished
for their calmness and serenity, and some of the cases of conversion have been
those of worldly and capable men. Let it be granted, however, that in the
majority of cases the nervous condition is morbid, and the brain [234]
overstrained, what then? The normal brain is admittedly evolved to the point of
responding to the vibrations of the physical world, and of transmitting these
upwards, and of transmitting downwards mental and astral vibrations connected
with these, from the higher vehicles. It is not yet evolved to the point of
receiving without disturbance very violent vibrations from the higher planes,
nor of responding at all to the vibrations set up in the subtler vehicles by
the external phenomena of their own planes. Very violent emotions of joy, pain,
grief, terror, often prove too much for the normal brain, causing severe
headache, hysteria, and even nervous collapse. It is, therefore, no wonder that
the very violent emotion which causes what is called a conversion should often
be accompanied by similar nervous distress. The important point is, that when
the nervous upset has passed, the effect - the changed attitude towards life -
remains. The nervous disturbance is due to the inadequacy of the physical brain
to bear the violent and rapid vibrations dashing down upon it; the [235]
permanently changed attitude is due to the steady pressure of the
super-physical consciousness, continuously exerted. Where the super-physical
consciousness is not sufficiently developed to exert this continuous pressure,
the converted person "falls from grace" as the surge of emotion ebbs
away.
In
cases of visions, and like phenomena, we have already seen that they may occur
when a form of trance has been produced. But without this, such phenomena may
occur, in cases where the brain is in a state of tension, either from some
temporary cause, or from the fact that its evolution has gone beyond the
normal. Strong emotion may increase the nervous tension to the point where
response to direct astral vibrations becomes possible, and thus an astral
happening becomes visible or audible. The reaction from the strain will
probably show itself as nervous disturbance. When the brain is more highly
evolved than the ordinary brain, has
become more complicated and more sensitive, astral happenings may be felt constantly,
and this strain may well be [236] somewhat greater than the nervous system is
quite fitted to bear, in addition to bearing the ordinary wear and tear of
modern civilisation. Hence, again, hysteria and other forms of nervous distress
are likely to accompany the visions.
But
these facts do not take away from the importance of the experiences, as facts
in consciousness. Rather, perhaps, do they increase their importance, as
showing the way in which evolution works in the action of the environment on an
organism. The reiterated impacts of external forces stimulate the growing
organism, and very often temporarily overstrain it; but the very strain forces
forward its evolution. The crest of the evolutionary wave must always consist
of abnormal organisms; the steady, normal, safe, average organisms follow on
behind; they are most respectable, but perhaps not so interesting as the
pioneers, and most certainly not so instructive as regards the future. As a
matter of fact, the forces of the astral plane are constantly playing
vigorously on the human brain, in order that it may develop as a fuller [237]
vehicle of consciousness, and a sensitive brain, in the transitional state, is
apt to be thereby thrown a little out of gear with the world of its past. It is
probable that a good many activities to
which thought is at present directed will, in the future, be carried on
automatically, and will gradually sink below the threshold of the waking
consciousness, as have done various functions, once performed purposively.
As
these changes go on, the subtler vibrations must inevitably show themselves in
an increasing number in the most delicately equilibrated brains, those which
are not normal, inasmuch as these - on the crest of evolution - will be those
most capable of responding. Dr. Maudsley writes: "What right have we to
believe Nature under any obligation to do her work by means of complete minds
only? She may find an incomplete mind a more suitable instrument for a
particular purpose"[66]. And Prof. James himself remarks: "If there
were such a thing as inspiration [238] from a higher realm, it might well be
that the neurotic temperament would furnish the chief condition of the
requisite receptivity"[67].
When
we once recognise that forces subtler than the physical must necessitate for
their expression a more refined vehicle than the brain organised for the
reception of the physical, we shall cease to be troubled or distressed when we
find that the super-physical forces often find their readiest expression
through brains that are more or less out of gear with the physical plane. And
we shall understand that the abnormal physical symptoms accompanying their
manifestations in no way derogate from the value of these energies, nor from
the importance of the part they will play in the future of humanity. At the
same time the wish must naturally arise to find out some method whereby these
forces may be enabled to manifest themselves without risking the destruction of
their physical instrument.
This
way has been found in the East in the practice of Raja Yoga, whereby the [239]
safe exercise of the higher consciousness is sought by intense concentration.
This concentration, in itself, develops the brain as an instrument for the
subtler forces, working in the brain-cells in the manner already described in connexion
with thought.[68] Moreover, it slowly opens up the set of spirillae of the
atom, next in order to those now in activity, and thus adds a new organ for the
higher functioning. This process is necessarily a slow one, but it is the only
safe way of development; and, if its slowness be resented, it may be suggested
as a reason for patience that the student is endeavouring to ante-date the
atomic development of the next Round, and he can hardly expect to accomplish
this with rapidity. It is, however, this slowness of the Raja Yogic practices
which renders them somewhat unacceptable to the hurrying West; and yet there is
no other way to secure a balanced development. The choice lies between this
and the morbid nervous disturbances which accompany the irruptions of the super-[240]physical
consciousness into an unprepared vehicle. We cannot transcend the laws of
Nature; we can only try to understand, and then to utilise them. [241]
-------
CHAPTER XI.
THE
MONAD AT WORK.
1.
BUILDING HIS VEHICLES.
LET
us now consider the work of the Monad in the shaping of his vehicles, when he has,
as his representatives - as himself on the third, fourth, and fifth planes -
Atma-Buddhi-Manas, with the causal body as the receptacle, the treasure-house,
of the experiences of each incarnation.
At
the close of each period of life, that is to say, at the end of each devachanic
existence, he must stimulate into renewed activity the three successive nuclei
of the bodies he is to wear during his next life-period. First, he arouses the
mental nucleus. This arousing consists in increasing the flow of life through
the spirillae. It will be remembered that when the permanent units "went
to [242] sleep", the normal flow of life in the spirillae lessened, and,
during the whole period of repose, this flow is small and slow.[69] When the
time for reincarnation arrives, this flow is increased, the spirillae thrill
with life, and the permanent units, one after another, behave as magnets,
attracting round themselves appropriate matter. Thus when the mental unit is
stimulated, it begins to vibrate strongly, according to the vibratory powers -
the results of past experiences - stored up therein, drawing towards and
arranging round itself appropriate matter from the mental plane. Just as a bar
of soft iron becomes a magnet when a
current is sent through a wire encircling it, and as matter within its magnetic
field will at once arrange itself round that magnet, so is it with the
permanent mental unit. When the life-current encircles it, it becomes a magnet,
and matter within the field of its forces arranges itself round it and forms a
new mental body. The matter attracted will be according to the complexity of
the permanent unit. Not only will finer or [244] coarser matter be attracted,
but the matter must also vary in the development of the atoms which enter into
the formation of its aggregations. The molecules attracted will be composed of
atoms the vibratory energies of which are identical with, or approach nearly
to, or are in tune with, those of the attracting unit. Hence, according to the
stage of evolution reached by the man, will be the development of the matter
of his new mental vehicle. In this way, incarnation after incarnation, a
suitable mental body is built up.
Exactly
the same process is repeated on the astral plane in the building of the new
astral body. The astral nucleus - the astral permanent atom - is similarly vivified,
and acts in a similar way.
The
man is thus clothed with new mental and astral bodies which express his stage
of evolution, and enable whatever powers and faculties he possesses to express
themselves duly in their own worlds.
But
when we come to the shaping of the body on the physical plane a new [245]
element appears. So far as the Monad is concerned, the work is the same. He
vivifies the physical nucleus - the physical permanent atom - and it acts as a
magnet like its fellows. But now it is as though a man interfered with the
attraction and arrangement of matter within a magnetic field; the Elemental,
charged with the duty of shaping the etheric double after the model given by the
Lords of Karma, steps in and takes control of the work. The materials; indeed,
may be gathered together, as a workman might carry bricks for the building of a
house, but the builder takes the bricks, accepts or rejects, and sets them
according to the plan of the architect.
The
question arises: Why this difference? Why, on reaching the physical plane,
where we might expect a repetition of the previous processes, should an alien
power take the control of the building out of the hands of the owner of the house?
The answer lies in the working of the law of karma. On the higher planes, the
sheaths express as much of the man as is developed, and he is not there working
[245] out the results of his past relations with others. Each centre of
Consciousness, on those planes, is working within its own circle; its energies
are directed towards its own vehicles, and only so much of them as is finally
expressed through the physical vehicle acts directly upon others. These
relations with others complicate his karma on the physical plane, and the
particular physical form that he wears during a particular life - period must
be suitable for the working out of this complicated karma. Hence the need for
the adjusting interference of the Lords of Karma. Were he at a point of evolution
at which he entered into similarly direct relations with others on other
planes, similar limitations of his power to shape his vehicles on those planes
would appear. In the sphere of his external activities, whatever it may be,
these limitations must present themselves.
Hence
the shaping of the physical body is done by an authority higher than his own;
he must accept the conditions of race, nation, family, circumstances, demanded
by his past activities. This [246] limiting action of karma necessitates the
building of a vehicle which is but a
partial expression of the working consciousness - partial, not only
because of the shutting off of power by the coarseness of the material itself,
but also because of the external limitations above referred to. Much of his
consciousness, even though ready for expression on the physical plane, may thus
be excluded, and only a small part of it may appear on the physical plane as
waking-consciousness.
The
next point in connexion with this building that we must consider is the special
work of organising the vehicles as expressions of consciousness, leaving apart
the general building by desire and thought, with which we are so familiar. We
are concerned here with details, rather than with broad outlines.
We
know that while qualities are imparted to matter during the descent of the
Second Logos, the arrangement of these specialised materials into relatively
permanent forms belongs to His ascent. When the Monad, through his reflexion
[247] as the Spiritual Man, assumes some directive power over his vehicles, he
finds himself in possession of a form in which the sympathetic nervous system
is playing a very large part, and in which the cerebro-spinal has not yet
assumed predominance. He will have to work up a number of connecting links
between this sympathetic system which he inherits and the centres which he must
organise in his astral body, for his future independent functioning therein.
But before any independent functioning in any higher vehicle is possible, it is
necessary to carry it to a fairly high point as a transmitting vehicle, that is a vehicle through which he works down to his body on
the physical plane. We must distinguish between the primary work of the
organisation of the mental and astral vehicles that fits them to be
transmitters of part of the consciousness of the Spiritual Man, and the later
work of developing these same vehicles into independent bodies, in which the
Spiritual Man will be able to function on their respective planes. Hence there
are two [248] tasks to be performed: first the organisation of the mental and
astral vehicles as transmitters of consciousness to the physical body;
secondly, the organisation of these vehicles into independent bodies, in which
consciousness can function without the help of the physical body.
The
astral and mental vehicles, then, must be organised in order that the Spiritual
Man may use the physical brain and nervous system as his organ of consciousness
on the physical plane. The impulse to such use comes from the physical world by
impacts upon the various nerve-ends, causing waves of nervous energy to pass
along the fibres to the brain: these waves pass from the dense brain to the
etheric, thence to the astral, thence to the mental vehicle, arousing a response
from the consciousness in the causal body on the mental plane. That
consciousness, thus roused by impacts from without, gives rise to vibrations,
which flow down in answer from the causal body to the mental, from the mental
to the astral, from the astral to the etheric and dense physical; [249] the
waves set up electric currents in the etheric brain, and these act on the dense
matter of the nervous cells.
All
these vibratory actions gradually organise the first inchoate clouds of astral
and mental matter into vehicles which serve as effective fields for these
constant actions and reactions. This process goes on during hundreds of births,
started, as we have seen, from below, but gradually coming more and more under
the control of the Spiritual Man; he begins to direct his activities by his
memories of past sensations, and starts each activity under the impulse of
these memories stimulated by desire. As the process continues, more and more
forcible direction comes from within, and less and less directive power is
exercised by the attractions and repulsions of external objects, and thus the
control of the building up of the vehicles is largely withdrawn from the
without and is centred in the within.
As
the vehicle becomes more organised, certain aggregations of matter appear
within it, at first cloudy and vague, then [250] more and more definitely
outlined. These are the future chakras, or wheels, the sense-centres of the
astral body, as distinguished from the astral sense-centres connected with the
sense-organs and centres of the physical body.[70] But nothing is done to
vivify these slowly growing centres for immense periods of time, and the
connexion of them with the physical body is often delayed, even after they are
functioning on the astral plane; for this connexion can only be made from the
physical vehicle, wherein the fiery force of Kundalini resides. Before
Kundalini can reach them, so that they can pass their observations on to the
physical body, they must be linked to the sympathetic nervous system, the large
ganglionic cells in that system being the points of contact. When these links
are made, the fiery current can flow through, and observations of astral events
can be transmitted fully to the physical brain. While they can only be thus
linked with the physical vehicle, the building of them as centres and the
gradual organisation [251] of them into wheels, can be begun from any vehicle,
and will be begun in any individual from that vehicle which represents the
special type of temperament to which he belongs. According as a man belongs to
one typical temperament or another, so will be the place of the greatest
activity in the building up of all the vehicles, in the gradual making of them
into effective instruments of consciousness to be expressed on the physical
plane. This centre of activity may be in the physical, astral, lower, or higher
mental body. In any of these, or even higher still, according to the
temperamental type, this centre will be found in the principle which marks out
the temperamental type, and from that it works "upwards" or
"downwards", shaping the vehicles so as to make them suitable for the expression of that temperament.
2.
AN EVOLVING MAN.
A
special case may be taken to facilitate the understanding of this process - a
[252] temperament in which the concrete mind predominates. We will trace the
Spiritual Man through the third, fourth, and fifth Root Races. When we look at
him at work in the third Race, we find him very infantile mentally, even though
the mind is the predominant note of his type. The surging life around him, that
he can neither understand nor master, works strongly upon him from outside, and
powerfully affects his astral vehicle. This astral vehicle will be retentive of
impressions, in consequence of the temperament, and the desires will stimulate
the infantile mind to efforts directed to their satisfaction. His physical
constitution differs from that of the fifth Race man; the sympathetic system is
still dominant, and the cerebro-spinal system subordinate, but parts of the
sympathetic system are beginning to lose much of their effectiveness as
instruments of consciousness, belonging, as such instruments, to the stage
below the human. There are two bodies in the brain especially connected with
the sympathetic system in their inception, although now forming part of [253]
the cerebro-spinal - the pineal gland and the pituitary body. They illustrate
the way in which a part of the body may function in one manner at an early
stage, may then lose its special use and function little, if at all, and at a
later stage of evolution may again be stimulated by a higher kind of life,
which will give it a new use and function at a higher stage of evolution.
The
development of these bodies belongs to the invertebrate rather than to the
vertebrate kingdom, and the "third eye" is spoken of by biologists as
the "invertebrate eye". It is, however, still found, as an eye among
vertebrates, for a snake was lately found in
The
growth of the cerebro-spinal system would be more rapid in this Atlantean than
in those of other temperaments, because the main activity would be in the
concrete mind, and would thus stimulate and fashion it; the astral body would
lose its predominance sooner, and would become more rapidly a transmitter of
mental impulses to the brain. Hence, when our man passed on into the fifth
Race, he would be peculiarly ready to take advantage of its characteristics; he
would build a large and well-proportioned brain; he would utilise, his astral
chiefly [255] as a transmitter, and would build his chakras from the mental
plane.
3.
THE PITUITARY BODY AND PINEAL GLAND.
To
return to the second of the two bodies mentioned above - the pituitary body.
This is regarded as developed from a primeval mouth, in direct continuity with
the alimentary canal of the invertebrates. It ceased to function as a mouth in
the vertebrates, and became a rudimentary organ; but it has retained a peculiar
function in connexion with the growth of the body. It is active during the
normal period of physical growth, and the more actively it functions, the
greater the growth of the body. In giants it has been found that this organ is
peculiarly active. Moreover, the pituitary body sometimes again begins to
function in later life, when the bony framework of the body is set, and then
causes abnormal and monstrous growth at the free points of the body, hands,
feet, nose, etc., giving rise to disfigurement of a most distressing kind.
[256]
As
the cerebro-spinal system became dominant, the earlier function of these two
bodies disappeared; but these organs have a future as well as a past. The past
was connected with the sympathetic system; the future is connected with the
cerebrospinal system. As evolution goes on, and the chakras in the astral body
are vivified, the pituitary body becomes the physical organ for astral, and
later, for mental clairvoyance. Where too great a strain is made upon the
astral faculty of sight, while in the physical body, inflammation of the
pituitary body sometimes results. This organ is the one through which the
knowledge gained by astral vision is transmitted to the brain; and it is also
used in vivifying the points of contact between the sympathetic system and the
astral body, whereby a continuity of consciousness is established between the astral and
physical planes.
The
pineal gland becomes connected with one of the chakras in the astral body, and
through that with the mental body, and serves as a physical organ for the
transmission of thought from one brain [257] to another. In thought
transmission the thought may be flashed from mind to mind, mental matter being
used as the medium for transmission; or it may be sent down to the physical
brain, and by means of the pineal gland may be sent, via the physical ether, to
the pineal gland in another brain, and thus to the receiving consciousness.
While
the centre of activity lies in the dominant principle of the man, the connexion
of the chakras with the physical body must be made, as said, from the physical
plane. The object of this connexion is not to make the astral vehicle a more
efficient transmitter to the physical body of the energies of the Spiritual
Man, but to enable the astral vehicle to be in full touch with the physical.
There may be different centres of activity for the building up of transmitting
vehicles, but it is necessary to start from the physical plane in order to
bring the results of the activities of bodies functioning on other planes
within the waking-consciousness. Hence the high importance of physical purity
in diet and other matters. [258]
People
often ask: How does knowledge gained on higher planes reach the brain, and why
is it not accompanied by a memory of the circumstances under which it was
acquired? Anyone who practises meditation regularly knows that much knowledge
that he has not gained by study on the physical plane appears in the brain.
Whence comes it? It comes from the astral or mental plane, where it was
acquired, and reaches the brain in the ordinary way above described; the consciousness
has assimilated it on the mental plane directly, or it has reached it from the
astral, and sends down thought-waves as usual. It may have been communicated by
some entity on the higher plane, who has acted directly on the mental body. But
the circumstances of the communication may not be remembered, for one of two
reasons, or for both. Most people are not what is technically called
"awake" on the astral and mental planes; that is their faculties are
turned inwards, are occupied with mental processes and emotions, and are not
engaged in the observation of the external phenomena of, those planes. [259]
They may be very receptive, and their astral and mental bodies may easily be
thrown into vibration, and the vibrations convey the knowledge which is thus
given, but their attention is not turned to the person making the
communication. As evolution goes on, people become more and more receptive on
the astral and mental planes, but do not therefore become aware of their
surroundings.
The
other reason for the lack of memory is the absence of the connecting links with
the sympathetic system before mentioned. A person may be "awake" on the
astral plane and functioning actively thereon, and he may be vividly conscious
of his surroundings. But if the connecting links between the astral and
physical systems have not been made, or are not vivified, there is a break in
consciousness. However vivid may be the consciousness on the astral plane, it
cannot, until these links are functioning, bring through and impress on the
physical brain the memory of astral experiences. In addition to these links,
there must be the active functioning of the pituitary body, [260] which
focusses the astral vibrations much as a burning glass focusses the rays of the
sun. A number of the astral vibrations are drawn together and made to fall on a
particular point, and vibrations being thus set up in dense physical matter,
the further propagation of these is easy. All this is necessary for
"remembering".
4.
THE PATHS OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
The
question arises: Does consciousness always travel along the same path to reach
its physical vehicle? Transits, we know, are sometimes made directly through
the atomic sub-planes from plane to plane, and sometimes by passing through
each sub-plane from the seventh to the first before reaching the atomic sub-plane
next below. Which of these paths does
consciousness follow In its normal
working, in the ordinary process of thinking, the wave comes steadily down
through each successive sub-plane, from the mental through the seven astral
sub-planes to the physical etheric, and so to the dense nervous matter. This
wave sets up electrical [261] currents in the etheric matter, and these affect
the protoplasm of the grey cells. But when the peculiar flashes of consciousness
occur, as in flashes of genius, or as in sudden illuminative ideas which flash
into the mind - such a flash as comes to the scientific man when out of a great
mass of facts there suddenly springs forth the unifying underlying law - then
the consciousness pours downward through the atomic sub-planes only, and thus
reaches the brain. This is the illuminative idea which justifies itself by its
mere appearance, like the sunlight, and does not gain in compelling power by
any process of reasoning. Thus reasoning comes to the brain by the successive
sub-planes; authoritative illumination by the atomic sub-planes only. [262]
-------
CHAPTER XII.
THE
NATURE OF MEMORY.
1.
THE GREAT SELF AND THE LITTLE SELVES.
WHAT
is memory? and how does it work? by what means do we recover the past, whether near or remote? For, after all,
whether the past be near or remote, belonging to this or to any anterior life,
the means which govern its recovery must be similar, and we require a theory
which will include all cases of memory, and at the same time will enable us to
understand each particular case.
The
first step towards obtaining a definite and intelligible theory is a comprehension
of our own composition, of the Self with its sheaths, and their interrelation;
and we may here briefly restate the main facts in the foregoing chapters [263]
which directly bear on the problem of Memory. We must bear constantly in mind
the facts that our consciousness is a unit, and that this unit of consciousness
works through various sheaths, which impose upon it a false appearance of
multiplicity. The innermost, or most tenuous, of these sheaths is inseparable
from the unit of consciousness; in fact, it is this sheath which makes it a
unit. This unit is the Monad, dwelling on the anupadaka plane; but for all
practical purposes we may take it as the familiar Inner Man, the Tri-Atom,
Atma-Buddhi-Manas, thought of as apart from the atmic, buddhic, and manasic
sheaths. This unit of consciousness manifests through, abides in, sheaths
belonging to the five planes of its activity, and we call it the Self working
in its sheaths.
We
must think, then, of a conscious Self dwelling in vehicles that vibrate. The
vibrations of these vehicles correspond, on the side of matter, with the changes
in consciousness on the side of the Self. We cannot accurately speak of
vibrations of consciousness, because [264] vibrations can only belong to the
material side of things, the form side, and only loosely can we speak of a
vibrating consciousness. We have changes in consciousness corresponding with
vibrations in sheaths.
The
question of the vehicles, or bodies, in which consciousness, the Self, is
working, is all-important as regards Memory. The whole process of recovering
more or less remote events is a question of picturing them in the particular
sheath - of shaping part of the matter of the sheath into their likeness - in
which consciousness is working at the time. In the Self, as a fragment of the
Universal Self - which for our purpose we can take to be the LOGOS, although in
verity the LOGOS is but a portion of the Universal Self - is present
everything; for in the Universal Self is present all which has taken place, is
taking place, and will take place in the universe; all this, and an illimitable
more, is present in the Universal Consciousness. Let us think only of a
universe and its LOGOS. We speak of Him as omnipresent and omniscient. Now,
fundamentally, that [265] omnipresence and omniscience are in the
individualised Self, as being one with the LOGOS, but - we must put in here a
but - with a difference; the difference consisting in this, that while in the
separated Self as Self, apart from all vehicles, that omnipresence and
omniscience reside by virtue of his unity with the One Self, the vehicles in
which he dwells have not yet learned to vibrate in answer to his changes of consciousness,
as he turns his attention to one or another part of his contents. Hence we say
that all exists in him potentially, and not as in the LOGOS actually: all
the changes which go on in the
consciousness of the LOGOS are reproducible in this separated Self, which is an
indivisible part of His life, but the vehicles are not yet ready as media of
manifestation. Because of the separation of form, because of this closing in of
the separate, or individualised, Self,
these possibilities which are within it as part of the Universal Self are
latent, not manifest, are possibilities, not actualities. As in every atom
which goes to the making up of a vehicle, there are illimitable possibilities
of vibration, so in every [266] separated Self there are illimitable possibilities
of changes of consciousness.
We
do not find in the atom, at the beginning of a solar system, an illimitable
variety of vibrations; but we learn that it possesses a capacity to acquire an
illimitable variety of vibrations; it acquires these in the course of its
evolution, as it responds continually to vibrations playing upon its surface; at the end of a solar
system, an immense number of the atoms in it have reached the stage of
evolution in which they can vibrate in answer to any vibration touching them that arises within
the system; then, for that system, these atoms are said to be perfected. The
same thing is true for the separated, or individualised, Selves. All the
changes taking place in the consciousness of the LOGOS which are represented in
that universe, and take shape as forms in that universe, all these are also
within the perfected consciousnesses in that universe, and any of these changes
can be reproduced in any one of them. Here is Memory: the reappearance, the
reincarnation in matter, of anything that has been within that [267] universe,
and therefore ever is, in the consciousness of its LOGOS, and in the
consciousnesses which are parts of His consciousness. Although we think of the
Self as separate as regards all other Selves, we must ever remember it is
inseparate as regards the ONE SELF the LOGOS. His life is not shut out from any
part of His universe, and in Him we live and move and have our being, open ever
to Him, filled with His life.
As
the self puts on vehicle after vehicle of matter, its powers of gaining
knowledge become, with each additional
vehicle, more circumscribed but also more definite. Arrived on the physical plane,
consciousness is narrowed down to the experiences which can be received
through the physical body, and chiefly through those openings which we call the
sense-organs; these are avenues through which knowledge can reach the
imprisoned Self, though we often speak of them as shutting out knowledge when
we think of the capacities of the subtler vehicles. The physical body renders
perception definitive and clear much as a screen [268] with a minute hole in it
allows a picture of the outside world to appear on a wall that would otherwise
show a blank surface; rays of light are truly shut off from the wall, but, by
that very shutting off, those allowed to enter form a clearly defined picture.
2.
CHANGES IN THE VEHICLES AND IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
Let
us now see what happens as regards the physical vehicle in the reception of an
impression and in the subsequent recall of that impression, i.e., in the memory
of it.
A
vibration from outside strikes on an organ of sense, and is transmitted to the
appropriate centre in the brain. A group of cells in the brain vibrates, and
that vibration leaves the cells in a state somewhat different from the one in
which they were previous to its reception, The trace of that response is a
possibility for the group of cells; it has once vibrated in a particular way,
and it retains for the rest of its existence as a group of cells the [269]
possibility of again vibrating in that same way without again receiving a
stimulus from the outside world. Each repetition of an identical vibration
strengthens this possibility, each leaving its own trace, but many such
repetitions will be required to establish a self-initiated repetition; the
cells come nearer to this possibility of a self-initiated vibration by each
repetition compelled from outside. But this vibration has not stopped with the
physical cells; it has been transmitted inwards to the corresponding cell, or
group of cells, in the subtler vehicles, and has ultimately produced a change
in consciousness. This change, in its turn, re-acts on the cells, and a
repetition of the vibrations is initiated from within by the change in
consciousness, and this repetition is a memory of the object which started the
series of vibrations. The response of the cells to the vibration from outside,
a response compelled by the laws of the physical universe, gives to the cells
the power of responding to a similar impulse, though feebler, coming from
within. A little power is exhausted in each moving [270] of matter in a new
vehicle, and hence a gradual diminution of the energy in the vibration. Less
and less is exhausted as the cells repeat similar vibrations in response to new
impacts from without, the cells answering more readily with each repetition.
Therein
lies the value of the "without"; it wakes up in the matter, more
easily than by any other way, the possibility of response, being more closely
akin to the vehicles than the "within".
The
change caused in consciousness, also, leaves the consciousness more ready to
repeat that change than it was first to yield it, and each such change brings
the consciousness nearer to the power to initiate a similar change. Looking
back into the dawnings of consciousness, we see that the imprisoned Selves go
through innumerable experiences before a Self-initiated change in
consciousness occurs; but bearing this in mind, as a fact, we can leave these
early stages, and study the workings of consciousness at a more advanced point.
We must also remember that every impact, reaching the innermost [271] sheath,
and giving rise to a change in consciousness, is followed by a reaction, the
change in consciousness causing a new series of vibrations from within outwards;
there is the going inwards to the Self, followed by the rippling outwards from
the Self, the first due to the object, and giving rise to what we call a perception,
and the second due to the reaction of the Self, causing what we call a memory.
A
number of sense-impressions, coming through sight, hearing, touch, taste, and
smell run up from the physical vehicle through the astral to the mental. There
they are coordinated into a complex unity, as a musical chord is composed of
many notes. This is the special work of the mental body: it receives many
streams and synthesises them into one; it builds many impressions into a
perception, a thought, a complex unity.
3.
MEMORIES.
Let
us try to catch this complex thing, after it has gone inwards and has caused a
change in consciousness, an idea; the [272] change it has caused gives rise to new
vibrations in the vehicles, reproducing those it had caused on its inward way,
and in each vehicle it reappears in a fainter form. It is not strong, vigorous,
and vivid, as when its component parts flashed from the physical to the astral,
and from the astral to the mental; it reappears in the mental in a fainter
form, the copy of that which the mental sent inwards, but the vibrations
feebler; as the Self receives from it a
reaction - for the impact of a vibration on touching each vehicle must cause a
reaction - that reaction is far feebler than the original action, and will
therefore seem less "real" than that action; it makes a lesser change
in consciousness, and that lessening represents inevitably a less
"reality".
So
long as the consciousness is too little responsive to be aware of any impacts
that do not come through with the impulsive vigour of the physical, it is
literally more in touch with the physical than with any other sheath, and there
will be no memories of ideas, but only memories of perceptions, i.e., of
pictures of [273] outside objects, caused by vibrations of the nervous matter
of the brain, reproducing themselves in the related astral and mental matter.
These are literally pictures in the mental matter, as are the pictures on the
retina of the eye. And the consciousness perceives these pictures,
"sees" them, as we may truly say, since the seeing of the eye is only
a limited expression of its perceptive power. As the consciousness draws a
little away from the physical, turning attention more to the modifications in
its inner sheaths, it sees these pictures reproduced in the brain from the
astral sheath by its own reaction passing outwards, and there is the memory of
sensations, The picture arises in the brain by the reaction of the change in
consciousness, and is recognised there. This recognition implies that the consciousness
has withdrawn largely from the physical to the astral vehicle, and is working
therein. The human consciousness is thus working at the present time, and is,
therefore, full of memories, these memories being reproductions in the physical
brain of past pictures, caused [274] by reactions from consciousness. In a
lowly evolved human type, these pictures are pictures of past events in which
the physical body was concerned, memories of hunger and thirst and of their
gratification, of sexual pleasures, and so on, things in which the physical
body took an active part. In a higher type, in which the consciousness is
working more in the mental vehicle, the pictures in the astral body will draw
more of its attention; these pictures are shaped in the astral body by the
vibrations coming outwards from the mental, and are perceived as pictures by
the consciousness as it withdraws itself more into the mental body as its
immediate vehicle. As this process goes on, and the more awakened consciousness
responds to vibrations initiated from outside on the astral plane by
astral objects, these objects grow
"real", and become distinguishable from the memories, the pictures in
the astral body caused by the reactions from consciousness.
Let
us note, in passing, that with the memory of an object goes hand in hand a
picture of the renewal of the keener [275] experience of the object by physical
contact, and this we call anticipation; and the more complete the memory of an
event the more complete is this anticipation. So that the memory will
sometimes even cause in the physical body the reactions which normally
accompany the contact with the external object, and we may savour in anticipation
pleasures which are not within present reach of the body. Thus the anticipation
of savoury food will cause "the mouth to water". This fact will again
appear, when we reach the completion of our theory of Memory.
4.
WHAT IS MEMORY?
Now,
having noted the changes in the vehicles which arise from impacts from the external world, the response to these as
changes of consciousness, the feebler vibrations produced in the vehicles by
the reaction of consciousness, and the recognition of these again by consciousness
as memories, let us come to the crux of, the question: What is Memory? The
breaking up of the bodies between death [276] and reincarnation puts an end to
their automatism, to their power of
responding to vibrations similar to those already experienced; the responsive
groups are disintegrated, and all that remains as a seed for future responses
is stored within the permanent atoms; how feeble this is, as compared with the
new automatisms imposed on the mass of the bodies by new experiences of the
external, may be judged by the absence of any memory of past lives initiated in
the vehicles themselves. In fact, all the permanent atoms can do is to answer
more readily to vibrations of a kind similar to those previously experienced
than to those that come to them for the first time. The memory of the cells, or
of groups of cells, perishes at death, and cannot be said to be recoverable,
as such. Where then is Memory preserved?
The
brief answer is: Memory is not a faculty, and is not preserved it does not
inhere in consciousness as a capacity, nor is any memory of events stored up in
the individual consciousness Every event is a present fact in the
universe-consciousness, [278] in the consciousness of the LOGOS; everything
that occurs in His universe, past, present, and future, is ever there in His
all-embracing consciousness, in His "eternal NOW". From the beginning
of the universe to its ending, from its dawn to its sunset, all is there,
ever-present, existent. In that ocean of ideas, all is; we, wandering in the
ocean, touch fragments of its contents, and our response to the contact is our
knowledge; having known, we can more readily again contact, and this repetition
- when falling short of the contact of the outside sheath of the moment with
the fragments occupying its own plane - is Memory. All "memories" are
recoverable, because all possibilities of image-producing vibrations are within
the consciousness of the LOGOS, and we can share in that consciousness the more easily as we have previously shared more
often similar vibrations; hence, the vibrations which have formed parts of our
experience are more readily repeated by us than those we have never known, and
here comes in the value of the [278] permanent atoms; they thrill out again, on being stimulated, the vibrations
previously performed, and out of all the possibilities of vibrations of the
atoms and molecules of our bodies those sound out which answer to the note
struck by the permanent atoms. The fact that we have been affected vibrationally
and by changes of consciousness during the present life makes it easier for us
to take out of the universal consciousness that of which we have already had
experience in our own. Whether it be a memory in the present life, or one in a
life long past, the method of recovery is the same. There is no memory save the
ever-present consciousness of the LOGOS, in whom we literally live and move and
have our being; and our memory is merely putting ourselves into touch with such parts of His consciousness
as we have previously shared.
Hence,
according to Pythagoras, all learning is remembrance, for it is the drawing
from the consciousness of the LOGOS into that of the separated Self that which
in our essential unity with [279] Him is eternally ours. On the plane where the
unity overpowers the separateness, we share His consciousness of our universe;
on the lower planes, where the separateness veils the unity, we are shut out
therefrom by our unevolved vehicles. It is the lack of responsiveness in these
which hinders us, for we can only know the planes through them. Therefore we
cannot directly improve our memory; we can only improve our general receptivity
and power to reproduce, by rendering our bodies more sensitive, while being
careful not to go beyond their limit of elasticity. Also we can "pay
attention"; i.e., we can turn the awareness of consciousness, we can
concentrate consciousness, on that special part of the consciousness of the
LOGOS to which we desire to attune ourselves. We need not thus distress ourselves
with calculations as to "how many angels can stand on the point of a
needle", how we can preserve in a limited space the illimitable number of
vibrations experienced in many lives; for the whole of the form-producing
vibrations in the universe [280] are ever-present, and are available to be
drawn upon by any individual unit, and can be reached as, by evolution, such a
one experiences ever more and more.
5.
REMEMBERING AND FORGETTING.
Let
us apply this to an event in our past life: Some of the circumstances
"remain in our memory", others are "forgotten". Really, the
event exists with all its surrounding circumstances, "remembered" and
"forgotten" alike, in but one state, the memory of the LOGOS, the
Universal Memory. Anyone who is able to place himself in touch with that memory
can recover the whole circumstance as much as we can; the events through which
we have passed are not ours, but form part of the contents of His
consciousness; and our sense of property in them is only due to the fact that
we have previously vibrated to them, and therefore vibrate again to them more
readily than if we contacted them for the first time.
We
may, however, contact them with different sheaths at different times, living
[281] as we do under time and space conditions which vary with each sheath. The
part of the consciousness of the LOGOS that we move through in our physical
bodies is far more restricted than that we move through in our astral and
mental bodies, and the contacts through a well-organised body are far more
vivid than those through a less-organised one. Moreover, it must be remembered that the restriction of
area is due to our vehicles only; faced by the complete event, physical,
astral, mental, spiritual, our consciousness of it is limited within the range
of the vehicles able to respond to it. We feel ourselves to be among the
circumstances which surround the grossest vehicle we are acting in, and which
thus touch it from "outside"; whereas we "remember" the
circumstances which we contact with the finer vehicles, these transmitting the
vibrations to the grosser vehicle, which is thus touched from
"within".
The
test of objectivity that we apply to circumstances "present" or
"remembered" is that of the "common sense". If others around
us see as we see, hear as we hear, [282] we regard the circumstances as
objective; if they do not, if they are unconscious of that of which we are
conscious, we regard the circumstances as subjective. But this test of
objectivity is only valid for those who are active in the same sheaths; if one
person is working in the physical body and another in the physical and the
astral, the things objective to the man in the astral body cannot affect the
man in the physical body, and he will declare them to be subjective
hallucinations. The "common sense" can only work in similar bodies;
it will give similar results when all are in physical bodies, all in astral, or
all in mental. For the "common sense" is merely the thought-forms of
the LOGOS on each plane, conditioning each embodied consciousness, and enabling it to respond by
certain changes to certain vibrations in its vehicles. It is by no means
confined to the physical plane, but the average humanity at the present stage
of evolution has not sufficiently unfolded the indwelling consciousness for
them to exercise any "common sense" on the astral and mental planes.
"Common sense" is an eloquent [283] testimony to the oneness of our
indwelling lives; we see all things around us on the physical plane in the same
way, because our apparently separate consciousnesses are all really part of the
One Consciousness ensouling all forms. We all respond in the same general way,
according to the stage of our evolution, because we share the same
consciousness; and we are affected similarly by the same things because the
action and reaction between them and ourselves is the interplay of the One Life
in varied forms.
Recovery
of anything by memory, then, is due to the ever-existence of everything in the
consciousness of the LOGOS, and He has imposed upon us the limitations of time
and space in order that we may, by practice, be able to respond swiftly by
changes of consciousness to the vibrations caused in our vehicles by vibrations
coming from other vehicles similarly ensouled by consciousness; thus only can
we gradually learn to distinguish precisely and clearly; contacting things
successively - that is, being in time - and contacting them in relative directions in regard to
[284] ourselves and to each other - that is, being in space - we are gradually
unfolded to the state in which we can recognise all simultaneously and each
everywhere - that is, out of time and space.
As
we pass through countless happenings in life, we find that we do not keep in
touch with all through which we have passed; there is a very limited power of
response in our physical vehicle, and hence numerous experiences drop out of
its purview. In trance, we can recover these, and they are said to emerge from
the sub-conscious. Truly they remain ever unchanging in the Universal Consciousness,
and as we pass by them we become aware of them, because the very limited light
of our consciousness, shrouded in the physical vehicle, falls upon them, and
they disappear as we pass on; but as the area covered by that same light
shining through the astral vehicle is larger, they again appear when we are in
trance - that is, in the astral vehicle, free from the physical; they have not
come and gone and come back again, but the light of our consciousness in the
physical [285] vehicle had passed on, and so we saw them not, and the more extended light in the
astral vehicle enables us to see them again. As Bhagavan Das has well said:
"If
a spectator wandered unrestingly through the halls of a vast museum, a great
art-gallery, at the dead of night, with a single small lamp in one hand, each
of the natural objects, the pictured scenes, the statues, the portraits, would
be illumined by that lamp, in succession, for a single moment, while all the
rest were in darkness, and after that single moment, would itself fall into
darkness again. Let there now be not one but countless such spectators, as many
in endless number as the objects of sight within the place, each spectator
meandering in and out incessantly through the great crowd of all the others,
each lamp bringing momentarily into
light one object and for only that spectator who holds that lamp. This immense
and unmoving building is the rock-bound ideation of the changeless Absolute.
Each lamp-carrying spectator out of the countless crowd is one line of [286]
consciousness out of the pseudo-infinite lines of such, that make up the
totality of the one universal consciousness. Each coming into light of each
object is its potency, is an experience of the Jiva; each falling into darkness
is its lapse into the latent. From the standpoint of the objects themselves, or
of the universal consciousness, there is no latency, nor potency. From that of
the lines of consciousness, there is."[71]
As
vehicle after vehicle comes into fuller working, the area of light extends, and
the consciousness can turn its attention to any one part of the area and
observe closely the objects therein included. Thus, when the consciousness can
function freely on the astral plane, and is aware of its surroundings there, it
can see much that on the physical plane is "past" - or
"future", if they be things to which in the "past" it has
learned to respond. Things outside the area of light coming through the vehicle
of the astral body will be within the area of that which streams from the
subtler mental vehicle. When the causal [287] body is the vehicle, the
"memory of past lives" is recoverable, the causal body vibrating more
readily to events to which it has before vibrated, and the light shining through
it embracing a far larger area and illuminating scenes long "past" -
those scenes being really no more past than the scenes of the present, but
occupying a different spot in time and space. The lower vehicles, which have
not previously vibrated to these events, cannot readily directly contact them
and answer to them; that belongs to the causal body, the relatively permanent
vehicle. But when this body answers to them, the vibrations from it readily run
downwards, and may be reproduced in the mental, astral, and physical bodies.
6.
ATTENTION.
The
phrase is used above, as to consciousness, that "it can turn its
attention to any one part of the area, and observe closely the objects therein
included". This "turning of the attention" corresponds very
closely in consciousness to what we should call focussing the eye in the
physical [288] body. If we watch the action taking place in the muscles of the
eye when we look first at a near and
then at a distant object, or vice versa, we shall be conscious of a slight movement, and this constriction or
relaxation causes a slight compression or the reverse in the lenses of the eye.
It is an automatic action now, quite instinctive, but it has only become so by
practice; a baby does not focus his eye, nor judge distance. He grasps as
readily at a candle on the other side of the room as at one within his reach,
and only slowly learns to know what is beyond his reach. The effort to see
clearly leads to the focussing of the eye, and presently it becomes automatic.
The objects for which the eye is focussed are within the field of clear vision,
and the rest are vaguely seen. So, also, the consciousness is clearly aware of
that to which its attention is turned; other things remain vague, "out of
focus".
A
man gradually learns to thus turn his attention to things long past, as we
measure time. The causal body is put into touch with them, and the vibrations
are then transmitted to the lower bodies. The [289] presence of a more advanced
student will help a less advanced, because when the astral body of the former
has been made to vibrate responsively to long past events, thus creating an
astral picture of them, the astral body of the younger student can more readily
reproduce these vibrations and thus also "see". But even when a man has
learned to put himself into touch with his past, and through his own with that
of others connected with it, he will find it more difficult to turn his attention
effectively to scenes with which he has had no connexion; and when that is
mastered, he will still find it difficult to put himself into touch with scenes
outside the experiences of his recent past; for instance, if he wishes to visit
the moon, and by his accustomed methods launches himself in that direction, he
will find himself bombarded by a hail of unaccustomed vibrations to which he
cannot instinctively respond, and will need to fall back on his inherent divine
power to answer to anything which can
affect his vehicles. If he seeks to go yet further, to another planetary
system, he will find a barrier he cannot overleap, [290] the Ring Pass-not of
his own Planetary Logos.
6.
THE ONE CONSCIOUSNESS.
We
thus begin to understand what is meant by the statements that people at a
certain grade of evolution can reach this or that part of the kosmos; they can
put themselves into touch with the consciousness of the LOGOS outside the
limitations imposed by their material vehicles on the less evolved. These
vehicles, being composed of matter modified by the action of the Planetary
Logos of the Chain to which they belong, cannot respond to the vibrations of
matter differently modified; and the student must be able to use his atmic body
before he can contact the Universal Memory beyond the limits of his own Chain.
Such
is the theory of Memory which I present for the consideration of theosophical
students. It applies equally to the small memories and forgettings of everyday
life as to the vast reaches alluded to in the above paragraph. For there is
nothing small or great to the LOGOS, and [291] when we are performing the
smallest act of memory, we are as much putting ourselves into touch with the
omnipresence and omniscience of the LOGOS, as when we are recalling a far-off
past. There is no "far-off", and no "near". All are equally
present at all times and in all spaces; the difficulty is with our vehicles,
and not with that all-embracing changeless Life. All becomes more and more
intelligible and more peace-giving as we think of that Consciousness, in which
is no "before" and no "after", no "past" and no
"future". We begin to feel that these things are but the illusions,
the limitations, imposed upon us by our own sheaths, necessary until our powers
are evolved and at our service. We live unconsciously in this mighty Consciousness
in which everything is eternally present, and we dimly feel that if we could
live consciously in that Eternal there were peace. I know of nothing that can
more give to the events of a life their true proportion than this idea of a
Consciousness in which everything is present from the beginning, in which
indeed there is no beginning and no ending. We learn that [292] there is
nothing terrible and nothing which is more that relatively sorrowful; and in
that lesson is the beginning of a true peace, which in due course shall
brighten into joy. [293]
Part
II.
WILL,
DESIRE, AND EMOTION.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
-------
CHAPTER I.
THE WILL TO LIVE
299
-------
CHAPTER II.
DESIRE
1. The Nature of Desire
305
2. The Awakening of Desire
310
3. The Relation of Desire to Thought
314
4. Desire, Thought, Action
318
5. The Binding Nature of Desire
319
6. The Breaking of the Bonds
322
-------
CHAPTER III.
DESIRE (Continued)
1. The Vehicle of Desire
327
2. The Conflict of Desire and Thought
333
3. The Value of an Ideal
338
4. The Purification of Desire
342
-------
CHAPTER IV.
EMOTION
1. The Birth of Emotion
348
2. The Play of Emotion in the Family
354
3. The Birth of Virtues
361
4. Right and Wrong
363
5. Virtue and Bliss
365
6. The Transmutation of the Emotions into
Virtues and Vices
367
7. Application of the Theory to Conduct
371
8. The Uses of Emotion
273
-------
CHAPTER V.
EMOTION (Continued)
1. The Training of Emotion
381
2. The Distorting Force of Emotion
387
3. Methods of Ruling the Emotions
390
4.
The Using of Emotion
399
5. The Value of Emotion in Evolution
405
-------
CHAPTER VI.
THE WILL
1. The Will winning its Freedom
409
2. Why so much Struggle
423
3. The Power of the Will
429
4. White and Black Magic
439
5. Entering into Peace
441
WILL,
DESIRE, AND EMOTION.
-------
CHAPTER I.
THE
WILL TO LIVE.
IN
the brief study of Origins which forms [points] 1., 2., of the Introduction to
this book, we saw that the Monad, coming forth from the First Logos, showed in
his own nature the tri-unity of his
Source, the aspects of Will, Wisdom, and Activity.
It
is to the study of Will - showing itself as Will on the higher plane and as
Desire on the lower - that we are now to turn our attention; and the study of
Desire leads us to the study of Emotion, indissolubly attached to it. We have
already seen that we are here because we have willed to live in the lower
worlds, that the Will determines our stay here. [299] But the nature and power
and work of the Will are for the most part but little realised, for in the
earlier stages of evolution it is not manifest on the lower planes save as
Desire, and it must be studied as Desire before it can be understood as Will.
It
is the Power aspect of consciousness, ever veiled within the Self, hiding as it
were behind Wisdom and Activity, but prompting both to manifestation. So
hidden is its nature that many regard it as one with Activity, and refuse to it
the dignity of an aspect of consciousness. Yet Activity is the action of the
Self on the Not-Self, that which gives to the Not-Self its temporary Reality,
that which creates; but Will hides ever within, impelling to Activity, attracting, repelling, the core of the Heart of Being.
Will
is the Power which stands behind Cognition, and stimulates Activity; Thought is
the creative activity, but Will the motive power. Our bodies are as they are,
because the Self has for countless ages set his Will that matter should be
shaped into forms whereby he may [300] cognise and energise on all outside
himself. It is written in an ancient Scripture: "Of a truth this body is
mortal, O Maghavan, it is subject to death. Yet is it a resting-place of the
immortal and bodiless Atma. The eyes are intended as organs of observation for
the Being who dwelleth within the eyes. He who willeth, 'I shall smell', is the
Atma, wishing to experience fragrance. He who willeth, 'I shall speak', is the
Atma wishing to utter words. He who willeth, 'I shall hear', is the Atma
wishing to listen to sounds. He who willeth, 'I shall think', is the Atma. The
mind is the celestial eye, observing all desirable objects. By means of the
mental celestial eye, Atma enjoyeth all"[72].
This
is the secret, the motive power, of evolution. True, the great Will traces the
high road of evolution. True, spiritual Intelligences of many grades guide the
evolving entities along that high road. But too little attention has been paid
to the countless experiments, failures, successes, the little bye-ways and
[301] twists and curls, due to the gropings of the separate Wills, each Will to
Live trying to find Self-expression. The contacts from the outer world arouse
in each Atma, the Will to know what touches. He knows but little in the
jellyfish, but the Will to know shapes, in form after form, an ever-improving
eye, that hinders less his power of perception. As we study evolution, we
become more and more conscious of Wills which shape matter, but shape it by
groping experiments, not by clear vision. The presence of these many Wills
makes the constant branching of the evolutionary tree. There is a real truth in
Professor Clifford's playful story to the children about the great Saurians of
an early age: "Some chose to fly and became birds; others chose to crawl,
and became reptiles". Often we see
an attempt foiled, and then the attempt is made in another direction. Often we
see the most clumsy contrivances side by side with the most exquisite
adaptations. The latter are the results of Intelligences knowing their aims and
constantly chiselling the matter into [302] appropriate forms; the others are
the outcome of the strivings from within, still blind and groping, but
steadfastly set to Self-expression. If there were only outside designers,
seeing the end from the beginning, Nature would present us with insoluble
puzzles in her building, so many are the inadequate attempts, the ineffective
designs. But when we realise the presence of the Will to Live in each form,
seeking Self-expression, shaping his vehicles for his own purposes, then we can
see alike the creative plan which underlies all-the plan of the LOGOS; the
admirable adaptations which work out His plan - the labour of the building
Intelligences; and the inapt contrivances and clumsy expedients - due to the
efforts of the Selves that will, but have not yet the knowledge or the power to
perform perfectly.
It
is this groping, striving, struggling divine Self, which, as evolution goes on,
becomes in ever-increasing measure the true Ruler, the inner Ruler, the
Immortal. Anyone who grasps that he is himself that Immortal Ruler, seated
within his Self-created vehicles of expression, gains a [303] sense of dignity
and power which grows ever stronger, and more compelling on the lower nature.
The knowledge of the truth make us inly free. The inner Ruler may still be
hampered by the very forms he has shaped for self-expression, but knowing
himself as the Ruler, he can work steadfastly to bring his realm into complete
subjection. He knows that he has come into the world for a certain purpose, to
make himself fit to be a co-worker with the Supreme Will, and he can do and
suffer all which is necessary to that end. He knows himself divine, and that
his Self-realisation is only a question of time. Inwardly the divinity is felt,
though outwardly it is not yet expressed, and there remains to become in
manifestation what he is in essence. He is king de jure, not yet de facto.
As
a Prince, born to a crown, patiently submits to the discipline which is fitting
him to wear it, so the sovereign Will in us is evolving to the age when royal
powers will pass into its grasp, and may patiently submit to the necessary
discipline of life. [304]
-------
CHAPTER II.
DESIRE.
1.
THE NATURE OF DESIRE.
WHEN
the Monad sends forth his rays into the matter of the third, fourth, and fifth
planes, and appropriates to himself an atom of each of these planes,[73] he
creates what is often called his "reflexion in matter", the human
"Spirit", and the Will-aspect of the Monad is mirrored in the human
Atma, whose home is on the third or atmic plane. That first hypostasis is indeed lessened in powers by the veils of matter
thus endued, but it is in no way distorted; as a well-made mirror produces a
perfect image of an object, so is the human Spirit, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, a
perfect image of the Monad, is, indeed, [305] the Monad himself veiled in
denser matter. But as a concave or
convex mirror yields a distorted image of an object placed before it, so do the
further reflections of the Spirit in, or involutions into, yet denser matter
show but distorted images thereof.
Thus,
when the Will, in its downward progress, veiling itself farther on each
plane, reaches the world immediately
above the physical, the astral world, it appears therein as Desire. Desire
shows the energy, the concentration, the impelling characteristics of Will, but
matter has wrenched away its control its direction, from the Spirit, and has
usurped dominion over it. Desire is Will discrowned, the captive, the slave of
matter. It is no longer Self-determined, but is determined by the attractions
around it.
This
is the distinction between Will and Desire. The innermost nature of both is the
same, for they are verily but one determination, the Self-determination of the
Atma, the one motor-power of man, that which impels to Activity, to action on
the external world, on the Not-[306]Self. When the Self determines the
activity, uninfluenced by attractions or repulsions towards surrounding
objects, then Will is manifested. When outer attractions and repulsions
determine the activity, and the man is drawn hither and thither by these, deaf
to the voice of the Self, unconscious of the Inner Ruler, then Desire is seen.
Desire
is Will clothed in astral matter, in the matter which by the second life-wave
was formed into combinations, the reaction between which and consciousness
would cause sensations in the latter. Clothed in this matter, the vibrations of
which are accompanied with sensations in consciousness, Will is modified into
Desire. Its essential nature of giving motor-impulses, surrounded by matter
which arouses sensations, answers by impelling energy, and this energy,
aroused through and acting through astral matter, is Desire.
As
in the higher nature Will is the impelling power, so in the lower nature Desire
is the impelling power. When it is feeble the whole nature is feeble in its
[307] reaction on the world. The effective force of a nature is measured by its
Will-power or its Desire-power, according to the stage of evolution. There is a
truth underlying the popular phrase, "The greater the sinner the greater
the saint". The mediocre person can be neither greatly good nor greatly
bad; there is not enough of him for more than petty virtues or petty vices. The
strength of the Desire-nature in a man is the measure of his capacity for
progress, the measure of the motor-energy whereby that man can press onwards
along the way. The strength in a man that impels to reaction on his environment
is the measure of his power to modify, to change, to conquer it. In the
struggle, with the Desire-nature which marks the higher evolution, the
motor-energy is not to be destroyed but transferred; lower Desires are to be
transmuted into higher, energy is to be refined while losing nought of its
power; and finally the Desire-nature is to vanish into Will, all the energies
being gathered up and merged into the Will-aspect of the Spirit, the Power of
the Self. [308]
No
aspirant, therefore, should be discouraged by the storming and raging of
desires in him, any more than a horse-breaker is displeased with the rearings
and plungings of the unbroken colt. The wildness of the young untrained
creature, and his rebellion against all efforts to control and restrain, are
the promise of his future usefulness when disciplined aid trained. And even
thus are the strainings of Desire against the curb imposed by the Intelligence,
the promise of the future strength of Will, of the Power-aspect of the Self.
Rather
does difficulty arise where desires are feeble, ere yet the Will has freed
itself from the trammels of astral matter; for in such case the Will to Live is
expressing itself but feebly, and there is little effective force available for
evolution. There is some obstacle, some barrier, in the vehicles, checking the
forthgoing energy of the Monad, and obstructing its free passage, and until
that barrier is removed there is little progress to be hoped for. In the storm
the ship drives onward, though there be peril of wreck, [309] but in the dead
calm she remains helpless and unmoving, answering neither to sail nor helm. And
since, in this voyage, no final wreck is possible, but only temporary damage,
and the storm works for progress rather than the calm, those who find themselves
storm-tossed may look forward with sure conviction to the day when the storm-gusts
of Desire will be changed into the steady wind of Will.
2.
THE AWAKENING OF DESIRE.
To
the astral world we refer all our sensations. The centres by which we feel lie
in the astral body, and the reactions of these to contacts give rise to
feelings of pleasure and pain in consciousness. The ordinary physiologist traces
sensation of pleasure and pain from the point of contact to the brain-centre,
recognising only nervous vibrations between periphery and centre, and in the
centre the reaction of consciousness as sensation. We follow the vibrations
further, finding only vibrations in the brain-centre and in the ether
permeating it, and seeing in the astral [310] centre the point at which the
reaction of consciousness takes place. When a dislocation between the physical
and astral bodies occurs, whether by the action of chloroform, ether,
laughing-gas, or other drugs, the physical body, despite all its nervous
apparatus, feels no more than if bereft of nerves. The links between the
physical body and the body of sensation are thrown out of gear, and consciousness
does not respond to any stimulus applied.
The
awakening of Desire takes place in this body of sensation, and follows the
first dim sensings of pleasure and pain. As before pointed out[74] pleasure
"is a sense of 'moreness', of increased, expanded life", while pain
is a shutting in or lessening of life, and these belong to the whole consciousness.
"This primary state of consciousness does not manifest the three well-known aspects of Will, Wisdom, and
Activity, even in the most germinal stage; 'feeling' precedes these, and
belongs to consciousness as a whole, though in later stages of evolution it
shows itself so much [311] in connexion with the Will-Desire aspect as to
become almost identified with it". "As the states of pleasure and
pain become more definitely established in consciousness, they give rise to
another; with the fading away of pleasure there is a continuation of the
attraction in consciousness, and this becomes a dim groping after it" - a
groping, be it noted, not after any pleasure-giving object, but after a
continuance of the feeling of pleasure - "a vague following of the
vanishing feeling, a movement - too indefinite to be called an effort - to hold
it, to retain it; similarly with the fading away of pain there is a continuation of the repulsion in consciousness,
and this becomes an equally vague
movement to push it away. These stages give birth to Desire".
This
arising of Desire is a feeble reaching out of the life in search of pleasure,
a movement of the life, undirected, vague, groping. Beyond this it cannot go,
until Thought has developed to a certain extent, and has recognised an outer
world, a Not-Self, and has learned to relate various objects in the Not-Self
to the pleasure or [312] pain arising in consciousness on contacting them.
But
the results of these contacts, long before the objects are recognised, have
caused, as above indicated, a division in, a forking of, Desire. We may take as
one of the simplest illustrations the craving for food in a lowly organism; as
the physical body wastes, becomes less, a sense of pain arises in the astral
body, a want, a craving, vague and indeterminate; the body, by its wasting, has
become a less effective vehicle of the life pouring down through the astral,
and this check causes pain. A current in the water that bathes the organism
brings food up against the body; it is absorbed, the waste is repaired, the
life flows on unobstructed; there is pleasure. At a little higher stage, when
pain arises, there is the desire to escape from it, the sense of repulsion
arises, the contrary to the sense of attraction, caused by pleasure. There
results from this that Desire is cloven in twain. From the Will to Live arose
the longing to experience, and in the lower vehicle this longing, appearing as
Desire, becomes on the one [313] hand a longing for experiences that make the
feeling of life more vivid, and on the other a shrinking from all that weakens
and depresses. This attraction and repulsion are equally of the nature of
Desire. Just as a magnet attracts or repels certain metals, so does the
embodied Self attract and repel. Both attraction and repulsion are Desire, and
these are the two great motor-energies in life, into which all desires are
ultimately resolvable. The Self comes under the bondage of Desire, of
Attraction-Repulsion, and is attracted hither and thither, repelled from this
or that, hurried about among pleasure and pain-giving objects, as a helmless
ship amid the currents of air and sea.
3.
THE RELATION OF DESIRE TO THOUGHT.
We
have now to consider the relation that Desire bears to Thought, and see how it
first rules and then is ruled by the latter.
The
Pure Reason is the reflexion of the Wisdom-aspect of the Monad, and appears in
the human Spirit as Buddhi. But it is not the relation of Desire to the Pure
Reason [314] with which eve are concerned, for it cannot, in fact, be said to
be directly related to Wisdom, but to Love, the manifestation of Wisdom on the
astral plane. We are to seek rather its relation to the Activity-aspect of the
Monad, showing itself on the astral plane as sensation and on the mental as
thought. Nor are we even concerned with the Higher Mind, which is creative
Activity, Manas, in its purity; but with the distorted reflexion of this, the
lower mind. It is this lower mind which is immediately related to Desire, and
is inextricably intermingled with it in human evolution; so closely joined,
indeed, are they, that we often speak of Kama-Manas, Desire-Mind, as of a
single thing, so rare is it, in the lower consciousness, to find a single thought which is uninfluenced by a desire.
"Manas verily is declared to be twofold, pure and impure; the impure is
determined by desire, the pure is desire-free."[75]
This
lower mind is "thought" on the mental plane; its characteristic
property is that it asserts and denies; it knows by difference; it perceives
and remembers. [315] On the astral plane, as we have seen, the same aspect that
on the mental plane is thought appears as sensation, and is aroused by contact
with the external world.
When
a pleasure has been experienced, and has passed away, Desire arises to
experience it again, as we have seen. And this fact implies memory, which is a
function of the mind. Here, as ever, are we reminded that consciousness is ever
acting in its threefold nature, though one or other aspect may predominate, for
even the most germinal desire cannot arise without memory being present. The
sensation caused by an external impact must have been many times aroused,
before the mind will establish a relation between the sensation of which it is
conscious, and the external object which has caused the sensation. At last the
mind "perceives" the object, i.e., relates it to one of its own
changes, recognises a modification in itself caused by the external object.
Repetitions of this perception will establish a definite link in memory
between the object and the [316] pleasurable or painful sensation, and when
Desire presses for the repetition of pleasure, the mind recalls the object
which supplied that pleasure. Thus the mingling of Thought with Desire gives
birth to a particular desire, the desire to find and appropriate the
pleasure-giving object.
This
desire impels the mind to exert its inherent activity. Discomfort being caused
by the unsatisfied craving, effort is made to escape the discomfort by
supplying the object wanted. The mind plans, schemes, drives the body into
action, in order to satisfy the cravings of Desire. And similarly, equally
prompted by Desire, the mind plans, schemes, drives the body into action in
order to avoid the recurrence of pain from an object recognised as pain-giving.
Such
is the relation of Desire to Thought. It rouses, stimulates, urges on, mental
efforts. The mind is, in its early stages, the slave of Desire, and the
rapidity of its growth is in proportion to the fierce urgings of Desire. We
desire, and thus are forced to think. [317]
4.
DESIRE, THOUGHT, ACTION.
The
third stage of the contact of the Self with the Not-Self is Action. The mind
having perceived the object of desire, leads to, guides and shapes the action.
Action is often said to arise from Desire, but Desire alone could only arouse
movement, or chaotic action. The force of Desire is propulsive, not directive.
Thought it is that adds the element of direction, and shapes the action
purposively.
This
is the ever-recurring cycle in consciousness - Desire, Thought, Action. The
propulsive power of Desire arouses Thought; the directive power of Thought
guides Action. This sequence is invariable, and the clear understanding thereof
is of the profoundest importance, for the effective control of conduct depends
on this understanding, and on its application in practice. The shaping of karma
can only be achieved when this sequence is understood, for evitable and
inevitable action can only thus be discriminated.
It
is by Thought that we can change Desire, and thereby change Action. When [318]
the mind sees that certain desires have impelled to thoughts that have directed
actions which were productive of unhappiness, it can resist the future
promptings of Desire in a similar direction, and refuse to guide actions to a
result already known as disastrous. It can picture the painful results, and
thus arouse the repellent energy of Desire, and can image the blissful outcome
of desires of the opposite kind. The creative activity of Thought can be
exerted in the moulding of Desire, and its propulsive energy can be turned into
a better direction. In this way Thought can be used to master Desire, and it
may become the ruler instead of the slave. And as it thus asserts control over
its unruly companion, it begins the transmutation of Desire into Will,
changing the governance of the outgoing energy from the outer to the inner,
from the external objects that attract or repel to the Spirit, the inner Ruler.
5.
THE BINDING NATURE OF DESIRE.
Since
the Will to Live is the cause of the forthgoing, of the life seeking [319]
embodiment and appropriating to itself that which is necessary for its
manifestation and persistence in form, Desire, being Will on a lower plane,
will show similar characteristics, seeking to appropriate, to draw into itself,
to make part of itself that whereby its life in form may be maintained and
strengthened. When we desire an object, we seek to make it part of ourselves,
part of the "I", so that it may form part of the embodiment of the
"I". Desire is the putting forth of the power of attraction; it draws
the desired object to itself. Whatever we desire, we attach to ourselves. By
the desire to possess it, a bond is established between the object and the
desirer. We tie to the Self this portion of the Not-Self, and the bond exists
until the object is possessed, or until the Self has broken off the bond and
repudiated the object. These are "the bonds of the heart"[76], and
tie the Self to the wheel of births and deaths.
These
bonds between the desiror and the objects of desire are like ropes that draw
the Self to the place where the [320] objects of desire are found, and thus
determine its birth into one or another world. "On this runs the verse: He
also who is attached ever obtains by action that on which his mind has set its
mark. Having obtained the object of action he here performs, he comes again
therefore from that world to this world for the sake of action. Thus is it
with the desiring mind."[77] If a man desires the objects of another world
more than the objects of this, then into that world will he be born. There is a
continuing tension in the bond of Desire until the Self and the object are
united.
The
one great determining energy, the Will to Live, which holds the planets in
their path around the sun, which prevents the matter of the globes from
scattering, which holds our own bodies together, that is the energy of Desire.
That which rules all is in us as Desire, and it must draw to us, or draw us to,
everything into which it has fixed its hooks. The hook of Desire fixes itself
in an object, as a harpoon in the whale at which it is flung [321] by the
harpooner. When Desire has fixed its harpoon in an object, the Self is attached
to that object, has appropriated it in Will, and presently must appropriate it
in action. Hence a great Teacher has said: "If thy right eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee . if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off
and cast it from thee"[78]. The thing desired becomes part of the body of
the Self, and, if it be evil, it should be torn out, at whatever cost of
anguish. Otherwise it will only be worn away by the slow attrition of time and
of weariness. "Only the strong can kill it out. The weak must wait for its
growth, its fruition, its death."[79]
6.
THE BREAKING OF THE BONDS.
For
the breaking of the bonds of Desire, recourse must be had to the mind. Therein
lies the power which shall first purify and then transmute Desire.
The
mind records the results which follow the appropriation of each object of [322]
Desire, and marks whether happiness or pain has resulted from the union of that
object with the embodied Self. And when, after many appropriations of an
attractive object, it has found the result to be pain, it registers that object
as one which should be avoided in the future. "The delights that are
contact-born, they are verily wombs of pain."[80]
Then
arises strife. When that attractive object again presents itself, Desire throws
out its harpoon and seizes it, and begins to draw it in. The mind, remembering
the painful results of previous similar captures, endeavours to check Desire,
to cut, with the sword of knowledge, the attaching bond. Fierce conflict rages
within the man: he is dragged forward by Desire, held back by Thought; many and
many a time Desire will triumph and the object will be appropriated; but the
resulting pain is ever repeated, and each success of Desire arrays against it
another enemy in the forces of the mind. Inevitably, however slowly, Thought
proves stronger, until, at last, victory [323] inclines to its side, and a day
comes when the desire is weaker than the mind, and the attractive object is
loosed, the attaching cord is cut. For that object, the bond is broken.
In
this conflict, Thought seeks to utilise against Desire the strength of Desire.
It selects objects of Desire that give a relatively lasting happiness, and
seeks to utilise these against the desires that swiftly result in pain. Thus it
will set artistic against sensual pleasure; it will use fame and political or
social power against enjoyments of the flesh; it will stimulate the desire to
please the good, to strengthen abstention from vicious delights; it will
finally make the desire for eternal peace conquer the desires for temporal
joys. By the one great attraction the lower attractions are slain, and cease
to be any longer the objects of desire: "Even taste (for them) turneth
away from him after the Supreme is see"[81]. The very energy of Desire can
tear it away from that which brings pain, and fix it on that which brings
bliss. The same force that bound is made [324] to serve as an instrument of
freedom. Wrenching itself away from objects, it will turn upwards and inwards,
attaching the man to the Life whence he came forth, and in union with which
consists his highest bliss.
Herein
lies the value of devotion as a liberator. Love, turning to the Supreme, sees
Him as eminently desirable, as an Object for intense desire, and this burns up
attachments to objects that keep the heart in bondage.
Only
by the Self as Thought can be mastered the Self as Desire; the Self, realising
itself as the life, overcomes the Self embodied and thinking itself to be the
form. The man must learn to separate
himself from the vehicles in which he desires, thinks, and acts, to know
them as part of the Not-Self, as material external to the life. Thus the energy
that went out to objects in the lower desires becomes the higher desire guided
by the mind, and is prepared to be transmuted into Will.
As
the lower mind merges itself in the higher, and the higher into that which is
Wisdom, the aspect of pure Will emerges [325] as the Power of the Spirit, Self-determined,
Self-ruled, in perfect harmony with the Supreme Will, and therefore free. Then
only are all bonds broken, and the Spirit is unconstrained by aught outside
himself. Then, and then only, can the Will be said to be free. [326]
-------
CHAPTER III.
DESIRE
(continued).
1.
THE VEHICLE OF DESIRE.
WE
shall have to return to the struggle in the Desire-nature, in order to add some
useful details to that which has been already said; but it is first necessary
to study the Vehicle of Desire, the Desire-Body or Astral Body, as this study
will enable us to understand the precise method in which we may work to subdue
and get rid of the lower desires.
The
Vehicle of Desire is made up of what is called astral matter, the matter of the
plane above the physical. This matter, like the physical, exists in seven
modifications, which relatively to each other are like the solid, liquid,
gaseous, etc., sub-states of matter on the physical plane. As the physical body
contains [327] within itself these various sub-states of physical matter, so
does the astral body contain within itself the various sub-states of astral
matter. Each of these sub-states has in it coarser and finer aggregations, and
the work of astral, as of physical purification, consists in the substitution
of the finer for the coarser.
Moreover,
the lower sub-states of astral matter serve chiefly for the manifestation of
the lower desires, while the higher sub-states vibrate in answer to the
desires which have changed, by the intermixture of mind, into emotions. The
lower desires, grasping after objects of pleasure, find that the lower
sub-states serve as medium for their attractive force, and the coarser and
baser the desires, the coarser are the aggregations of matter that fitly
express them. As the desire causes the corresponding material in the astral
body to vibrate, that matter becomes strongly vitalised and attracts fresh
similar matter from outside to itself, and thus increases the amount of such
matter in the constitution of the astral body. When the desires are gradually
refined into emotions, [328] intellectual elements entering into them, and
selfishness diminishing, the amount of finer matter similarly increases in the
astral body, while the coarser matter, left un-vitalised, loses energy and
decreases in amount.
These
facts, applied to practice, help us to weaken the enemy which is enthroned
within us, for we can deprive him of his instruments. A traitor within the
gates is more dangerous than a foe outside, and the desire-body acts as such a
traitor, so long as it is composed of elements that answer to the temptations
from without.
Desire,
as it builds in the coarser materials, must be checked by the mind, the mind
refusing to picture the passing pleasure which the possession of the object
would entail, and picturing to itself the more lasting sorrow it would cause.
As we get rid of the coarser matter which vibrates in answer to the baser
attractions, those attractions lose all power to disturb us.
This
vehicle of desire, then, must be taken in hand; according to its building will
be the attractions that reach us from [329] without. We can work upon the form,
change the elements of which the form is composed, and thus turn the enemy into
a defender.
When
a man is evolving in character, he is, however, confronted with a difficulty
which often alarms and depresses him. He finds himself shaken by desires from
which he shrinks, of which he is ashamed, and despite his strenuous efforts to
shake them off, they none the less cling to and torment him. They are
discordant with his efforts, his hopes, his aspirations, and yet, in some way,
they seem to be his. This painful experience is due to the fact that the
consciousness evolves more rapidly than the form can change, and the two are to
some extent in conflict with each other. There is a considerable amount of the
coarser aggregations still present in the astral body; but as the desires have
become more refined, they no longer vivify these materials. Some of the old
vitality none the less persists therein, and although these aggregations are
decaying they are not wholly gone.
Now
although the man's Desire-nature [330] is no longer using these materials for
self-expression, they may yet be thrown into temporary activity from outside,
and thus take on a semblance of vitality as a galvanised corpse might do. The
desires of other people - desire-elementals of an evil kind - may attach
themselves to these disused elements in his astral body, and they may thus be
stimulated and revivified, and cause him to feel as his own the promptings of desires he abhors. Where such
experiences are undergone, let the bewildered combatant take courage; even in
the inrush of these desires, let him repudiate them as none of his, and know
that the elements in him they utilise are of the past, and are dying, and that
the day of their death and of his freedom is at hand.
We
may take an example from dream, to show this working of effete matter in the
astral body. A man, in a former life, was a drunkard, and his after-death
experiences had impressed deeply on him a repulsion for drink; on rebirth, the
Ego in the new physical and astral bodies impressed on them this repulsion, but
[331] there was none the less in the astral body some matter drawn thereinto by
the vibrations caused in the permanent atom by the former drunkenness. This
matter is not vivified in the present life by any craving for drink, nor any
yielding to the drink-habit; on the contrary, in the waking life, the man is
sober. But in dream, this matter in the astral body is stimulated into activity
from without, and the control of the Ego being weak over the astral body[82],
this matter responds to the drink-craving vibrations that reach it, and the man
dreams that he drinks. Moreover, if there still be in the man a latent desire
for drink, too weak to assert itself during waking consciousness, it may come
up in the dream-state. For physical matter being comparatively heavy and hard
to move, a weak desire has not energy enough to cause vibrations therein; but
that same desire may move the much lighter astral matter, and so a man may be
carried away in a dream by a desire [332] which has no power over him in his
waking consciousness. Such dreams cause much distress, because not understood.
The man should understand that the dream shows that the temptation is conquered
so far as he is concerned, and that he is only troubled by the corpse of past
desires, vivified from outside on the astral plane, or if from within, then by
a dying desire too weak to move him in
his waking moments. The dream is a sign of a victory well-nigh complete. At the
same time it is a warning; for it tells the man that there is still in his
astral body some matter apt to be vivified by vibrations of the drink-craving,
and that therefore he should not place himself during waking life under
conditions where such vibrations may abound. Until such dreams have entirely
ceased, the astral body is not free from matter that is a source of danger.
2.
THE CONFLICT OF DESIRE AND THOUGHT,
We
must now return to the struggle in the Desire-nature, to which reference [333]
has already been made, in order to add some necessary details.
This
conflict belongs to what may be called the middle stage of evolution, that long
stage which intervenes between the state of the man entirely ruled by Desire,
grasping all he wants, unchecked by conscience, undisturbed by remorse, and the
state of the highly evolved spiritual
man, in whom Will, Wisdom and Activity work in co-ordinated harmony. The
conflict arises between Desire and Thought - Thought beginning to understand
the relation of itself to the Not-Self and to other separated selves, and Desire,
influenced by the objects around it,
moving by attractions and repulsions, drawn hither and thither by objects that
allure.
We
must study the stage of evolution in which the accumulated memories of past
experiences, stored in the mind, set themselves against the gratification of
desires which have been proved to lead to pain; or, to speak more accurately,
in which the conclusion drawn by the Thinker from these accumulated [334]
experiences asserts itself in face of a demand from the Desire-nature for the
object which has been stamped as dangerous.
The
habit of grasping and enjoying has been established for hundreds of lives, and
is strong, while the habit of resisting a present pleasure in order to avoid a
future pain is only in course of establishment, and is consequently very weak.
Hence the conflicts between the Thinker and the Desire-nature end for a long
time in a series of defeats. The young Mind struggling with the mature
Desire-body finds itself constantly vanquished. But every victory of the Desire-nature,
being followed by a brief pleasure and a long pain, gives birth to a new force
hostile to itself that recruits the strength of its opponent. Each defeat of
the Thinker thus sows the seeds of his future victory, and his strength daily
grows while the strength of the Desire-nature diminishes.
When
this is clearly understood, we grieve no longer over our own falls and the
falls of those we love; for we know that these falls are making sure the secure
footing of the future, and that in [335] the womb of pain is maturing the
future conqueror.
Our
knowledge of right and wrong grows out of experience, and is elaborated only
by trial. The sense of right and wrong, now innate in the civilised man, has
been developed by innumerable experiences. In the early days of the separated
Self all experiences were useful in his evolution, and brought him the lessons
needful for his growth. Gradually he learned that the yielding to desires
which, in the course of their gratification injured others, brought him pain
out of proportion to the temporary pleasure derived from their satisfaction.
He began to attach the word
"wrong" to the desires the yielding to which brought a predominance
of pain, and this the more quickly because the Teachers who guided his early growth
placed on the objects which attracted such desires the ban of Their
disapproval. When he had disobeyed Them and suffering followed, the impression
made on the Thinker was the more powerful for the previous foretelling, and
conscience - the Will to do [336] the right and abstain from the wrong - was
proportionately strengthened.
In
this connexion we can readily see the value of admonition, reproof, and good
counsel. All these are stored up in the mind, and are forces added to the
accumulating memories which oppose the gratification of wrong desire. Granted
that the person warned may again yield when the temptation assails him; that
only means that the balance of strength
is still in the wrong desire; when the foretold suffering arrives, the
mind will recall all the memories of warnings and admonitions, and will engrave
the more deeply in its substance the decision: "This desire is
wrong". The doing of the wrong act merely means that the memory of past
pain is not yet sufficiently strong to overbear the attraction of eagerly
anticipated and immediate pleasure. The lesson needs to be repeated yet a few
times more, to strengthen the memory of the past, and when that is done,
victory is sure. The suffering is a necessary element in the growth of the soul,
and has the promise of that growth within it. Everywhere [337] around us, if we
see aright, is growing good; nowhere is there hopeless evil.
This
struggle is expressed in the sad cry: "What I would, that I do not; what I
would not, that I do". "When I would do good, evil is present with
me." The wrong that we do, when the wish is against the doing, is done by
the habit of the past. The weak Will is overpowered by the strong desire.
Now
the Thinker in his conflict with the Desire-nature calls to his aid that very
nature, and strives to awaken in it a desire which shall be opposed to the
desires against which he is waging war. As the attraction of a weak magnet may
be overpowered by that of a stronger one, so may one desire be strengthened for
the overcoming of another, a right desire may be aroused to combat a wrong one.
Hence the value of an ideal.
3.
THE VALUE OF AN IDEAL.
An
ideal is a fixed mental concept of an inspiring character, framed for the
guidance of conduct, and the formation of an ideal [338] is one of the most
effective means of influencing desire. The ideal may, or may not, find
embodiment in an individual, according to the temperament of the man who frames
it, and it must ever be remembered that the value of an ideal depends largely
on its attractiveness, and that that which attracts one temperament by no means
necessarily attracts another. An abstract ideal and a personal one are equally
good, regarded from a general standpoint, and that should be selected which
has, on the individual choosing it, the most attractive influence. A person of
the intellectual temperament will usually find an abstract ideal the more satisfactory;
whereas one of the emotional temperament will demand a concrete embodiment of
his thought. The disadvantage of the abstract ideal is that it is apt to fail
in compelling inspiration; the disadvantage of the concrete embodiment is that
the embodiment is apt to fall below the ideal.
The
mind, of course, creates the ideal, and either retains it as an abstraction, or
embodies it in a person. The time chosen [339] for the creation of an ideal
should be a time when the mind is calm and steady and luminous, when the
Desire-nature is asleep. Then the Thinker should consider the purpose of his
life, the goal at which he aims, and with this to guide his choice, he should
select the qualities necessary to enable him to reach that goal. These
qualities he should combine into a single concept, imagining as strongly as he
can this integration of the qualities he needs. Daily he should repeat this
integrating process, until his ideal stands out clearly in the mind, dowered
with all beauty of high thought and noble character, a figure of compelling
attractiveness. The man of intellect will keep this ideal as a pure concept.
The man of emotional nature will embody it in a person, such as the Buddha, the
Christ, Shri Krishna, or some other divine Teacher. In this latter case he
will, if possible, study His life, His teachings, His actions, and the ideal
will thus become more and more strongly vivified, more and more real to the
Thinker. Intense love will spring up in the heart [340] for this embodied
ideal, and Desire will stretch out longing arms to embrace it. And when
temptation assails, and the lower desires clamour for satisfaction, then the
attractive power of the ideal asserts itself, the loftier desire combats the
baser, and the Thinker finds himself reinforced by right desire, the negative
strength of memory which says: "Abstain from the base", being fortified by the positive
strength of the ideal which says: "Achieve the heroic".
The
man who lives habitually in the presence of a great ideal is armed against
wrong desires by love of his ideal, by shame of being base in its presence, by
the longing to resemble that which he adores, and also by the general set and
trend of his mind along lines of noble thinking. Wrong desires become more and
more incongruous. They perish naturally, unable to breathe in that pure clear
air.
It
may be worth while to remark here, in view of the destructive results of
historical criticism, in the minds of many, that the value of the ideal Christ,
the ideal Buddha, the ideal Krishna, is in no way [341] injured by any lack of
historical data, by any defects in the proofs of the authenticity of a manuscript.
Many of the stories related may not be historically true, but they are
ethically and vitally true. Whether this incident happened in the physical life
of this Teacher or not is a matter of small import; the re-action of such an
ideal character on his environment is ever profoundly true. The world
Scriptures represent spiritual facts, whether the physical incidents be or be
not historically true.
Thus
Thought may shape and direct Desire, and turn it from an enemy into an ally. By
changing the direction of Desire, it becomes a lifting and quickening instead
of a retarding force, and where desires for objects held us fast in the mire of
earth, desire for the ideal lifts us on strong wings to heaven.
4.
THE PURIFICATION OF DESIRE.
We
have already seen how much may be done in the purification of the vehicle of
Desire, and the contemplation and worship [342] of the ideal, which has just
been described, is a most potent means for the purification of Desire. Evil
desires die away, as good desires are encouraged and fostered - die away merely
from want of nourishment.
The
effort to reject all wrong desires is accompanied by the firm refusal of
thought to allow them to pass on into actions. Will begins to restrain action,
even when Desire clamours for gratification. And this refusal to permit the
action instigated by wrong desire gradually deprives of all attractive power
the objects which erstwhile aroused it. "The objects of sense . turn away
from an abstemious dweller in the body."[83] The desires fade away,
starved by lack of satisfaction. Abstention from gratification is a potent
means of purification.
There
is another means of purification in which the repulsive force of Desire is
utilised, as in the contemplation of the ideal the attractive force was evoked.
It is useful in extreme cases, in which the lowest desires are tumultuous and
insurgent, such desires as lead to the vices [343] of gluttony, drunkenness
and profligacy. Sometimes a man finds it impossible to get rid of evil desires,
and despite all his efforts his mind yields to their strong impulse, and evil
imaginations riot in his brain. He may conquer by apparent yielding, carrying
on the evil imaginations to their inevitable results. He pictures himself
yielding to the temptations that assail him, and sinking more and more into the
grip of the evil that masters him. He follows himself, as he falls deeper and
deeper, becoming the helpless slave of his passions. He traces with vivid
imagination the stages of his descent, sees his body becoming coarser and
coarser, then bloated and diseased. He contemplates the shattered nerves, the
loathsome sores, the hideous decay and ruin of the once strong and healthy
frame. He fixes his eyes on the dishonoured death, the sad legacy of shameful
memory left to relatives and friends. He faces in thought the other side of
death, and sees the soil and distortion of his vices pictured in the suffering
astral body, and the agony of the craving of desires that may no longer be
[344] fulfilled. Resolutely he forces his shrinking thoughts to dwell on this
miserable panorama of the triumph of wrong desires, until there rises within
him a strong repulsion against them, an intolerable fear and loathing of the
result of present yielding.
Such
a method of purification is like the surgeon's knife, cutting out a cancer
which menaces the life, and, like all surgical operations, is to be avoided
unless no other means of cure remain. It is better to conquer wrong desire by
the attractive force of an ideal, than by the repulsive force of a spectacle of
ruin. But where attraction fails to conquer, repulsion may perhaps prevail.
There
is also a danger in this latter method, since the coarser matter in the vehicle
of Desire is increased by this dwelling in thought on evil, and the struggle is
thereby rendered longer than when it is possible to throw the life into good
desires and high aspirations. Therefore it is the worse method of the two, only
to be accepted when the other is unattainable. [345]
By
higher attraction, by repulsion, or by the slow teaching of suffering, Desire
must be purified. The "must" is not so much a necessity imposed by an
outside Deity, as the imperial command of the Deity within, who will not be
denied. With this true Will of the Divinity, who is our Self, all divine forces
in nature work, and that divine Self who wills the highest must inevitably in
the end subdue all things to himself.
With
this triumph comes the ceasing of Desire. For then external objects no longer
either attract or repel the outgoing energies of Atma, and these energies are
entirely directed by Self-determined Wisdom; that is, Will has taken the place
of Desire. Good and evil are seen as the divine forces that work for evolution,
the one as necessary as the other, the one the complement of the other. The
good is the force that is to be worked with; the evil is the force that is to
be worked against; by the right using of both the powers of the Self are
evolved into manifestation.
When
the Self has developed the aspect [346] of Wisdom, he looks on the righteous
and the wicked, the saint and the sinner, with equal eyes, and is therefore
equally ready to help both, to reach out strong hand to either. Desire, which
regarded them with attraction and repulsion, as pleasure-giving and
pain-giving, has ceased, and Will, which is energy directed by Wisdom, brings
fitting aid to both. Thus man rises above the tyranny of the pairs of
opposites, and dwells in the Eternal Peace. [347]
-------
CHAPTER IV.
EMOTION.
1.
THE BIRTH OF EMOTION.
EMOTION
is riot a simple or primary state of consciousness, but is a compound made up by
the interaction of two of the aspects of the Self-Desire and Intellect. The
play of Intellect on Desire gives birth to Emotion; it is the child of both,
and shows some of the characteristics of its father, Intellect, as well as of
its mother, Desire.
In
the developed condition Emotion seems so different from Desire that their fundamental identity is somewhat veiled; but
we can see this identity either by tracing the development of a desire into an
emotion, or by studying both side by side, and finding that both have the same
characteristics, the same divisions, that the [348] one is, in fact, an
elaborated form of the other, the elaboration being due to the presence in the
later of a number of intellectual elements
absent from, or less markedly prominent in, the earlier.
Let
us trace the development of a desire into an emotion in one of the commonest of
human relations, the relation of sex. Here is desire in one of its simplest
forms; desire for food, desire for sexual union, are the two fundamental desires
of all living things - desire for food to maintain life, desire for sexual
union to increase life. In both the sense of "moreness" is
experienced, or, otherwise stated, pleasure is felt. The desire for food
remains a desire; the food is appropriated, assimilated, loses its separate
identity, becomes part of the "Me". There is no continued relation
between the eater and the food which gives scope for the elaboration of an
emotion. It is otherwise in the sex-relation, which tends to become more and
more permanent with the evolution of the individuality.
Two
savages are drawn towards each other by the attraction of sex; a passion [349]
to possess the other arises in each; each desires the other. The desire is as
simple as the desire for food. But it cannot be satisfied to the same extent,
for neither can wholly appropriate and assimilate the other; each to some
extent maintains his or her separate identity, and each only partially becomes
the "Me" of the other. There is indeed an extension of the
"Me", but it is by way of inclusion and not by way of
self-identification. The presence of this persisting barrier is necessary for
the transformation of a desire into an emotion. This makes possible the attachment
of memory and anticipation to the same object, and not to another object
similar in kind - as in the case of food. A continuing desire for union with
the same object becomes an emotion, thoughts thus mingling with the primary
desire to possess. The barrier which keeps the mutually attracted objects as two
not one, which prevents their fusion, while it seems to frustrate really
immortalises; were it swept away, desire and emotion alike would vanish, and
the Twain-become-One must then seek another external [350] object for the
further self-expansion of pleasure.
To
return to our savages, desire-united. The woman falls sick, and ceases, for the
time, to be an object of sex-gratification. But the man remembers past, and
anticipates future, delight, and a feeling of sympathy with her suffering, of
compassion for her weakness, arises within him. The persisting attraction
towards her, due to memory and anticipation, changes desire into emotion,
passion into love, and sympathy and compassion are its earliest manifestations.
These, in turn, will lead to his sacrificing himself to her, waking to nurse
her when he would sleep, exerting himself for her when he would rest. These
spontaneous moods of the love-emotion in him will later solidify into virtues,
i.e., will become permanent moods in his
character, showing themselves in response to the calls of human need to all
persons with whom he comes into contact, whether they attract him or not. We
shall see later that virtues are simply permanent moods of right emotion.
Before,
however, dealing with the [351] relation of ethics and emotion, we must further
realise the fundamental identity of Desire and Emotion by noting their
characteristics and divisions. As this is done, we shall find that emotions do
not form a mere jungle, but that all spring from one root, dividing into two
main stems, each of these again subdividing into branches, on which grow the
leaves of virtues and of vices. This fruitful idea, making possible a science
of the emotions, and hence an intelligible and rational system of ethics, is
due to an Indian author, Bhagavan Das, who has for the first time introduced
order into this hitherto confused region
of consciousness. Students of psychology will find in his Science of the
Emotions a lucid treatise, setting forth this scheme, which reduces the chaos
of the emotions into a cosmos, and shapes therein an ordered morality. The
broad lines of exposition followed here are drawn from that work, to which
readers are referred for fuller details.
We
have seen that Desire has two main expressions: desire to attract, in order to
possess, or again to come into contact [352] with, any object which has
previously afforded pleasure; desire to repel, in order to drive far away, or
to avoid contact with, any object which has previously inflicted pain. We have
seen that Attraction and Repulsion are the two forms of Desire, swaying the
Self.
Emotion,
being Desire infused with Intellect, inevitably shows the same division into
two. The Emotion which is of the nature of Attraction, attracting objects to
each other by pleasure, the integrating energy in the universe, is called Love.
The Emotion which is of the nature of Repulsion, driving objects apart from
each other by pain, the disintegrating energy in the universe, is called Hate.
These are the two stems from the root of Desire, and all the branches of the
emotions may be traced back to one of these twain.
Hence
the identity of the characteristics of Desire and Emotion; Love seeks to draw
to itself the attractive object, or to go after it, in order to unite with it,
to possess, or be possessed by, it. It binds by pleasure, by happiness, as
Desire binds. [353] Its ties are indeed more lasting, more complicated, are
composed of more numerous and more delicate threads interwoven into greater
complexity, but the essence of Desire-Attraction, the binding of two objects
together, is the essence of Emotion-Attraction, of Love. And so also does Hate
seek to drive away from itself the repellent object, or to flee from it, in
order to be apart from it, to repulse, or be repulsed by, it. It separates by
pain, by unhappiness. And thus the essence of Desire-Repulsion, the driving
apart of two objects, is the essence of Emotion-Repulsion, of Hate. Love and
Hate are the elaborated and thought-infused forms of the simple Desires to possess
and to shun.
2.
THE PLAY OF EMOTION IN THE FAMIILY,
Man
has been described as "a social animal" - the biological way of
saying that he develops best in contact with, not in isolation from, his fellows.
His distinctively intellectual characteristics need, for their evolution, a
social medium, and [354] his keenest pleasures - and hence necessarily his
keenest pains - arise in his relations with others of his own species. They alone can evoke from him the responses
on which his further growth depends. All evolution, all the calling out of
latent powers, is in response to stimuli from without, and, when the human
stage is reached, the most poignant and effective stimuli can only come from
contacts with human beings.
Sex-attraction
is the first social bond, and the children born to the husband and wife form,
with them, the first social unit, the family. The prolonged helplessness and
dependence of the human infant give time for the physical passion of parentage
to ripen into the emotion of maternal and paternal love, and thus give
stability to the family, while the family itself forms a field in which the
various emotions inevitably play. Herein are first established definite and permanent relations between
human beings, and on the harmony of these relations, on the benefits bestowed
by these relations on each member of the family, does the happiness of each
depend. [355]
We
can advantageously study the play of Emotion in the family, since here we have
a comparatively simple social unit, which yet affords a picture in miniature of
society at large. We can find here the origin and evolution of virtues and
vices, and see the meaning and object of morality.
We
have already seen how sex-passion evolves, under stress of circumstances,
into the emotion of love, and how this
love shows itself as tenderness and compassion when the wife, instead of being
the equal mate, becomes helpless and dependent, in the temporary physical
inferiority caused, say, by child-bearing. Similarly, should sickness or
accident reduce the husband to the temporary physical inferiority, tenderness
and compassion will flow out to him from the wife. But these manifestations of
love cannot be shown by the stronger without evoking from the weaker answering
love-manifestations; these in the condition of weakness will have as their
natural characteristics trust, confidence, gratitude, all equally
love-emotions coloured by weakness and dependence. [356] In the relation of
parents to children and of children to parents, where physical superiority and
inferiority are far more strongly marked and persist for a considerable period
of time, these love emotions will be continually manifested on both sides.
Tenderness, compassion, protection, will be constantly shown by the parents to
the children, and trust, confidence, gratitude, will be the constant answer of
the children. Variations in the expression of the love-emotion will be caused
by variety of circumstances, which will call out generosity, forgiveness,
patience, etc., on the part of the parents, and obedience, dutifulness,
serviceableness, etc., on the part of the children. Taking these two classes of
love-emotions, we see that the common essence in the one class is benevolence,
and in the other reverence; the first is love looking downwards on those
weaker, inferior to itself; the other love looking upwards on those stronger,
superior to itself. And we can then generalise and say: Love looking downwards
is Benevolence; Love looking upwards is Reverence; and these are the [357]
several common characteristics of Love from superiors to inferiors, and Love
from inferiors to superiors universally.
The
normal relations between husband and wife, and those between brothers and
sisters, afford us the field for studying the manifestations of love between
equals. We see love showing itself as mutual tenderness and mutual
trustfulness, as consideration, respect, and desire to please, as quick
insight into and endeavour to fulfil the wishes of the other, as magnanimity,
forbearance. The elements present in the love-emotions of superior to inferior
are found here, but mutuality is impressed on all of them. So we may say that
the common characteristic of Love between equals is Desire for Mutual Help.
Thus
we have Benevolence, Desire for Mutual Help, and Reverence as the three main
divisions of the Love-Emotion, and under these all love emotions may be
classified. For all human relations are summed up under the three classes: the
relations of superiors to inferiors, of equals to equals, of inferiors to
superiors.
A
similar study of the Hate-Emotion in [358] the family will yield us similar
fruits. Where there is hate between husband and wife, the temporary superior
will show harshness, cruelty, oppression to the temporary inferior, and these
will be answered by the inferior with hate-manifestations characteristic of
weakness, such as vindictiveness, fear, and treachery. These will be even more
apparent in the relations between parents and children, when both are dominated
by the Hate-Emotion, since the disparity is here greater, and tyranny breeds a
whole crop of evil emotions - deceit, servility, cowardice, while the child is
helpless, and disobedience, revolt and
revenge as it grows older. Here again we seek a common characteristic, and find
that Hate looking downwards is Scorn, and looking upwards is Fear.
Similarly,
Hate between equals will show itself in anger, combativeness, disrespect,
violence, aggressiveness, jealousy, insolence, etc.- all the emotions which
repel man from man when they stand as rivals, face to face, not hand in hand.
The common characteristic of Hate [359] between equals will thus be Mutual
Injury. And the three main characteristics of the Hate-Emotion are Scorn,
Desire for Mutual Injury, and Fear.
Love
is characterised in all its manifestations by sympathy, self-sacrifice, the
desire to give; these are its essential factors, whether as Benevolence, as
Desire for Mutual Help, as Reverence. For all these directly serve Attraction,
bring about union, are of the very nature of Love. Hence Love is of the Spirit;
for sympathy is the feeling for another as one would feel for oneself;
self-sacrifice is the recognition of the claim of the other, as oneself; giving
is the condition of spiritual life. Thus Love is seen to belong to the Spirit,
to the life-side of the universe.
Hate,
on the other hand, is characterised in all its manifestations by antipathy,
self-aggrandisement, the desire to take; these are its essential factors, whether
as Scorn, Desire for Mutual Injury, or Fear. All these directly serve
Repulsion, driving one apart from another. Hence, Hate is of Matter, emphasises
manifoldness and differences, is essentially separateness, [360] belongs to the
form-side of the universe.
We
have thus far dealt with the play of Emotion in the family, because the family
serves as a miniature of society. Society is only the integration of numerous
family units, but the absence of the blood-tie between these units, the
absence of recognised common interests and common objects, makes it necessary
to find some bond which will supply the place of the natural bonds in the
family. The family units in a Society appear on the surface as rivals, rather
than as brothers and sisters; hence the Hate-Emotion is more likely to rise
than the Love-Emotion, and it is necessary to find some way of maintaining
harmony; this is done by the transmutation of Love-Emotions into virtues.
3.
THE BIRTH OF VIRTUES.
We
have seen that when members of a family pass beyond the small circle of
relatives, and meet people whose interests are either indifferent or opposed to
them, there is not between them and the others the mutual interplay of Love.
Rather does [361] Hate show itself, ranging from the watchful attitude of
suspicion to the destroying fury of war. How then is a society to be composed
of the separate family units?
It
can only be done by making permanent all the emotional moods which spring from
Love, and by eradicating those which spring from Hate. A permanent mood of a
love-emotion directed towards a living being is a Virtue; a permanent mood of a
hate-emotion directed against a living being is a Vice. This change is wrought
by the Intellect, which bestows on the emotion a permanent character, seeking
harmony in all relations in order that happiness may result. That which
conduces to harmony and therefore to happiness in the family, springing
spontaneously from Love, is Virtue when practised towards all in every relation
of life. Virtue springs from Love and its result is happiness. So also that
which conduces to disharmony and therefore to misery in the family, springing
spontaneously from Hate, is Vice when practised towards all in all relations
of life. [362]
An
objection is raised to this theory, that the permanent mood of a love-emotion
is a virtue, by pointing out that adultery, theft, and other vices may spring
from the love-emotion. Here analysis of the elements entering into, the mental
attitude is necessary. It is complex, not simple. The act of adultery is
motived by love, but not by love alone. There enter into it also contempt of
the honour of another, indifference to the happiness of another, the selfish
grasping at personal pleasure at the cost of social stability, social honour,
social decency. All these spring from hate-emotions. The love is the one
redeeming feature in the whole transaction, the one virtue in the bundle of
sordid vices. Similar analysis will always show that when the exercise of a
love-emotion is wrong, the wrongness lies in the vices bound up with its
exercise, and not in the love-emotion itself.
4.
RIGHT AND WRONG.
Let
us now turn, for a moment, to the question of Right and Wrong, and see the
[363] relation they bear to bliss and misery. For there is an idea widely
current that there is something low and materialistic in the view that virtue
is the means to bliss. Many thinly that this idea degrades virtue, giving it
the second place where it should hold the first, and making it a means instead
of an end. Let us then see why virtue must be the path to bliss, and how this
inheres in the nature of things.
When
the Intellect studies the world, and sees the innumerable relations established
therein, and observes that harmonious relations bring about happiness, and
that jarring relations bring about misery, it sets to work to find out the way
of establishing universal harmony and hence universal bliss. Further, it discovers
that the world is moving along a path which it is compelled to tread - the path
of evolution, and it finds out the law of evolution. For a part, a unit, to set
itself with the law of the whole to which it belongs means peace, harmony, and
therefore happiness, while for it to set itself against that law means
friction, [364] disharmony, and therefore misery. Hence the Right is that
which, being in harmony with the great law, brings bliss, and the Wrong is that
which, being in conflict with the great law, brings misery. When the intellect,
illuminated by the Spirit, sees nature as an expression of divine Thought, the
law of evolution as an expression of the divine Will, the goal as an expression
of divine Bliss, then for harmony with the law of evolution we may substitute
harmony with the divine Will, and the Right becomes that which is in harmony
with the Will of God, and morality becomes permeated with religion.
5.
VIRTUE AND BLISS.
Perfection,
harmony with the divine Will, cannot be separated from bliss. Virtue is the
road to bliss, and if anything does not lead there it is not virtue. The
perfection of the divine nature expresses itself in harmony, and when the
scattered "divine fragments" come into harmony they taste bliss.
This
fact is sometimes veiled by [365] another, i.e., that the practice of a virtue
under certain circumstances brings about misery. That is true, but the misery
is temporary and superficial, and the balance between that outer misery and the
inner bliss arising from the virtuous conduct, is in favour of the latter; and
further, the misery is not due to the virtue but to the circumstances which
oppose its practice, to the friction between the good organism and the evil
environment. So when you strike a harmonious chord amid a mass of discords, for
a moment it increases the discord. The virtuous man is thrown into conflict
with evil, but this should not blind us to the fact that bliss is ever wedded
indissolubly to Right and misery to Wrong. Even though the righteous may suffer
temporarily, nothing but righteousness can lead to bliss. And if we examine
the consciousness of the righteous, we find that he is happier in doing the
right though superficial pain may result, than in doing the wrong which would
ruffle the inner peace. The commission of a wrong act would cause him inner
anguish outweighing the external pleasure. Even in [366] the case where
righteousness leads to external suffering, the suffering is less than would be
caused by unrighteousness. Miss Helen Taylor has well said that for the man who
dies for the sake of truth, death is easier than life with falsehood. It is
easier and pleasanter for the righteous man to die as a martyr, than to live as
a hypocrite.
Since
the nature of the Self is bliss, and that bliss is only hindered in
manifestation by resisting circumstances, that which removes the friction
between itself and these circumstances and opens its onward way must lead to
its Self-realisation, i.e., to the realisation of bliss. Virtue does this, and
therefore virtue is a means to bliss. Where the inner nature of things is peace
and joy, the harmony which permits that nature to unveil itself must bring
peace and joy, and to bring about this harmony is the work of virtue.
6.
THE TRANSMUTATION OF EMOTIONS INTO VIRTUES AND VICES.
We
have now to see more fully the truth of what was said above, that virtue [367]
grows out of emotion, and how far it is true that a virtue or a vice is merely
a permanent mood of an emotion. Our definition is that virtue is a permanent
mood of the love-emotion, and vice a permanent mood of the hate-emotion.
The
emotions belonging to love are the constructive energies which, drawing people
together, build up the family, the tribe, the nation. Love is a manifestation
of attraction, and hence holds objects together. This process of integration
begins with the family; and the relations established between its members in
the common life of the family entail, if there is to be happiness, the acting
towards each other in a helpful and kindly way. The obligations necessary for
the establishment of happiness in these relations are called duties, that
which is due from one to the other. If these duties are not discharged the
family relations become a source of misery, since the close contacts of the
family make the happiness of each dependent on the treatment of him by the
others. No relation can be entered into between human beings which does not
[368] establish an obligation between them, a duty of each towards the other.
The husband loves the wife, the wife the husband, and nothing more is needed to
lead each to seek the other's happiness than the intense spontaneous wish to
make the beloved happy. This leads the one who can give to supply what the
other needs. In the fullest sense, "love is the fulfilling of the
law"[84]; there is no need for the feeling of an obligation, for love
seeks ever to help and to bless, and there is no need for "thou
shalt", or "thou shalt not".
But
when a person, moved by love to discharge all the duties of his relation with
another, comes into relation with those he does not love, how is a harmonious
relation with them to be established? By recognising the obligations of the
relation into which he has entered, and discharging them. The doings which grew
out of love in the one case present themselves as obligations, as duties, in
the other, where love is not present. Right reason works the [369] spontaneous
actions of love into permanent obligations, or duties, and the love-emotion,
made a permanent element of conduct, is called a virtue. This is the
justification of the statement that a virtue is the permanent mood of a love-emotion.
A permanent state of emotion is established which will show itself when a
relation is made; the man discharges the duties of that relation; he is a
virtuous man. He is moved by emotions made permanent by the intellect, which
recognises that happiness depends on the establishment of harmony in all
relations. Love, rationalised and fixed by the intellect, is virtue.
In
this way may be built up a science of ethics, of which the laws are as much an
inevitable sequence as those on which any other science is built.
So
also between the hate-emotion and vices there is a similar relation. The
permanent mood of a hate-emotion is a vice. One person injures another, and the
second returns the injury; the relation between these two is inharmonious, productive
of misery. And as each expects [370] injury from the other, each tries to
weaken the other's power to inflict injury, and this is the spontaneous action
of hate. When this mood becomes permanent, and a man shows it in any relation
into which he enters wherein the opportunity for its manifestation arises, then
it is called a vice. A man of uncontrolled passions and undeveloped nature
strikes a blow, a spontaneous expression of hate. He repeats this often, and it
becomes habitual when he is angry. He inflicts pain and takes pleasure in the
infliction. The vice of cruelty is developed, and if he meets a child or a
person weaker than himself, he will show cruelty merely because he comes into
relation with them. As the love-emotion, guided and fixed by right reason, is
virtue, so the hate-emotion, guided and fixed by distorted and blinded reason,
is vice.
7.
APPLICATION OF THE THEORY TO CONDUCT.
When
the nature of virtue and vice is thus seen, it is clear that the shortest way
of strengthening the virtues and [372] eliminating the vices is to work
directly on the emotional side of the character. We can strive to develop the
love-emotion, thus affording the material which the reason will elaborate into
its characteristic virtues. The development of the love-emotion is the most
effective way of evolving the moral character, virtues being but the blossoms
and the fruits which spring from the root of love.
The
value of this clear view of the transmutation of emotions into virtues and
vices lies in the fact that it gives us a definite theory on which we can work;
it is as though we were seeking a distant place, and a map were placed before
our eyes; we trace thereon the road which leads from our present position to
our goal. So many really good and earnest people spend years in vague
aspirations after goodness, and yet make but little progress; they are good in
purpose but weak in attainment; this is chiefly because they do not understand
the nature in which they are working, and the best methods for its culture.
They are like a [372] child in a garden, a child eager to see his garden
brilliant with flowers, but without the knowledge to plant and cultivate them,
and to exterminate the weeds which overgrow his plot. Like the child, they long
for the sweetness of the virtue-flowers, and find their garden overrun with the
rank growth of the weeds of vice.
8.
THE USES OF EMOTION.
The
uses of the love-emotion are so obvious that it seems scarcely necessary to
dwell upon them, and yet too much stress cannot be laid on the fact that love
is the constructive force in the universe. Having drawn together the family
units, it welds these into larger tribal and national units, and these it will
build in the future into the Brotherhood of Man. Nor must we omit to note the
fact that the smaller units draw out the love-power and prepare it for fuller
expression. Their use is to call into manifestation the hidden divine power of
love within the Spirit, by giving to it objects close at hand that attract it.
The love is not to be confined [373] within these narrow limits, but, as it
gains strength by practice, it is to spread outwards until it embraces all
sentient beings. We may formulate the law of love: Regard every aged person as
your father or mother; regard every person of similar age as your brother or
sister; regard every younger person as your child. This sums up human
relations. The fulfilment of this law would render earth a paradise, and it is
in order that the earth may become such a paradise that the family exists.
A
man who would widen his love-relations should begin to regard the welfare of
his community as he regards the welfare of his own family. He should try to
work for the public good of his community with the energy and interest with
which he works for his family. Later, he will extend his loving interest and
labour to his nation. Then appears the great virtue of public spirit, the sure
precursor of national prosperity. Later still, he will love and labour for
humanity, and finally he will embrace within his loving care all sentient
beings, and will become "the friend of every creature". [374]
Few,
at the present stage of evolution, are really able to love humanity, and too
many speak of loving humanity who are not ready to make any sacrifice to help a
suffering brother or sister close at hand. The servant of humanity must not
overlook the human beings at his door, nor in imagination water with
sentimental sympathy the distant garden, while the plants round his doorway
are dying from drought.
The
uses of hate are not at first so obvious, but are none the less important. At
first, when we study hate and see that its essence is disintegration,
destruction, it may seem all evil; "He who hateth his brother is a
murderer," saith a great Teacher[85], because murder is but an expression
of hate; and even when hate does not go so far as murder, it is still a
destroying force; it breaks up the family, the nation, and wherever it goes it
tears people apart. Of what use, then, is hate?
First,
it drives apart incongruous elements, unfit to combine together, and thus
prevents continuing friction. Where incongruous undeveloped people are [375]
concerned, it is better for them to be driven far apart to pursue their several
paths in evolution, than to be kept within reach of one another, stimulating
each other to increased bad emotions. Secondly, the repulsion felt by the
average soul for an evil person is beneficial, so long as that evil person has
the power of leading him astray; for that repulsion, although it be hate,
guards him from an influence under which he might otherwise succumb. Contempt
for the liar, the hypocrite, the worker of cruelty on the weak, is an emotion
useful to the one who feels it, and also to the one against whom it is
directed; for it tends to preserve the one from falling into similar vices, and
it tends to arouse in the despised person a feeling of shame that may lift him
from the mire in which he is plunged. So long as a person has any tendency to a
sin, so long is hatred against those who practise the sin protective and
useful. Presently, as he evolves, he will distinguish between the evildoer and
the evil, and will pity the [376] evil-doer and confine his hatred to the evil.
Later still, secure in virtue, he will hate neither the evil-doer nor his evil,
but will see tranquilly a low stage of evolution, out of which he will strive
to lift his younger brother by fitting means. "Righteous
indignation", "noble scorn", "just wrath", all
are phrases which recognise the
usefulness of these emotions, while seeking to veil the fact that they are
essentially forms of hate - a veiling which is due to the feeling that hate is
an evil thing. None the less are they essentially forms of hate, whatever they
may be called, though they play a useful part in evolution, and their storms
purify the social atmosphere. Intolerance, of evil is far better than
indifference to it, and until a man is beyond the reach of temptation to any
given sin, intolerance of those who practise it is for him a necessary
safeguard.
Let
us take the case of a man little evolved; he desires to avoid gross sins, but
yet feels tempted to them. The desire to avoid them will show itself as hatred
of those in whom he sees them; to check this hatred would be to plunge him into
temptations he is not yet strong enough to resist. As he evolves further and
further [377] from the danger of yielding to temptation, he will hate the sins,
but will pityingly sympathise with the sinner. Not till he has become a saint
can he afford not to hate the evil.
When
in ourselves we feel repulsion from a person we may be sure that we have in us
some lingering traces of that which we dislike in him. The Ego, seeing a
danger, drags his vehicles away. A man, perfectly temperate, feels less
repulsion towards the drunkard than a temperate man who occasionally exceeds.
A woman, utterly pure, feels no repulsion from a fallen sister, from whose contact
the less pure would withdraw their skirts. When we reach perfection, we shall
love the sinner as well as the saint, and perchance may show the love more to
the sinner, since the saint can stand alone, but the sinner will fall if he be
not loved.
When
the man has risen to the point where he hates neither sinner nor sin, then the
disintegrating force - which is hate among human beings - becomes simply an
energy to be used for destroying the obstacles which embarrass the path of
evolution. When perfected wisdom guides [378] the constructive and destructive
energies, and perfected love is the motive power, then only can the destructive
force be used without incurring the root-sin of the feeling of separateness. To
feel ourselves different from others is the "great heresy", for
separateness, when the whole is evolving towards unity, is opposition to the
Law. The feeling of separateness is definitely wrong, whether it leads to one's
thinking oneself more righteous or more sinful. The perfect saint identifies
himself with the criminal as much as with another saint, for the criminal and
the saint are alike divine, although in different stages of evolution. When a man can feel thus, he touches the life
of the Christ in man. He does not think of himself as separate, but as one with
all. To him his own holiness is the holiness of humanity, and the sin of any is
his sin. He builds no barrier between himself and the sinner, but pulls down
any barrier made by the sinner, and shares the sinner's evil while sharing with
him his good.
Those
who can feel the truth of this "counsel of perfection" should, in
their [379] daily lives, seek to practise it, however imperfectly. In dealing
with the less advanced, they should ever seek to level the dividing wall. For
the sense of separateness is subtle, and endures till we achieve Christhood.
Yet by this effort we may gradually lessen it, and to strive to identify
ourselves with the lowest is to exercise the constructive energy which holds
the worlds together, and to become channels for the divine love. [380]
-------
CHAPTER V.
EMOTION
(continued).
1.
THE TRAINING OF EMOTION.
EMOTION
is, we have seen, the motive power in man: it stimulates thought; it impels to
action; it is as steam to the engine; without it man would be inert, passive.
But there are many who are the continual prey of their emotions; who are
hurried hither and thither by emotions, as a rudderless ship by stormy winds
upon the ocean; who are tossed high and dragged low by surges of joyous and
painful feelings; who alternate between exaltation and despair. Such a person
is swayed, subjugated by emotions, continually harassed by their conflict. He
is more or less a chaos within, and is erratic in his outward actions, moved by
the impulse of the moment, without due consideration for surrounding [381]
circumstances, such consideration as would make his actions well-directed. He
is often what is called a good person, inspired by generous motives, stirred
into kindly actions, full of sympathy with suffering and eager to bring relief,
plunging quickly into action intended to aid the sufferer. We have not here to
do with the indifferent or the cruel, but with one whose emotions hurry him
into action, before he has considered the conditions or forecast the results of
his activity, beyond the immediate relief of the pain before his view. Such a
person - though moved by a desire to help, though the stimulating emotion is
sympathy and desire to relieve suffering -often does more harm than good in
consequence of the inconsiderateness of his action. The emotion which impels
him springs from the love-side of his nature, from the side which draws people
together, and which is the root of the constructive and preserving virtues; and
in this very fact lies the danger of such a person. If the emotion had its root
in evil, he would be the first to eradicate it; but just because it is rooted in
that love-emotion whence spring all the [382] social virtues, he does not
suspect it, he does not endeavour to control it. "I am so sympathetic; I
am so much moved by suffering; I cannot bear the sight of misery." In all
such phrases, a certain self-praise is implied, though the tone may be one of
deprecation. Truly, sympathy is admirable, Qua sympathy, but its ill-directed
exercise is often provocative of mischief. Sometimes it injures the very object
of sympathy, and leaves him finally in worse case than at first. Too often
unwise forms of relief are adopted, more to remove the pain of the sympathiser
than to cure the ill of the sufferer, and a momentary pang is stopped at the
cost of a lasting injury, really, though not avowedly, to relieve the pain of the
onlooker. The re-action of sympathy on the sympathetic person is good,
deepening the love-emotion; but the action on others is too often bad, owing
to the lack of balanced thought. It is easy, at the sight of pain, to fill
earth and sky with our shrieks, till all the air is throbbing; it is hard to
pause, to measure the cause of pain and
the cure, and then to apply a remedy which heals [383] instead of perpetuating.
Right season must govern and direct emotion, if good is to result from its
exercise. Emotion should be the impulse to action, but not its director;
direction belongs to the intelligence, and its guiding prerogative should
never be wrenched away from it. Where the consciousness thus works, having
strong emotion as the impulse, and right reason as director, there is the
sympathetic and wise man who is useful to his generation.
Desires
have been well compared to horses harnessed to the chariot of the body, and
desires are rooted in emotions. Where the emotions are uncontrolled they are
like plunging, unbroken horses that imperil the safety of the chariot and
threaten the life of the charioteer. The reins have been compared to the mind,
the reins that guide the horses, restraining or loosening as is needed. There
is well imaged the relationship between emotion, intelligence, and action.
Emotion gives the movement, intelligence controls and guides, and then the Self
will, use activity to the best advantage, as becomes the ruler of the emotions,
not their victim. [384]
With
the development of that aspect of consciousness which will show itself as
Buddhi in the sixth sub-race, and more completely in the sixth Root-Race, the
emotional nature rapidly evolves in some of the advanced fifth Race, and often,
for a time, offers many troublesome and even distressing symptoms. As evolution
proceeds, these will be outgrown, and the nature will become balanced as well
as strong, wise as well as generous; meanwhile the rapidly developing nature
will be stormy and often distressful, and will suffer keenly and long. Yet in
those very sufferings lies its future strength as its present purification, and
in proportion to the sharpness of the sufferings will be the greatness of the
result. It is in these powerful natures that Buddhi is struggling to birth, and
the anguish of the travail is upon them. Presently Buddhi, the Christ, the
"little child", will be born, Wisdom and Love in one, and this,
united to high intelligence, is the spiritual Ego, the true Inner Man, the
Ruler Immortal.
The
student, who is studying his own nature in order to take his own evolution
[385] in hand and direct its future course, must carefully observe his own
strength and his own weakness, in order to regulate the one and correct the
other. In unevenly developed persons intellect and emotion are apt to vary in
inverse ratio to each other; strong emotions go with weak intelligence, and
strong intelligence with weak emotions; in one case the directing power is
weak, in the other the motive. The student, then, in his self-analysis, must see
whether his intelligence is well-developed, if he finds his emotions to be
strong; he must test himself to discover whether he is unwilling to look at
things in "the clear dry light of intellect"; if he feels repelled
when a subject is presented to him in this light, he may rest assured that the
emotional side of his nature is over-developed in proportion to the
intellectual side. For the well-balanced man would resent neither the clear
light of the directive intelligence, nor the strong force of the motive
emotion. If, in the past, one side has been over-cultivated, if the emotions
have been fostered to the detriment of the intelligence, then the efforts
[386] should be turned to the strengthening of the intellect, and the
resentment which arises against a coldly intellectual presentation should be
sternly curbed, the difference between intelligence and sympathy being
recognised.
2.
THE DISTORTING FORCE OF EMOTION.
One
of the things most apt to be overlooked by the emotional person is the way in
which emotion fills his surrounding atmosphere with its vibrations, and thereby
biasses the intelligence; everything is seen through this atmosphere, and is
coloured and distorted by it, so that things do not reach the intelligence in
their true form and colour, but arrive twisted and discoloured. Our aura
surrounds us, and should be a pellucid medium through which all in the outer
world should reach us in its own form and colour; but when the aura is
vibrating with emotion it cannot act as such a medium, and all is refracted
that passes into it, and reaches us quite other than it is. If a person is
under water and a stick is put near him [387] in the air, and he tries to touch
it, his hand will be wrongly directed, for he will put his hand to the place at
which he sees the stick, and as the rays coming from it are refracted on
entering the water, the stick will be, for him, displaced. Similarly when an
impression from the outer world reaches us through an aura over-charged with
emotion, its proportions are distorted, and its position misjudged; hence the
data supplied to the intelligence are erroneous, and the judgment founded upon
them will therefore necessarily be wrong, however accurately the intelligence
may work.
Even
the most careful self-analysis will not entirely protect us against this
emotional disturbance. The intellect ever tends to judge favourably that which
we like, unfavourably that which we dislike, owing to the
"refraction" above-named. The arguments in favour of a certain course
are thrown into a strong light by our desire to follow it, and the arguments
against it are thrown into the shade. The one seems so clear and forcible, the
other so dubious and feeble. And to our [388] mind, seeing through the emotion,
it is so sure that we are right, and that anyone, who does not see as we do, is
biassed by prejudice or is wilfully perverse. Against this ever-present danger,
we can only guard by care and persistent effort, but we cannot finally escape
it until we transcend the emotions, and become absolutely their ruler.
One
way remains in which we can aid ourselves to a right judgment, and that is by
studying the workings of consciousness in others, and in weighing their
decisions under circumstances similar to our own. The judgments which most repel
us are those most likely to be useful to us, because made through an emotional
medium very different from our own. We can compare their decisions with ours,
and by noting the points that affect them most and ourselves least, and that
weigh most heavily with us and most lightly with them, we may disentangle the
emotional from the intellectual elements in the judgments. And even where our
conclusions are mistaken, the effort to arrive at them is corrective and
illuminative; it [389] aids in the mastery of the emotions, and strengthens the
intellectual element. Such studies should of course be made when there is no
emotional disturbance, and its fruits should be stored up for use at the times
when the emotions are strong.
3.
METHODS OF RULING THE EMOTIONS.
The
first and most powerful method for obtaining mastery of the emotions is - as in
all that touches consciousness - Meditation. Before contact with the world has
disturbed the emotions, meditation should be resorted to. Coming back into the
body after the period of physical sleep, from a world subtler than the
physical, the Ego will find his tenement quiet, and can take possession calmly
of the rested brain and nerves. Meditation later in the day, when the emotions
have been disturbed, and when they are in full activity, is not as efficacious.
The quiet time which is available after sleep is the right season for effective
meditation, the desire-body, the emotional nature, being more tranquil than
after it has [390] plunged into the bustle of the world. From that peaceful
morning hour will stream out the influence which will guard during the day, and
the emotions, soothed and stilled, will be more amenable to control.
Where
it is possible, it is well to forecast the questions which may arise during the
day, and to come to conclusions as to the view to be taken, the conduct to be
pursued. If we know that we shall be placed under certain conditions that will
arouse our emotions, we can decide beforehand on our mental attitude, and even
come to a, decision on our action. Supposing such a decision has been reached,
then when the circumstances arise, that decision should be recalled and acted
upon, even though the swell of the emotions may impel towards a different
course. For instance, we are going to meet a person for whom we have a strong
affection, and we decide in our meditation on the course that it is wisest to
pursue, deciding in the clear light of calm intelligence what is best for all
concerned. To this decision we should adhere, even [391] though there is the
inclination to feel: "I had not given the proper weight to that
view". As a matter of fact, under these conditions, overweight is given,
the proper weight having been given in the calmer thought; and it is the wisest
plan to follow the path previously chalked out despite the emotional promptings
of the moment. There may be a blunder of judgment, but if the blunder be not
seen during meditation it is not likely to be seen during a swirl of emotions.
Another
method of curbing the emotions is to think over what is going to be said,
before speaking, to put a bridle on the tongue. The man who has learned to
control his speech has conquered everything, says an ancient eastern
law-giver. The person who never speaks a sharp or ill-considered word is well
on the way to control emotion. To rule speech is to rule the whole nature. It
is a good plan not to speak - to deliberately check speech - until one is clear
as to what one is going to say, is sure that the speech is true, that it is
adapted to the person to whom it is to be addressed, and that it is such as
ought to [392] be spoken. Truth comes first and foremost, and nothing can
excuse falsity of speech; many a speech uttered under stress of emotion is
false, either from exaggeration or distortion. Then, the appropriateness of the
speech to the person addressed is too often forgotten, in the hurry of emotion,
or the eagerness of strong feeling. A quite wrong idea of a great truth may be
presented, if the point of view of the person addressed is not borne in mind;
sympathy is needed, the seeing as he sees, for only then can the truth be
useful and helpful. One is not trying to help oneself, but to help another, in
putting the truth before him. Perhaps the conception of law as changeless,
inviolable, absolutely impartial, may, to the speaker, be inspiring,
strengthening, uplifting; whereas that conception is ruthless and crushing to
an undeveloped person, and injures instead of helps. Truth is not meant to
crush, but to elevate, and we misuse truth when we give it to one that is not
ready. There is plenty to suit the needs of each, but discretion is needed to
choose wisely, and enthusiasm must not force a premature enlightenment. [393]
Many a young Theosophist does more harm than good by his over-eager pressing on
others of the treasures he prizes so highly. Lastly, the form of the speech,
the necessity or the usefulness of its utterance, should be considered. A truth
that might help may be changed into a truth that hinders by the way in which it
is put. "Never speak what is untrue, never speak what is unpleasant",
is a golden rule of speech. All speech should be truthful, sweet and
agreeable. This agreeableness of speech
is too often forgotten by well-meaning people, who even pride themselves on
their candour, when they are merely rude and indifferent to the feelings of
those whom they address. But that is neither good breeding nor religion, for
the unmannerly is not the religious. Religion combines perfect truth with
perfect courtesy. Moreover, the superfluous, the useless, is mischievous, and
there is much injury done by the continual bubbling over of frivolous emotions
in chatter and small talk. People who cannot bear silence, and are ever
chattering, fritter away their intellectual and moral forces, as well as give
utterance to a hundred follies, [394] better left unsaid. To be afraid of
silence is a sign of mental weakness, and calm silence is better than foolish
speech. In silence the emotions grow and strengthen, while remaining
controlled, and thus the motive power of the nature increases and is also
brought into subjection. The power of being silent is great, and often
exercises a most soothing effect; on the other hand, he who has learned to be
silent must be careful that his silence does not trench on his courtesy, that
he does not, by inappropriate silence among others, make them feel chilled and
uncomfortable.
Some
may fear that such a consideration before speech as is outlined may so hinder
exchange of thought as to paralyse conversation; but all who have practised
such control will bear witness that, after a brief practice, no noticeable
interval is caused before the reply is uttered. Swifter than lightning is the
movement of the intelligence, and it will flash over the points to be considered
while a breath is being drawn. It is true, that at first there will be slight
hesitation, but in a few weeks no pause will be required, and the review of
[395] the proposed utterance will be made too swiftly to cause any obstruction.
Many an orator can testify that, in the rapid torrent of a declamatory period,
the mind will sit at ease, turning about alternative sentences and weighing
their respective merits ere one is chosen and the rest are cast aside; and yet
none in the rapt audience will know aught of this by-play, or dream that behind
the swift utterance there is any such selective action going on.
A
third method of mastering emotion is by refraining from acting on impulse. The
hurry to act is characteristic of the modern mind, and is the excess of the
promptitude which is its virtue. When we consider life calmly we realise that
there is never any need for hurry; there is always time enough, and action,
however swift, should be well considered and unhurried. When an impulse comes
from some strong emotion, and we spring forward in obedience, without
consideration, we act unwisely. If we train ourselves to think, before we act
in all ordinary affairs, then if an accident or anything else should happen in
which prompt action is [396] necessary, the swift mind will balance up the
demands of the moment and direct swift action, but there will be no hurry, no
inconsiderate unwise blundering.
"But
should I not follow my intuition?" some one may ask. Impulse and intuition
are too often confused, though radically different in origin and
characteristics. Impulse springs from the desire-nature, from the consciousness
working through the astral body, and is an energy flung outwards in response
to a stimulus from outside, an energy undirected by the intelligence, hasty,
unconsidered, headlong. Intuition springs from the spiritual Ego, and is an
energy flowing outwards to meet a demand from outside, an energy directed by
the spiritual Ego, strong, calm, purposeful. For distinguishing between the
two, until the nature is thoroughly balanced, calm consideration is necessary,
and delay is essential; an impulse dies away under such consideration and
delay; an intuition grows clearer and stronger under such conditions; calmness
enables the lower mind to hear it, and to feel its serene imperiousness.
Moreover, if what [397] seems to be an intuition is really a suggestion from
some higher Being, that suggestion will sound the louder for our quiet
meditation, and will lose nothing of
force by such calm delay.
It
is true that there is a certain pleasure in the abandonment to the headlong
impulse, and that the imposed restraint is painful for a time. But the effort
to lead the higher life is full of these renounceals of pleasure and
acceptances of pain, and gradually we come to feel that there is a higher joy
in the quiet considerate action than in the yielding to the tumultuous impulse,
and that we have eliminated a constant source of regret. For constantly does
such yielding prove a source of sorrow, and the impulse is found to be a
mistake. If the proposed action be good, the purpose to perform it will be made
stronger, not weaker, by careful thought. And if the purpose grows weaker with
the thinking, then is it sure that it comes from the lower source, not from the
higher.
Daily
meditation, careful consideration before speech, the refusal to yield to
impulse, these are the chief methods of [398] turning the emotions into useful
servants instead of dangerous masters.
4.
THE USING OF EMOTION.
Only
he can use an emotion who has become its master, and who knows that the
emotions are not himself but are playing in the vehicles in which he dwells,
and are due to the interaction between the Self and the Not-Self. Their ever-changing
nature marks them as belonging to the vehicles; they are stirred into activity
by things without, answered to by the consciousness within. The attribute of
consciousness that gives rise to emotions is Bliss, and pleasure and pain are
the motions in the desire-vehicle caused by the contacts of the outer world,
and by the response through it to these of the Self as Bliss; just as thoughts
are the motions due to similar contacts and to the response to them of the Self
as Knowledge. As the Self knows itself, and distinguishes itself from its
vehicles, it becomes ruler of the emotions, and pleasure and pain become
equally modes of Bliss. [399]
As
progress is made, it will be found that greater equilibrium is attained under
stress of pleasure and pain, and that the emotions no longer upset the balance
of the mind. So long as pleasure elates, and pain paralyses, so that the
performance of duty is hindered and hampered, so long is a man the slave, and
not the ruler, of his emotions. When he has learned to rule them, the greatest
wave of pleasure, the keenest sting of pain, can be felt, and yet the mind will
remain steady and address itself calmly to the work in hand. Then whatever
comes is turned into use. Out of pain is gained power, as out of pleasure are
gained vitality and courage. All become forces to help, instead of obstacles to
hinder.
Of
these uses oratory may serve as an illustration. You hear a man fired by
passion, his words tumbling over each other, his gestures violent; he is
possessed by, carried away by, emotion, but he does not sway his audience. The
orator who sways is the master of his emotions and uses them to affect his
audience; his words are deliberate and well-chosen even in the [400] rush of
his speech, his gestures appropriate and dignified. He is not feeling the emotions,
but he has felt them, and he now uses his past to shape the present. In
proportion as a speaker has felt and has risen above his emotions will be his
power to use them. No one without strong emotions can be a great speaker; but
the greatness grows as the emotions are brought under control. A more effective
explosion results from a careful arrangement of the explosives and a deliberate
application of the match, than by flinging them down anyhow, and the match
after them, in the hope that something may catch.
So
long as anyone is stirred by the emotions, the clear vision needed for helpful
service is blurred. The valuable helper is the man who is calm and balanced,
while full of sympathy. What sort of a doctor would he be who, in the midst of
performing an operation, should burst into tears? Yet many people are so
distressed by the sight of suffering that their whole being is shaken by it,
and they thus increase the suffering instead [401] of relieving it. All emotion
causes strong vibrations, and these pass from one to another. The effective
helper must be calm and steady, remaining unshaken and radiating peace. One who
stands on a rock above the waves can help another to gain that vantage-ground
better than if he were himself battling with the waves.
Another
use of the emotions when they are thoroughly in hand is to call up and use the
appropriate one to rouse in another person an emotion beneficial to him. If a
person be angry, the natural answer to his vibrations is anger in the one he
meets, for all vibrations tend to be sympathetically reproduced. As we all have
emotion-bodies, any body vibrating near us in a particular way tends to cause
similar vibrations in us, if we have in our bodies the appropriate matter.
Anger awakens anger, love awakens love, gentleness awakens gentleness. When we
are masters of our emotions, and feel the surge of anger rising in response to
the vibrations of anger in another, we shall at once check this answer, and
shall let [402] the waves of anger dash up against us, while we remain unmoved.
The man who can hold his own emotion-body quiet, while those of others are
vibrating strongly around him, has learned well the lesson of self-control.
When this is done, he is ready to take the next step, to meet the vibration of
an evil emotion with the vibration of the corresponding good emotion, and thus
he not only withholds himself from anger, but sends out vibrations that tend
to quiet the anger vibrations of the other. He answers anger by love, wrath by
gentleness.
At
first, this answer must be deliberate, of set purpose, and angry people can be
taken to practise on. When one comes in our way, we utilise him. The attempt
will be, doubtless, cold and dry in the beginning, with only the will to love
in it and none of the emotion; but after a while, the will to love will produce
a little emotion, and at last a habit will be established, and kindness will be
the spontaneous answer to unkindness. The steady, deliberate practice of
answering thus the vibrations of wrong emotions reaching us from outside [403]
will establish a habit in the emotion-body, and it will respond rightly automatically.
The
teaching of all the great Masters of Ethics is the same: "Return good for
evil". And the teaching is based on this interchange of vibrations, caused
by love and hate-emotions. The return of evil intensifies it, while the return
of good neutralises the evil. To stir love-emotions in others by sending to
them a stream of such emotions, so as to stimulate all that is good in them and
to weaken all that is bad, is the highest use to which we can put our emotions
in daily human service. It is a good plan to bear in mind a list of
correspondences in emotions, and to practise accordingly, answering pride by
humility, discourtesy by compassion, arrogance by submission, harshness by
gentleness, irritability by calmness. Thus is a nature built up which answers
all evil emotions by the corresponding good ones, and which acts as a
benediction on all around, lessening the evil in them and strengthening the
good. [404]
5.
THE VALUE OF EMOTION IN EVOLUTION.
We
have seen that emotion is the motive power in man, and to turn it into a helper
in evolution we must utilise it to lift and not allow it to degrade. The Ego,
in his evolution, needs "points to draw him" upwards, as says the
Voice of the Silence, for the upward way is steep, and an attractive object
above us, towards which we can strive, is an aid impossible to over-estimate.
Only too often we lag on the way, and feel no desire to proceed; aspiration is
inert, the longing to rise has fled. Then may we summon emotion to our aid, by
twining it around some object of devotion, and thus gain the impetus we need,
the lifting force we crave.
This
form of emotion is what is often called hero-worship, the power to admire and
love greatly one who is nobler than oneself, and to be able thus to love and
admire is to have at disposal one of the great lifting forces in human
evolution. Hero-worship is often decried because a perfect ideal is not
possible to find among men living in the world, but a partial ideal [405] that
can be loved and emulated is a help in quickening evolution. It is true that
there will be weaknesses in such a
partial ideal, and it is necessary to distinguish between the heroic qualities
and the weaknesses found in conjunction with them; but the attention should be
fixed on the heroic qualities that stimulate, and not on the blemishes that mar
everyone who has not as yet transcended humanity. To recognise that the
weaknesses are of the Not-Self and are passing, while the nobility is of the
Self that endures, to love what is great, and to be able to pass over what is
small, that is the spirit that leads to discipleship of the Great Ones. Only
good is gained by the hero-worshipper from his ideal, if he honour the
greatness and disregard the weakness, and on the hero himself will fall the
karma of his own shortcomings.
But
it is said: if we thus recognise the nobility of the Self in the midst of human
weaknesses, we are only doing what we should do with all, and why make a hero
out of anyone in whom there is still any human weakness? Because of the help
[406] our hero gives us as an inspiration and a measure of our own achievement.
No ordinary person can be turned into a hero; it is only when the Self shines
out with more than ordinary lustre that the inclination to hero-worship
arises. The man is a hero, though not yet super-human, and his weaknesses are
but as spots in the sun. There is a proverb which says: "No man is a hero
to his valet-de-chambre," and the cynic reads this as meaning that the
most heroic man owes his greatness to distance. But is not the meaning rather
that the valet-soul, intent on the shine of a boot and the set of a necktie,
cannot appreciate that which makes the hero, having naught in him that can
sound sympathetically with the notes the hero strikes? For to be able to admire
means to be able to achieve, and love and reverence for the great is a sign
that a man is growing like them.
When
emotion is thus aroused, we should judge ourselves by our ideal, and be ashamed
to do or think aught that would bring a shade of sorrow over the eyes of him we
revere. His presence should be with us, as an up-lifter, until, judging [407]
ourselves in the light of the greater achievement, we find ourselves also
beginning to achieve.
That
the pure light of the Self shines through none who walk the miry paths of earth
is true, but there are some through whom enough light shines to lighten the darkness,
and to help us to see where to plant our feet. It is better to thank and honour
these, to rejoice and be glad in them, than to belittle them because they are
not wholly of heaven, because some touches of human weakness still entangle
their feet. Blessed indeed are they who have in themselves the hero-nature and
hence recognise their elder kin; for them waits the open gate to the upper
reaches, and the more they love, the more they honour, the swifter will be
their approach to that gateway. No better karma comes to a man than to find the
hero who may bear him company to the entering; no sadder karma than to have
seen him, in an illuminated moment, and then to have cast him aside, blinded by
an imperfection he is out-growing. [408]
-------
CHAPTER VI.
THE
WILL.
1.
THE WILL WINNING ITS FREEDOM.
WE
return now to the consideration of that power in man with which we started -
the Will. The student will remember that it was stated that it was the Will of
the Self, of the individualised Self - individualised though as yet
unconscious of its individualisation - which drew him into manifestation. Not
by compulsion, not by external necessity, not by anything opposed to him from outside, but by the great
Will of which his own Will is part - his Will individualised as a centre but
not yet cut off by circumference of matter - pulsing in him as the life-blood
of the mother pulses in the yet unborn child, he reaches forth towards
manifestation, dimly longing for the rich thrill of life enveiled in [409]
matter, for the exercise of powers yearning for activity, for the experience of
worlds tumultuously full of movement. That which consciously the LOGOS wills -
the LOGOS willing to become incarnate in a
universe - all the centres of individualised life within Him also will,
though as it were blindly and groping towards a fuller life. It is the Will to
live, to know, and that forth-going Will sets to manifestation.
We
have seen that this Will, the Power of the Self, becomes what we call Desire
on the denser planes of matter, and
that, blinded by matter and unable to see its way, its direction is determined
by the attractions and repulsions playing upon it from external objects. Hence
we cannot say of the Self at this period that he is Self-directed; he is
directed by attractions and repulsions that touch him at his periphery. We have
further seen that as Desire came into touch with Intelligence, and these two aspects
of the Self played upon each other, emotions evolved, showing traces of their
parentage, of their Desire-mother and of their Intelligence-father. And we,
have studied the methods by [410] which emotion may be controlled, put to its
true uses, and thus rendered serviceable instead of dangerous in human
evolution.
We
have now to consider how this Will, the hidden Power which has ever moved to
activity though not yet controlling activity, slowly wins to freedom, that is
to Self-determination. In a moment we shall consider what is meant by this word
"freedom".
Essentially
and fundamentally free, in its origin as the Power of the Self, Will has become
bound and limited in its attempts to master the matter into which the Self has
entered. We need not shrink from saying that matter masters the Self, not the
Self matter, and this it does by virtue of the Self regarding matter as
himself, identifying himself with it; as he wills through it, thinks through
it, acts through it, it becomes to him verily himself, and deluded he cries:
"I am this!" and while it limits him and binds him, he, feeling it to
be himself, cries: "I am free." Yet is this mastering of the Self by
matter but a temporary thing, for the matter is ever changing, coming and
going, impermanent, [411] and is ever being shaped and unconsciously drawn round and rejected by the unfolding
forces of the Self, permanent amid the impermanent.
Let
us come to the stage in human evolution in which memory has grown stronger than
the instinctive outgoing to the pleasant and withdrawing from the painful; in
which Intelligence rules Desire, and reason has triumphed over impulse. The
result of the age-long evolution is to be reaped, and part of that result is
freedom.
While
the Will is expressing itself as Desire, determined in its direction by outside
attractions, it is obviously not free, but very distinctly bound. Just as any
living creature might be dragged by a force greater than its own force in a
direction unchosen by it, so is the Will dragged away by the attraction of
objects, pulled along the path which promises pleasure, which is agreeable to
pursue; it is not active as a Self-determined force, but on the contrary the
Self is being dragged away by an external and compelling attraction. [412]
No
more vivid picture of the Self, under these conditions, can be given than that
before quoted from an ancient Hindu Scripture, in which the Self is limned as
the rider in a chariot, and the senses, attracted by pleasure-giving objects,
are the ungovernable horses that carry away the chariot of the body and the
helpless rider within it. Although the Will be the very Power of the Self, so long as the Self
is being carried away by these unruly horses, he is emphatically bound and not
free. It is idle to speak of a free Will in a man who is the slave of the
objects around him. He is ever in bondage, he can exercise no choice; for
though we may think of such a one as choosing to follow the path along which
attractions draw him, there is, in truth, no choice nor thought of choice. So
long as attractions and repulsions determine the path, all talk of freedom is
empty and foolish. Even though a man feels himself as choosing the desirable
object, the feeling of freedom is illusory, for he is dragged by the attractiveness
of the object and the longing for pleasure in himself. He is as much, or as
[413] little, free as the iron is free to move to the magnet. The movement is
determined by the strength of the magnet and the nature of the iron answering
to its attraction.
To
understand what we mean by freedom of the Will, we must clear away a
preliminary difficulty which faces us in the word "choice". When we
appear to be free to choose, does that so-called freedom of choice mean freedom
of Will? Or is it not true to say that freedom of choice only means that no
external force compels us to elect one or another of alternatives? But the
important question that lies behind this is: "What makes us choose?"
Whether we are free to act when we have chosen is a very different thing from
whether we are "free" to choose, or whether the choice is determined
by something that lies behind.
How
often we hear it said as a proof of the freedom of the Will: "I am free to
choose whether I will leave the room or not; I am free to choose whether I will
drop this weight or not". But such argument is beside the question. No one
denies the power of a person, physically unconstrained, to leave a room or to
stay [414] in it, to drop a weight or to uphold it. The interesting question
is: "Why do I choose?" When we analyse the choice, we see that it is
determined by motive, and the determinist argues: "Your muscles can uphold
or drop the weight, but if there is a valuable and fragile article underneath,
you will not choose to drop it. That which determines your choice not to drop
it is the presence of that fragile object. Your choice is determined by
motives, and the strongest motive directs it". The question is not:
"Am I free to act"" but: "Am I free to will?" And we see
clearly that the Will is determined by the strongest motive, and that, so far
as that goes, the determinist is right.
In
truth, this fact that the Will is determined by the strongest motive is the
basis of all organised Society, of all law, of all penalty, of all
responsibility, of all education. The man whose will is not thus determined is
irresponsible, insane. He is a creature who cannot be appealed to, cannot be
reasoned with, cannot be relied on, a person without reason, logic, or memory,
without the attributes we [415] regard as human. I n law, a man is regarded as
irresponsible when no motive sways him, when no ordinary reasons affect him; he
is insane, and is not amenable to legal penalties. A Will which is an energy
pointing in any direction, pushing to action without motive, without reason,
without sense, might perhaps be called "free", but this is not what
is meant by "freedom of the Will". That Will is determined by the
strongest motive must be taken for granted in any sane discussion of the freedom
of the Will.
What
then is meant by the freedom of the Will? It can be but a conditioned, a
relative, freedom at most, for the separated Self is a part of a whole, and
the whole must be greater than, must compel, all its parts. And this is true alike
of the Self and of the bodies in which he is ensheathed. None questions that
the bodies are in a realm of law, and move within law, can move but by law, and
the freedom with which they move is but in relation to each other, and by
virtue of the interplay of the countless forces which balance each other
variously and endlessly, [416] and in this variety and endlessness offer
innumerable possibilities and thus a freedom of movement within a rigidity of
bondage. And the Self also is in a realm of law, nay is himself the very law,
as being part of that nature which is the Being of all beings. No separated
Self may escape from the Self which is all, and, however freely he may move
with regard to other separated Selves, he may not, cannot, move outside the life
which informs him, which is his nature and his law, in which he lives and
moves. The parts constrain not the parts, the separated Selves constrain not
the separated Selves; but the whole constrains and controls the parts, the Self
constrains and controls the Selves. Yet even here, since the Selves are the
Self, freedom starts up from amid apparent bondage, and "none else
compels".
This
freedom of a part as regards other parts while in bondage to the whole may be
seen clearly in physical nature. We are parts of a world whirling through space
and revolving also on its own axis, turning eastwards ever . Of this we know
naught, [417] since its motion carries us with it, and all moves together and
at once, and in one direction. Eastwards we turn with our world, and naught we
can do will change our direction. Yet with regard to each other and to the
places about us, we can move freely and change our relative positions. I may go
to the west of a person or a place, though we are both whirling eastwards
ceaselessly. And of the motion of a part
with regard to a part I shall be conscious, small and slow as it is, while of
the vast swift whirling that carries all parts eastwards and onwards ever, I
shall be utterly unconscious, and shall say in my ignorance: "Behold, I
have moved westwards". And the high Gods might laugh contemptuously at the
ignorance of the fragment that speaks of the direction of its motion, were it
not that They, being wise, know of the movements within the motion, and of the
truth which is false and yet true.
And
yet again may we see how the great Will works onwards undeviatingly along the
path of evolution, and compels all to travel along that path, and still leaves
[418] to each to choose his method of going, and the fashion of his unconscious
working. For the carrying out of that Will needs every fashion of working and
every method of going, and takes up and utilises all. A man shapes himself to a noble character,
and nourishes lofty aspirations, and seeks ever to do loyal and faithful
service to his fellows; then shall he be brought to birth where great
opportunities cry aloud for workers, and the Will shall be wrought out by him
in a nation that needs such helping, and he shall fill a hero's part. The part
is written by the great Author: the ability to fill it is of the man's own
making. Or a man yields to every temptation and
becomes apt to evil, and he uses ill such power as he has, and
disregards mercy, justice and truth in petty ways and in daily life; then shall
he be brought to birth where oppression is needed, and cruelty, and ill ways,
and the Will shall be wrought out by him also in a nation that is working out
the results of an evil past, and he shall be of the weaklings that
tyrannise cruelly and meanly and shame
the nation that bears them. Again is the part written [419] by the great
Author, and the ability to fill it is of the man's own making. So work the
little Wills within the great Will.
Seeing, then, that the Will is determined by
motive, conditioned by the limits of the matter that enveils the separated
Self, and by the Self whereof the Self exercising the Will is part - what mean
we by the freedom of the Will? We mean, surely, that freedom is to be
determined from within, bondage is to be determined from without; the Will is
free, when the Self, willing to act, draws his motive for that volition from
sources that lie within himself, and has not the motive acting upon him from
sources outside.
And
truly this is freedom, for the greater Self in which he moves is one with him: "I am That"; and the
vaster Self in which moves that greater Self is one with that vaster, and says
also: "I am That"; and so on and on, in huger and huger sweeps, if
world-systems and universe-systems be
thought of; yet may the lowliest "I" that knows himself turn inwards
and not outwards, and know himself as one with the Inner Self, the [420]
Pratyagatma, the One, and therefore truly free. Looking outwards he is ever
bound, though the limits of his bondage recede endlessly, unlimitedly; looking
inwards he is ever free, for he is BRAHMAN, the ETERNAL.
When
a man is Self-determined, then, we may say that the man is free, in every sense
in which the word freedom is valuable, and his Self-determination is not
bondage, in any harassing sense of that word. That which in my innermost Self I
will to do, that to which none other forces me, that bears the mark which
distinguishes between the free and the
bound. How far in us, in this sense of the word freedom, can we say that
our Will is free? For the most part, but few of us can claim this freedom in
any more than a small portion. Apart from the previously-mentioned bondage to
attractions and repulsions, we are bound within the channels made by our past
thinkings, by our habits - most of all by our habits of thought -by the
qualities and the absence of qualities brought over from past lives, by the
strengths and the [421] weaknesses that were born with us, by our education
and our surroundings, by the imperious compulsions of our stage in evolution,
our physical heredity, and our national and racial traditions. Hence only a
narrow path is left to us in which our Will can run; it strikes itself ever
against the past, which appears as walls in the present.
To
all intents and purposes the Will of us is not free. It is only in process
of becoming free, and it will only be
free when the Self has utterly mastered his vehicles and uses them for his own
purposes, when every vehicle is only a vehicle, completely responsive to his
every impulse, and not a struggling animal, ill-broken, with desires of its
own.[86] When the Self has transcended
ignorance, vanquishing the habits that are the marks of past ignorance, then
is the Self free, and then will be realised the meaning of the [422] paradox,
"in whose service is perfect freedom". For then will it be realised
that separation is not, that the separated Will is not, that, by virtue of our
inherent Divinity, our Will is part of the Divine Will, and that it is which
has given us throughout our long evolution the strength to carry on that
evolution, and that the realisation of the unity of Will is the realisation of
freedom.
Along
these lines of thought it is that some have found the ending of the age-long
controversy between the "freedom" of the Will and determinism, and,
while recognising the truth battled for by determinism, have also preserved and
justified the inherent feeling: "I am free, I am not bound". That
idea of spontaneous energy, of forth-going power from the inner recesses of
our being, is based on the very essence of consciousness, on the "I"
which is the Self, that Self which, because divine, is free.
2.
WHY SO MUCH STRUGGLE?
As
we survey the long course of evolution, the slow process of the development [423]
of the Will, the question inevitably rises in the mind: "Why should there
be all this struggle and difficulty? Why should there be so many mistakes and
so many falls? Why this long bondage before freedom can be attained?"
Before replying to this, a general position must be laid down. In answering any
question, the limits of that question must be borne in mind, and the answer
must not be judged to be inadequate, because it does not answer another
question that is all the time present in the background. An answer to a
question may be adequate, without being a final answer to all questions; and
its adequacy is not rightly gauged if it be thrown aside as not answering a
further question which may be propounded. Half the dissatisfaction of many
students arises from a restless impatience that will not deal in any kind of
order with the questions that come thronging to the mind, but demands that they
should all be answered at once, and that the answer to one question should
cover all the others. The adequacy of means must be judged in relation to the
end which those means are [424] designed to bring about. In all cases the
answer must be judged by its relevancy to the question asked, and not by its
not replying to some other allied question lying at the back of the mind. Thus,
the relevancy of any means found to exist in a universe must be decided by an
end found to be aimed at in that universe, and they must not be judged as
though offered as an answer to the further question: "Why should there be
any universe at all?" That question may indeed be asked and answered, but
the proof of the adequacy of a means in a universe to an end, seen to be aimed
at in that universe, will not be that answer. And it is no evidence that the
answer to the original question is inadequate, if the questioner replies:
"Yes, but why should there be a universe?" In replying to the
question: "Why should there be all these mistakes and falls in treading
the path of evolution?" we must take the universe as existing, as a fact
to start with, and must study it in order to discover the end, or, at least,
one of the ends, towards which it is tending. Why it should tend thither-ward
is, as said, [425] a further question, and one of profoundest interest; but it
is by the discovered end that we must judge the means employed to reach it.
Even
a cursory study of the part of the universe in which we find ourselves shows us
that one at least of its ends - if not its end - is to produce living beings of
high intelligence and strong will, capable of taking an active part in carrying
on and guiding the activities of nature and of co-operating in the general
scheme of evolution. Further study, carried on by the unfolding of the inner
qualities and endorsed by ancient writings, shows us that this world is not
alone, but forms one of a series, that it has been aided in the evolution of
its humanity by men of elder growth, and is to yield men of its own growing for
the aiding of younger worlds in ages yet unborn. Moreover, it shows also a vast
hierarchy of superhuman beings, directing and guiding evolution, and as the
centre of the universe the threefold LOGOS, Ruler and Lord of His system; and
it tells that the fruitage of a system is not only a great hierarchy of mighty
[426] Intelligences, with ranks of ever-lessening splendour stretching below
them, but also this supreme perfection of a LOGOS, as the crown of all. And it
unveils vista after vista of increasing splendour, universes where each system
is but as a world, and so on and on, in ever-widening range of illimitable
glorious fulness of life unending. And then the question rises: "By what
means shall be evolved these mighty Ones, who climb from the dust to the stars,
and from those stars that are the dust of vaster systems to the stars that are
to them as our mire to our sun?"
Thus
studied, imagination fails to find a path by which these self-poised,
self-determined Beings can reach that perfect equilibrium and steadfast
inerrancy of wisdom that fits them to be the "nature" of a system,
save just that path of struggle and of experience along which we strive today.
For could there be an extra-kosmic God, with nature other than that of the Self
we see unfolding around us in harmonious certainty of linked sequence, with
nature irregular and fitful, changing and arbitrary, incalculable, then it
might [427] be that out of that chaos might be flung up a being called
"perfect", but truly most imperfect, since most limited, who, having
no experience behind him, and therefore without reason and without judgment, might,
as a machine, act "rightly" in, i.e., in accordance with, any given
scheme of things, and grind out, as does a machine, the sequence of movements
arranged for it. But such a being would only fit his scheme, and outside it
would be useless, incompetent. Nor would there here be life, which is the
changing self-adaptation to changing conditions, without the loss, the
disintegration of its centre. By the troublous path along which we are
climbing, we are being prepared for all emergencies in the universes in the
future with which we may have to do, and that is a result well worth the trials
to which we are exposed.
Nor
must we forget that we are here because we have willed to unfold our powers
through the experiences of life on the lower planes; that our lot is self-chosen,
not imposed; that we are in the world as the result of our own "Will to
[428] Live"; that if that Will changed -though truly it is not so
changeful - we should cease to live here and return to the Peace, without
gathering the harvest for which we came. "None else compels."
3.
THE POWER OF THE WILL.
This
power - which has ever been recognised in Occultism as the spiritual energy in
man, one in kind with that which sends forth, supports and calls in the worlds
- is now being groped after in the outer world, and is being almost
unconsciously used by many as a means of bringing about results otherwise unattainable.
The schools of Christian Science, Mental Science, Mind-Cure, etc., are all
dependent for their results on the out-flowing power of the Will. Diseases
yield to that flow of energy, and not only nervous disorders, as some
imagine. Nervous disorders yield the
most readily, because the nervous system has been shaped for the expression of
spiritual powers on the physical plane. The results are the most rapid where
the sympathetic [429] system is first worked upon, for that is the more
directly related to the aspect of Will, in the form of Desire, as the
cerebro-spinal is more directly related to the aspects of Cognition and of pure
Will. The dispersion of tumours, cancers, etc., and the destruction of their
causes, the curing of lesions and bone-fractures, imply for the most part
considerable knowledge on the part of the healer. I say "for the most
part", because it is possible that the Will may be guided from the higher
plane even where physical plane knowledge is lacking, in the case of an
operator at an advanced stage of evolution. The method of cure, where knowledge
is present, would be as follows: the operator would form a mental picture of
the affected organ in a state of perfect health, creating that part in mental
stuff by the imagination: he would then build into it astral matter, thus
densifying the image, and would then use the force of magnetism to densify it
further by etheric matter, building the denser materials of gases, liquids and
solids into this mould, utilising the materials available in the body and
supplying from outside any deficiencies. [430] In all this the Will is the
guiding energy, and such manipulation of matter is merely a question of
knowledge, whether on this or on the higher planes. There is not the danger in
cures wrought by this method, that accompanies those wrought by an easier, and
therefore commoner, system, by the working on the sympathetic system alluded to
above.
People
are advised, in some of the methods now popularised, to concentrate their
thoughts on the solar plexus, and to "live under its control". The
sympathetic system governs the vital processes - the functioning of the heart,
lungs, digestive apparatus - and the solar plexus forms its most important
centre. Now the carrying on of these vital processes has, as before
explained[87], passed under the control of the sympathetic system in the course
of evolution, as the cerebro-spinal
system has become more and more dominant. And the reviving of the control of
this system by the Will, by a process of concentration of thought, is a
retrograde and not a forward step, even though it often brings [431] about a
certain degree of clairvoyance. This method, as already said, is much followed
in
Moreover,
the concentration of thought on a centre of the sympathetic system, and, most
of all, on the solar plexus, means a serious physical danger, unless the
learner be under the physical observation of his teacher, or be able to receive
and bring through to the physical brain the instructions that may be given to
him on a higher [432] plane. Concentration on the solar plexus is apt to bring
on disease of a peculiarly intractable kind. It issues in a profound
melancholy, almost impossible to remove, in fits of terrible depression, and
sometimes in a form of paralysis. Not along these lines should travel the
serious student, intent on the knowledge of the Self. When that knowledge is
obtained, the body becomes the instrument on which the Self can play, and all
that is needed meanwhile is to purify and refine it, so that it may come into
harmony with the higher bodies, and be prepared to vibrate rhythmically with
them. The brain will thus be rendered more responsive, and by industrious
thinking and the action of meditation - not on the brain, but on lofty ideas -
it will be gradually improved. The brain becomes a better organ as it is
exercised, and this is on the road of evolution. But to work directly on the
sympathetic plexuses is on the road of retrogression. Many a one comes, asking
for deliverance from the results of these practices, and one can only sadly
answer: "To undo the mischief will take dears". Results may be gained
quickly [433] by going backwards, but it is better to face the upward climbing,
and then utilise the physical instrument from above, not from below.
There
is another matter to be considered in healing diseases by Will - the danger of
driving the disease into a higher vehicle, in driving it out of the physical
body. Disease is often the final working out of evil that existed previously on
the higher planes, and it is then far better to let it thus work out than to
forcibly check it, and throw it back into the subtler vehicle. It is the last
working out of an evil desire or an evil thought, and in such a case the use of
physical means of cure is safer than the use of mental means, for the former
cannot cast it back into the higher planes, whereas the latter may do so.
Curative mesmerism does not run this danger, belonging as it does to the
physical plane; that may be used by any one whose life, thoughts and desires
are pure. But the moment Will forces are poured down into the physical, there
is a danger of reaction, and of the driving of the disease back into the
subtler vehicles from which it came forth. [434]
If
mental curing is done by the purification of thought and desire, and the
natural quiet working of the purified thoughts and desires on the physical
body, no harm can result; to restore physical harmony by making harmonious the
mental and astral vehicles is a true method of mental healing, but it is not as
rapid as the Will-cure and is far harder. Purity of mind means health of body;
and it is this idea - that where the mind is pure the body should be healthy -
that has led many to adopt these mental methods of healing.
A
person whose mind is perfectly pure and balanced will not generate fresh bodily
disease, though he may have some unexhausted karma to work off, or he may take
on himself some of the disharmonies caused by others. Purity and health truly
go together. When, as is and has been the case, some saint is found to be
suffering physically, then such a one is either working out the effect of bad
thinking in the past, or is bearing in himself something of the world's
disharmony, turning on to himself the forces of disharmony, harmonising them
within his own vehicles [435] and sending them forth again as currents of peace
and goodwill. Many have been puzzled by seeing that the greatest and the purest
suffer, both mentally and physically. They suffer for others, not for themselves,
and they are truly White Magicians, transmuting by spiritual alchemy, in the
crucible of their own suffering bodies, the base metals of human passions into
the pure gold of love and peace.
Apart
from the question of the ways of working on the body by the Will, another
question arises in the thoughtful mind: Is it well to use the Will in this
fashion for our own helping? Is there not certain degradation in using the
highest power of the Divine within us in the service of our body, to bring
about merely a good condition of physical health? Is it well that the Divine
should thus turn stones into bread, and so fall under the very temptation
resisted by the Christ? The story may be taken historically or mythically, it
matters not; it contains a profound spiritual truth, and an instance of
obedience to an occult law. Still remains true the answer of the [436] tempted:
"Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God". This ethic seems to be on a higher plane than that
which yokes the Divine to the service of the physical body. One of the dangers
of the present is the worship of the body, the putting of the body on too high
a pinnacle - a reaction from exaggerated asceticism. By using the Will to
serve the body, we make the Will its slave, and the practice of continually
removing little aches and pains by willing them to go saps the higher quality
of endurance. A person thus acting is apt to be irritable under small physical
discomforts which the Will cannot remove, and the higher power of the Will,
which can control the body and support it in its work, even though it be
suffering, is undermined. Hesitancy to use the power of the Will for relief of
one's body need not arise from any doubt as to the soundness of the thought,
the reality of the law, on which such action is based; but from a fear that men
may fall under the temptation of using that which should lift them to realms
spiritual as the minister of the [437] physical, and may thus become slaves of
the body, and be helpless when the body fails them in the hour of need.
It
is an occult law, binding on every Initiate, that he may not use an occult
power for his own helping; if he do, he loses the power to help others, and it
is not worth while to forfeit the great for the small. That already referred-to
story of the temptation of the Christ has a further-reaching significance than
most understand. Had He used His occult power to turn stones into bread for
the relief of His hunger, instead of waiting in patient strength for the food
brought by the Shining Ones, He would not later have been able to endure the
mystic sacrifice of the Cross. The taunt then flung at Him contained an occult
truth: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save". He could not use,
to spare Himself one pang, the powers that had opened the eyes of the blind and
made the leper clean. Those who would save themselves must give up the divine
mission of being Saviours of the world. They must choose between the one and
the other as they evolve. If in their [438] evolution they choose the lower,
and use the great powers they have won for the service of themselves and of the
body, then must they give up the higher mission of using them for the
redemption of the race. There is such an
immense activity of mind at the present time that the need is all the greater
for the employment of its powers to the highest ends.
4.
WHITE AND BLACK MAGIC.
Magic
is the use of the Will to guide the powers of external nature, and is truly, as
its name implies, the great science. The human Will, being the power of the
Divine in man, can subjugate and control the inferior energies, and thus bring
about the results desired. The difference between White and Black Magic lies in
the motive which determines the Will; when that Will is set to benefit others,
to help and bless all who come within its scope, then is the man a White
Magician, and the results which he brings about by the exercise of his trained
Will are beneficial, and aid the course of human evolution. [439] He is ever
expanding by such exercise, becoming less and less separate from his kind, and
is a centre of far-reaching help. But when the Will is exercised for the
advantage of the lower self, when it is employed for personal ends and aims,
then is the man a Black Magician, a danger to the race, and his results
obstruct and delay human evolution. He is ever contracting by such exercise,
becoming more and more separate from his kind, shutting himself within a shell
which isolates him, and which grows ever thicker and denser with the exercise
of his trained powers. The Will of the Magician is ever strong, but the Will of
the White Magician is strong with the strength of life, flexible at need, rigid
at need, ever assimilating to the great Will, the Law of the universe. The Will
of the Black Magician has the strength of iron, pointing ever to the personal
end, and it strikes against the great Will, and sooner or later must shiver
itself into pieces against it. It is the peril of Black Magic against which the
student of occultism is guarded by the law which forbids him to use his occult
powers for [440] himself; for though no man is a Black Magician who does not
deliberately erect his personal Will against the great Law, it is well to
recognise the essence of Black Magic, and to check the very beginnings of evil.
Just as it was said above that the saint harmonising the forces of disharmony
within himself is truly the White Magician, so is he the Black Magician who
uses for his own gain all the forces he has acquired by knowledge, turns them
to the service of his own separateness, and increases the disharmony of the
world by his selfish graspings, while seeking to preserve harmony in his own
vehicles.
5.
ENTERING INTO PEACE.
When
the Self has grown so indifferent to the vehicles in which he dwells that their
vibrations can no longer affect him; when he can use them for any purpose; when
his vision has become perfectly clear; when the vehicles offer no opposition,
since the elemental life has left them, and only the life flowing from himself
animates them; then the Peace enfolds [441] him and the object of the long
struggle is attained. Such a one, Self-centred, no longer confuses himself with
his vehicles. They are instruments to work with, tools to manipulate at his
will. He has then realised the peace of the Master, the one who is utterly
master of his vehicles, and therefore master of life and death. Capable of
receiving into them the tumult of the world and of reducing it to harmony;
capable of feeling through them the sufferings of others, but not sufferings
of his own; he stands apart from, beyond, all storms. Yet is he able ever to
bend down into the storm to lift another above it, without losing his own
foothold on the rock of the Divine, consciously recognised as himself. Such are
truly Masters, and Their peace may now and then be felt, for a time at least,
by those who are striving to tread the same path, but who have not yet reached
that same rock of the Self-conscious Divine.
That
union of the separate Will with the one Will for the helping of the world is
the goal which seems to be more worthy of reaching after than aught the world
can [442] offer. Not to be separate from men, but one with them; not to win
peace and bliss alone, but to say with the Chinese Blessed One: "Never
will I enter into final peace alone, but always and everywhere will I suffer
and strive until all enter with me" - that is the crown of humanity. In
proportion as we can realise that the suffering and the striving are the more
efficacious as we suffer only in the sufferings of others and feel not
suffering for ourselves, we shall rise into the Divine, shall tread the
"razor path" that the Great Ones have trodden, and shall find that
the Will, which has guided us along that path, and which has realised itself in
the treading of that path, is strong enough still to suffer and to strive,
until the suffering and the strife for all are over, and all together enter
into Peace. [443]
PEACE
TO ALL BEINGS.
--------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
From the Pranava-vada, an unpublished Samskrit MS.
[2]
The student should carefully study Bhagavan Das' Science of Peace, in which the
metaphysical questions involved are expounded with rare acumen and felicity.
[3]
"Power, Wisdom, and Love" is another favourite way of expressing this
triplicity; but this leaves out Activity, and duplicates Love, unless Love be
taken as its equivalent, since Love is essentially active. Wisdom and Love seem
to me to be the same aspect of consciousness; that which manifests above as
Wisdom, the realisation of Unity, manifests in the world of forms as Love, the
attractive force which brings about Unity in a world of separated beings.
[4]
Emerson.
[5]
It is well to remember here that this "drawing apart" is in
consciousness only; the idea of Spirit is separated from the idea of matter. In
the universe of phenomena, there is no Spirit unconditioned by matter, no
smallest particle of matter uninformed by Spirit. All forms are conscious; all
consciousness have forms.
[6]
Psalms, ii. 7.
[7]
Chhandogyopanishat. VI, ii. 3.
[8]
Light on the Path.
[9]
Romans. viii. 29.
[10]
Ibid. 19.
[11]
Bhagavad-Gita, x. 42.
[12]
The Secret Doctrine. i. 696.
[13]
Tamas, Rajas, and Satva.
[14]
The Secret Doctrine, i. 105.
[15]
Tanmatra, the measure of That - "That" being the Divine Spirit.
[16]
Collectively, a Tattva.
[17]
Chit working on Kriya, i.e., Wisdom working on Activity, yields Manas, mind.
[18]
Ichchha.
[19]
That relation is magnetic, but of magnetism of the subtlest kind, called Fohat,
or Daiviprakriti, "The Light of the Logos". It is of Substance, and
in it the essence of consciousness and essence of matter exist, polarised but
not drawn apart.
[20]
Hebrews, ii. 10.
[21]
Athanasian Creed.
[22]
I Corinthians, xv. 28.
[23]
Ibid. 43.
[24]
H. P. Blavatsky. Key to Theosophy. See p. 53. for the principle, though applied
to a lower stage.
[25]
Occult Catechism, quoted in The Secret Doctrine, i. 145.
[26]
See The Pedigree of
[27]
The Secret Doctrine, i. 285.
[28]
"The fullest sense", i.e., with no separate individuality;
undetached, in truth, they ever remain above, ever shining in the Flame.
[29]
The Secret Doctrine, i. 267.
[30]
In the roaring loom of Time I ply,
And weave for God the garment thou seest
Him by. GOETHE.
[31]
This assignment is tentative only. As matter is the feminine side, Sarasvati,
belonging to Brahma, seems to indicate the jnanendriyas, and Durga the
karmendriyas.
[32]
The Secret Doctrine, iii. P. 444.
[33]
The Pedigree of Man, Pp. 25, 27; slightly modified, as in the book the passage
refers to the fourth chain only.
[34]
The term Jivatma is of course equally applicable to the Monad, but is more
often applied to its reflexion.
[35]
By the Tanmatras, the divine Measures.
[36]
Loc. cit. ii. 18, 81, 95.
[37]
The translation of this descriptive term as "Gods" has led to much
misapprehension of Eastern thought. The "thirty-three crores of Gods"
are not Gods in the Western sense of the term, which is the equivalent of the
Universal SELF, and secondarily of the Logoi, but are Devas, Shining Ones.
[38]
See Evolution of Life and Form. Pp. 132, 133.
[39]
This term is used to denote various things, but always in the same sense, as
the thread connecting separate particles. It is applied to the re-incarnating
Ego, as the thread on which many separate lives are strung; to the Second
Logos, as the Thread on which the beings in His universe are strung; and so on.
It denotes a function, rather than a special entity, or class of entities.
[40]
There is no English name for this passage; it is a vessel, or canal, running
from the heart to the third ventricle, and will be familiar under the above
name to all students of yoga. The primary Sushumna is the spinal canal.
[41]
See The Pedigree of
[42]
H. P. Blavatsky throws out a hint as to these "sleeping atoms". See
The Secret Doctrine. ii. 709.
[43]
H. P. Blavatsky calls the permanent nucleus of the lower 2 1/2 planes "the
life-atoms"; she says: "The life-atoms of our (prana) life-principle
are never entirely lost when a man dies"; they are "transmitted from
father to son". The Secret Doctrine. ii, 710.
[44]
The Secret Doctrine. i. 243, 244.
[45]
See Thought-Power, its Control and Culture. Pp. 59-62.
[46]
The Secret Doctrine, i. 281.
[47]
These details are taken from a paper given by Professor Bose at the Royal
Institution,
[48]
The Professor has not published this lecture, but the facts are in his book
Response in the Living and Non-Living. I had the good fortune to see the
experiments repeated at his own house, where one could watch them closely.
[49]
"Consciousness in Vegetable Matter".
[50]
The N-rays are due to vibrations in the etheric double, causing waves in the
surrounding ether. Chloroform expels the etheric double, and hence the waves
cease. At death, the etheric double leaves the body, and the rays consequently
can no longer be observed.
[51]
The term "lives" signifies Units of Consciousness, but does not
denote the kind of consciousness thus separated, nor necessarily imply the
presence of a Jivatma. It means a cognisable "drop" from the ocean of
consciousness, an atom or collection of atoms ensouled by consciousness, and
acting as a unit. An atom is a "life", the consciousness being that
of the Third Logos. A microbe is a "life", the consciousness being
that of the Second Logos, appropriated and modified, as before said, by the
Planetary Logos, and the Spirit of the Earth.
[52]
The tanmatra and tattva of the plane, with its six sub-tanmatras and
sub-tattvas.
[53]
Loc. cit. i. 577.
[54]
Ibid. 579.
[55]
Ibid. 586.
[56]
Such as Schafer's "Histology" in Quain's Anatomy, tenth edition.
Halliburton's Handbook of Physiology. 1901.
[57]
Groups of nerve cells.
[58]
Nerve processes, or prolongations, or outgrowths, consisting of the matter of
the cell enclosed in a medullary sheath.
[59]
The Secret Doctrine. 285.
[60]
Bhagavad-Gita. xv. 7.
[61]
Ibid. xiii. 5.
[62]
Much on these states will be found in the writer's published lectures on
Theosophy and the New Psychology.
[63]
See Chapter IX., 1, 2, for the
difference between consciousness and Self-consciousness; and Chapter VI., 3,
for the exposition of the physical consciousness, which must not be confused
with waking-consciousness.
[64]
The student will do well to read carefully Mr. C. W. Leadbeater's useful book
on Dreams.
[65]
The Secret Doctrine. iii, 479, 480.
[66]
Quoted in Prof. James's book, mentioned above,
p. 19. For "mind" read "brain".
[67]
Ibid. p. 25.
[68]
See Chapter VII. 1.
[69]
See Chapter iv. 4, 5.
[70]
See Chapter vii. 2.
[71]
The Science of Peace.
[72]
Chhandogyopanishat. VIII. xii. I; 4, 5.
[73]
[74]
[75]
Bindopanishat. I.
[76]
Kathopanishat. vi. 15.
[77]
Brihadaranyakopanishat. IV. iv. 6.
[78]
Matt. v. 29, 30.
[79]
Light on the Path. 4.
[80]
Bhagavad-Gita. v. 22.
[81]
Bhagavad-Gita, ii. 59.
[82]
The Ego turns his attention inward during sleep, until he is able to use his
astral body independently; hence his control over it is weak.
[83]
' Bhagavad-Gita. ii. 59.
[84]
Rom, xiii. 10.
[85]
S. John.
[86]
This is only accomplished when the life of the Self informs the matter of his
vehicles, instead of the downward-striving elemental essence, i.e., when the
law of the Spirit of Life replaces the law of sin and death.
[87]
Searchable Theosophical Texts
Theosophy House
Quick Explanations with Links to More Detailed Info
What is Theosophy ? Theosophy Defined (More Detail)
Three Fundamental Propositions Key Concepts of Theosophy
Cosmogenesis Anthropogenesis Root Races
Ascended Masters After Death States
The Seven Principles of Man Karma Reincarnation
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Colonel Henry Steel Olcott
The Start of the Theosophical Society
History of the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society Presidents
History of the Theosophical Society in Wales
The Three Objectives of the Theosophical
Society
Explanation of the Theosophical Society
Emblem
The Theosophical Order of Service (TOS)
Glossaries of Theosophical Terms
Index of Searchable
Full Text Versions of
Definitive
Theosophical Works
H P Blavatsky’s Secret Doctrine
Isis Unveiled by H P Blavatsky
H P Blavatsky’s Esoteric Glossary
Mahatma Letters to A P Sinnett 1 - 25
A Modern Revival of Ancient Wisdom
(Selection of Articles by H P Blavatsky)
The Secret Doctrine – Volume 3
A compilation of H P Blavatsky’s
writings published after her death
Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries
The Early Teachings of The
Masters
A Collection of Fugitive Fragments
Fundamentals of the Esoteric
Philosophy
Mystical,
Philosophical, Theosophical, Historical
and Scientific
Essays Selected from "The Theosophist"
Edited by George
Robert Stow Mead
From Talks on the Path of Occultism - Vol. II
In the Twilight”
Series of Articles
The In the
Twilight” series appeared during
1898 in The
Theosophical Review and
from 1909-1913
in The Theosophist.
compiled from
information supplied by
her relatives
and friends and edited by A P Sinnett
Letters and
Talks on Theosophy and the Theosophical Life
Obras Teosoficas En Espanol
Theosophische Schriften Auf Deutsch