Navigate the Chapters of this Book

3. Some Problems of Psychology - Part 1

INTRODUCTION

What I have here to say should be of general interest.  I intend to write with great simplicity, avoiding the technical terms of academic psychology, and putting the human psychological problem so plainly that real help may eventuate to many.  These days are fraught with difficulty and it would sometimes appear that the necessary environmental adjustments are so hard and the equipment so inadequate to the demanded task that humanity is being asked to perform the impossible.  It is as if the human frame had accumulated so much physical disability, so much emotional stress and had [402] inherited so much disease and over-sensitivity that men fall back defeated.  It is as if the attitude of man to the past, to the present and to the future was of such a nature that there seems no reason for existence, that there is nothing toward which to look, and no help to be found in retrospection.

I am, therefore, widely generalising.  There are those to whom this generalisation does not apply, but even they, if they are students of human affairs, of sociological conditions, and of human equipment, are prone to question and at times to despair.  Life is so difficult these days; the tension to which men are subjected is so extreme; the future appears so threatening; and the masses of men are so ignorant, diseased and distressed.  I am putting this gloomy picture before you at the start of our discussion in order to evade no issue, to paint no silly optimistic and glamourous situation, or to portray no easy way of escape which would only lead us deeper into the gloomy forest of human error and illusion.

Yet, could we but know it, present conditions indicate their own cause and cure.  I trust that by the time we have studied the problem (cursorily, I realise, for that is all that is possible) I shall have been able to indicate a possible way out and to have offered such practical suggestions that light may appear in the dense darkness, the future hold much promise, and the present much of experiment, leading to improvement and understanding.

The major science today is Psychology.  It is one that is yet in its infancy but it holds the fate of humanity in its grasp and it has the power (rightly developed and employed) to save the race.  The reason for its greatness and usefulness lies in the fact that it lays the emphasis upon the relation of the unit to the whole, to the environment and contacts; it studies man's equipment and apparatus of such contact, and seeks to [403] produce right adaptation, correct integration and coordination and the release of the individual to a life of usefulness, fulfillment and service.

Some of the difficulties which have to be faced as one considers the conclusions of the many, many schools of Psychology are based upon the fact of their failure to relate the many points of view to each other.  The same cleavage and even warfare is to be found within the confines of this science as are found in the individual man or in the religious field.  There is to be found a lack of synthesis, a failure to correlate results, and a tendency to over-emphasise one aspect of the ascertained truth to the exclusion of others equally important.  The outstanding weakness or weaknesses in an individual's equipment or presentation of life (and also those of the group or social order) are considered to the exclusion and even negation of other weaknesses not so obvious but equally crippling.  Prejudice, dependent upon a biassed scholastic training, often frustrates the outlook so that the weakness in the psychologist's own equipment negates his efforts to aid the patient.  The failure of education today to take into consideration the whole man, or to allow scope for the activity of an integrating centre, a central point of consciousness, and a determining factor within the mechanism of the one who must be helped to adapt himself to his life condition—this above everything else is responsible for much of the trouble.  The assertion of the purely materialistic and scientific attitude which recognises only the definitely proven, or that which can be proved by the acceptance of an immediate hypothesis, has led to much loss of time.  When again the creative imagination can be released in every department of human thought we shall see many new things brought to light that are at present only accepted by the religiously inclined [404] and by the pioneering minds.  One of the first fields of investigation to be benefited by this release will be that of psychology.

Organised religion has, alas, much to answer for, because of its fanatical emphasis upon doctrinal pronouncements, and its penalisation of those who fail to accept such dicta has served to stultify the human approach to God and to reality.  Its over-emphasis upon the unattainable and its culture of the sense of sin down the centuries have led to many disastrous conditions, to interior conflicts which have distorted life, to morbidity, sadistic attitudes, self-righteousness and an ultimate despair which is the negation of truth.

When right education (which is the true science of adaptation) and right religion (which is the culture of the sense of divinity) and right scientific unfoldment (which is the correct appreciation of the form or forms through which the subjective life of divinity is revealing itself) can be brought into right relation to each other and thus supplement each other's conclusions and efforts, we shall then have men and women trained and developed in all parts of their natures.  They will then be simultaneously citizens of the kingdom of souls, creative members of the great human family, and sound animals with the animal body so developed that it will provide the necessary instrument upon the outer plane of life for divine, human and animal revelation.  This, the coming New Age, will see take place and for it men are today consciously or unconsciously preparing.

We will divide the problems of psychology into the following groupings:

1. The Problems of Cleavage, leading frequently to the many ways of escape, which constitute the bulk of the modern complexes.

[405]

2. The Problems of Integration, which produce many of the difficulties of the more advanced people.

3. The Problems due to Inheritance, racial, family, etc., involving the problems of inherited diseases, with consequent crippling of the individual.

With this third group I shall deal very little.  There is not much to be done save to leave to time and greater wisdom much of the solution, coupled with an effort to bring amelioration to the individual thus afflicted, to supply glandular deficiency, training in self-control if possible, and the bringing of the physical vehicle to as high a point of development as may be possible within limits.  The time is coming when every infant will early be subjected to certain tests and become the recipient of skilled care so that the apparatus of contact may be as usable as possible, as adaptive as may be, and as sound as it can be rendered.  But I would here remind you that no physical equipment can be brought beyond a certain point of development in any one life—a point determined by the stage reached under the evolutionary process by racial factors, by the quality of the subtle or subjective nature, by past experience and by soul contact (distant, approaching or already made), and by the mental equipment.

For the right understanding of our subject, and of my method of handling it, I would like to lay down four fundamental propositions:

1. That in time and space, man is essentially dual, consisting of soul and body, of intelligent life and form, of a spiritual entity and the apparatus of contact—the body nature whereby that entity can become aware of worlds of phenomena and states of consciousness of a nature different to those on its own level of awareness.

2. That this body nature consists of the physical outer form, [406] the sum total of vitality or the etheric body (which science today is rapidly coming to recognise), the sensitive, emotional, desire body, and the mind.  Through the physical body contact is made with the environing tangible world; through the vital body the impulses come which produce direction and activity upon the physical plane; through the sensory vehicle the astral or emotional nature originates the bulk of those desires and impulses which direct the undeveloped or average man, and which can be called desire-impulses or the wish-life of the individual; through the mind comes eventually intelligent understanding and a life directed by purpose and planning instead of desire.

3. That human unfoldment proceeds by a series of integrations, of processes of coordination or synthesis, involving as they do (particularly when the intelligence is beginning to control) a sense of cleavage and of duality.  These integrations, as far as humanity is concerned, either lie far behind in the past, are proceeding at this time, or lie ahead in the future.

Past Integrations.

Between the animal body and the vital body.

Between these two and the sensitive desire nature.

Between these three and the lower concrete mind.

Present Integrations.

Between these four aspects thus producing a coordinated personality.

Future Integration.

Between the personality and the Soul.

There are other and higher integrations but with these we [407] need not here concern ourselves.  They are reached through the processes of initiation and of service.  The point to be remembered is that in racial history, many of these integrations have already taken place unconsciously as the result of life-stimulation, the evolutionary urge, the normal processes of living, experience through contact with the environment, and also of satisfaction leading to satiety of the desire nature.  But there comes a time in racial unfoldment, as in the lives of individuals, when the blind process of evolutionary acquiescence becomes the living conscious effort, and it is right at this point that humanity stands today.  Hence the realisation of the human problem in terms of modern psychology; hence the widespread suffering of human units everywhere; hence the effort of modern education; and hence also the emergence in every country on a wide scale and in increasingly large numbers of three kinds of people:

Those conscious of cleavage.

Those achieving integration with much pain and difficulty.

Personalities, or integrated and therefore dominant people.

4. That at the same time in every country, men and women are proceeding towards a still higher synthesis and achieving it:—the synthesis of soul and body.  This produces a sense of destiny, individual and racial; a sense of purpose, and of plan.  It produces also the unfoldment of the intuition (the sublimation of the intellect, as that was the sublimation of the instinctual nature) and the consequent recognition of the higher ideas and idealism, and of those basic truths which when disseminated among the thinking people of the world, will produce great mental and material changes, with their transitory accompaniments and upheaval, of chaos, experiment, destruction and re-building.

[408]

Humanity provides a cultural field for all types, i.e. for those who are today expressions of past integrations, and those who are in process of becoming thinking human beings.  The two earliest integrations, between the vital body and the physical form, and between these two and the desire nature, are no longer represented.  They are universal and lie below the threshold of conscious activity and far behind in racial history.  The only field in which they can be studied is in those processes of recapitulatory history of infancy wherein one can see the power to move and respond to the sensory apparatus, and the power to express desire, most clearly demonstrated.  The same thing can also be noticed in infant and savage races.  But the third stage of integration, that of gradual mental development, is proceeding apace and can be, and is being, most carefully studied.  Today, modern education is occupied almost exclusively with this stage and when educators cease to train the brain cells or to deal with the evocation of memory, and when they cease to regard the brain and the mind as one, but learn to differentiate between the two, then great strides forward will be made.  When the child receives training in mind control and when that mind is taught to direct the desire nature and the brain, producing direction of the physical vehicle from the mental level, then we shall see these three integrations carried forward with precision and with rapidity.  Attention will then be given to the integration of the personality, so that all three aspects shall function as one unit.  We have, therefore:

1. The child state, in which the three first integrations are brought about, and the objective of the educational procedure will be to effect this with the minimum of difficulty.

2. The human state, dealing with the integration of all the [409] aspects into one functioning self-conscious, self-directed personality.

3. The spiritual state, dealing with the integration of the personality and the soul, thus evoking the consciousness of the Whole.  When this is accomplished, group consciousness is added to self-consciousness, and this is the second great step on the way to God consciousness.

The difficulty today is that we have on every hand people at all different stages in the integrative process; all of them in a "state of crisis" and all of them therefore providing the problems of modern psychology.

These problems may be divided more precisely into three major groupings:

a. The Problems of Cleavage.  These in their turn are of two kinds:

1. The problems of integration.

2. Those arising out of a sense of duality.

This sense of duality, as the result of realised cleavage, ranges all the way from the "split personality" difficulties of so many people to those of the mystic with his emphasis upon the lover and the loved, the seeker and the sought, upon God and His child.

b. The Problems of Integration, which produce many of the difficulties of the more advanced people.

c. The Problems of Stimulation.  These arise as the result of an achieved synthesis and integration, producing consequently an inflow of unaccustomed energy.  This inflow may express itself as a high voltage ambition, as a sense of power, as desire for personality influence or as true spiritual power and force.  In every case, [410] however, comprehension of the resultant phenomena is required, and most careful handling.

Arising from these problems we find also—

1. Mental Problems.  Certain definite complexes occur when the integration of the mind with the three lower aspects has been brought about, and some clear thought about them will be useful.

2. The Diseases of Mystics.  These are concerned with those attitudes of mind, those complexities of idea and those "spiritual enterprises" which affect the mystically inclined or those who are aware of the spiritual dualism of which St. Paul wrote in the Epistle to the Romans.  He wrote as follows:

"For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

If then I do what I would not, I consent under the law that it is good.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil if present with me.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

[411]

O wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"  (Romans VII, 14-24)

These difficulties will call for increasing attention as the race proceeds towards personality integration and from thence to soul contact.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, how wide is our subject and of what real importance.  It will be obvious to you also that much of our nervous disease, our inhibitions, suppressions, submissions, or their reverse aspects, are tied up with this whole process of successive syntheses or fusions.

Two points should be touched upon here:  First, that in any consideration of the human being—whether we regard him simply as a man or as a spiritual entity—we are in reality dealing with a most complex aggregate of differentiated energies, through which or among which the consciousness plays.  This consciousness is, in the early stages, nothing more than a vague diffused awareness, undefined, unidentified and free from any definite focus of attention.  Later, it becomes more awake and aware and the focus becomes centred in the realm of selfish desire, and its satisfaction and assuagement.  To this condition we can give the general name of the "wish life" with its objective, personal happiness, leading eventually to consummated desire, but a consummated desire postponed till after death and to which we have given the name "heaven".  Later (again as the mind nature integrates with the other more developed aspects), we have the emergence of a definitely self-conscious entity, and a strictly human being, characterised by intelligence, comes into active expression.  The focus of attention is still the satisfaction of desire, but it is the desire to know, the will to understand through investigation, discrimination and analysis.

Finally comes the period of personality integration wherein [412] there is the will-to-power, with self-consciousness directed to the domination of the lower nature, and with the objective of the domination of the environment, of other human beings in small or large numbers, and of circumstance.  When this has been grasped and understood, the focus of attention shifts into the realm of the higher energies, and the soul factor becomes increasingly active and prominent, dominating and disciplining the personality, interpreting its environment in new terms, and producing a synthesis, hitherto unrecognised, between the two kingdoms of nature—the human and the spiritual.

Throughout all these processes we see the bringing together of many types of energy, all of them distinguished by quality of some kind or another, which—when brought into relation with each other—produce first of all a period of chaos, of anarchy and of difficulty.  Later ensues a period of synthesis, of organised activity and of a fuller expression of divinity.  But there remains for a long time the need for recognition of energy and its right use.

The second point I seek to make is that these inner energies make their contact through the medium of the vital or etheric body, which is composed of energy streams; these work through seven focal points or centres of force in the etheric body.  These centres of energy are found in close proximity to, or in relation to, the seven sets of major glands:

1. The pineal gland.

2. The pituitary body.

3. The thyroid and para-thyroid glands.

4. The thymus gland.

5. The pancreas.

6. The adrenals.

7. The gonads.

[413]

These centres are:

1. The head centre.

2. The centre between the eyebrows.

3. The throat centre.

4. The heart centre.

5. The solar plexus centre.

6. The centre at the base of the spine.

7. The sacral centre.

These centres are closely concerned with the endocrine system, which they determine and condition according to the quality and source of the energy which flows through them.  With this I have dealt at length in my other books, and so shall not here enlarge upon it beyond calling your attention to the relation between the centres of force in the etheric body, the processes of integration, which bring one centre after another into activity, and the eventual control of the soul, after the final at-one-ment of the entire personality.

Only when modern psychologists add to the amazingly interesting knowledge they have of the lower man, an occidental interpretation of the oriental teaching about the centres of force through which the subjective aspects of man—lower, personal and divine—are to be expressed, will they solve the human problem and arrive at an understanding of the technique of unfoldment and of integration which will lead to intelligent comprehension, a wise solution of the difficulties, and a correct interpretation of the peculiarities with which they are so frequently confronted.  When to this acceptance can be added a study of the seven major types, the science of psychology will be brought another step nearer its eventual usefulness as a major instrument in the technique of human perfecting.  They will be greatly helped also by a study of astrology from the angle of energy contacts, of the [414] lines of least resistance, and as one of the determining influences and characteristics of the type under consideration.  I refer not here to the casting of a horoscope with the objective of discovering the future or of determining action.  This aspect of astrological interpretation will become less and less useful as men achieve the power to control and to govern their stars and so direct their own lives.  I refer to the recognition of the astrological types, of their characteristics and qualities and tendencies.

Bearing in mind the analysis earlier made of the various aspects of the human being, which—during the evolutionary process—are gradually fused into one integrated person, let us remember that the fusion effected and the changes brought about are the result of the steady shift of the consciousness.  It becomes increasingly inclusive.  We are not dealing here with the form aspect as much as with the conscious realisation of the dweller in the body.  It is in this region that our problems lie, and it is with this developing consciousness that the psychologist has primarily to deal.  From the angle of the omniscient soul, the consciousness is limited, disturbed, exclusive, self-centred, distorted, erratic and, in the early stages, deceived.  It is only when the processes of development have been carried forward to a relatively high point and the awareness of duality is beginning to emerge, that the real problems and the major difficulties and dangers are encountered and the man becomes aware of his situation.  Before that time, the difficulties are of a different nature and revolve largely around the physical equipment, are concerned with the slowness of the vital reactions and the low grade desires of the animal nature.  The human being is, at that stage, largely an animal, and the conscious man is deeply hidden and imprisoned.  It is the life principle and urge which dominate and the instinctual nature which controls.  The solar plexus is the [415] seat of the consciousness and the head and brain are inactive.

It should also be remembered here (as I have oft pointed out) that the reality which we call the soul is basically an expression of three types of energy—life, love and intelligence.  For the reception of these three energies, the triple lower nature has been prepared and the intelligence aspect reflects itself in the mind, the love nature in the emotional desire body, and the life principle in and through the etheric or vital body.  As regards the physical body in its more dense expression (for the etheric body is the more subtle aspect or expression of the physical body), the soul anchors itself in two streams of energy at two points of contact:  the life stream in the heart and the consciousness stream in the head.  This consciousness aspect is itself dual, and that which we call self-consciousness is gradually unfolded and perfected until the ajna centre, or the centre between the eyebrows, is awakened.  The latent group-consciousness, which brings realisation of the greater Whole, is quiescent for the greater part of the evolutionary cycle, until the integrative process has proceeded to such a point that the personality is functioning.  Then the head centre begins to awaken and the man becomes conscious in the larger sense.  Head and heart then link up, and the spiritual man appears in fuller expression.

This, I know, is familiar teaching to you but it is of value briefly to recapitulate and get the picture clear.  Bearing these premises in mind, we will not deal with the earliest difficulties but will begin with those of modern man, and with those conditions with which we are all too sadly familiar.

a. PROBLEMS OF CLEAVAGE

Thinkers are today awakening to this particular type of difficulty and finding the cleavages in human nature so widespread and so deep seated in the very constitution of the race [416] itself that they are viewing the situation with much concern.  These cleavages seem basic, and produce the divisions we find everywhere between race and race and between religion and religion, and can be traced back to the fundamental condition of manifestation which we call the relationship of positive and negative, of male and female and, esoterically speaking, of the sun and the moon.  The mystery of sex itself is bound up with the re-establishment of the sense of unity and of balance, of oneness or of wholeness.  In its higher human aspect, this sexual differentiation is only the symbol or lowest expression of the cleavage or separativeness of which the mystic is aware and which makes him seek at-one-ment or union with what he calls divinity.  In between this physical cleavage and this spiritual recognition of divinity lie a large number of lesser cleavages of which man becomes aware.

Behind all of this is to be found a still more fundamental cleavage—that between the human kingdom and the kingdom of souls—a cleavage in consciousness more than in fact.  The cleavage between the animal and the human kingdom has been largely resolved through the recognition of the physical identity of the animal nature and the uniformity in expression of the instinctual nature.  Within the human family, the various cleavages of which man is so distressingly aware will be bridged and ended when the mind is trained to control and to dominate within the realm of the personality and is correctly used as an analytical, integrating factor instead of as a critical, discriminating, separative factor.  The right use of the intellect is essential to the healing of the personality cleavages.  The cleavage between personality and the soul is resolved by the right use of:

[417]

1. The instinctual sense of divinity which leads to reorientation in the right direction.  This leads to—

2. The intelligent use of the mind so that it becomes consciously aware of the soul and of the laws which govern soul unfoldment.

3.  The intuitive recognition of reality, which resolves the differentiated parts into a unit, producing illumination.

4. This illumination reveals the essential oneness which exists on the inner side of life and negates the outer appearance of separativeness.

Thus it will be apparent to you that the cleavages are "healed" by a right and intelligent use of the quality aspect of the form nature:

1. Instinct distinguishes the automatic physical nature, the vital or life vehicle and the desire nature.  It works through the solar plexus and the organs of reproduction.

2. Intelligence distinguishes the mind aspect or mental vehicle, and works through the clearing house of the brain, and through the ajna and throat centres.

3. Intuition distinguishes the soul nature and it works through the mind, the heart centre and the head centre.  From these three major points the soul governs eventually the personality.

I commend these ideas to your careful consideration and assure you that rightly understood they will aid in the solution of the problems connected with the various cleavages in human nature.

There is no cleavage to be found today between the vital body and the physical body.  There is only at times a partial cleavage and what one might call a "loose connection".  The two streams of living energy—life and consciousness—are [418] usually anchored in the head and heart.  In the case of certain forms of idiocy however, the consciousness stream is not anchored at all in the body, but only the life stream has made its contact in the heart.  There is, therefore, no self-consciousness, no power of centralised control and no capacity to direct action or to provide in any way a life programme or plan.  There is only responsiveness to aspects of the instinctual nature.

Certain forms of epilepsy are due to what we might call "a loose connection", the consciousness stream or thread of energy is subject at times to withdrawal or abstraction, and this produces the familiar epileptoid symptoms and the distressing conditions seen in the usual fit.  In a lesser degree, and producing no permanent, dangerous results, the same basic cause produces the so-called "petit mal" and certain types of fainting fits; these are caused by the brief and temporary withdrawal of the thread of consciousness energy.  It should be remembered that when this withdrawal takes place and there is a separation of the consciousness from the vehicle of conscious contact, all that we understand by the term consciousness, such as self-consciousness, desire and intelligence, is abstracted and only life and the consciousness inherent in the physical body cells remain.

As a rule, however, the average man today is a closely knit and functioning unit.  (This is true whether one is considering the unevolved masses or the materialistically minded citizens of the world.)  He is firmly integrated physically, etherically and emotionally.  His physical body, his vital body and his desire nature (for emotion is but expressed desire of some kind or another) are closely knit.  At the same time there can be a weakness in the etheric integration, of such a nature that there is a low vitality, a lack of desire impulses, a failure to register adequate dynamic incentives, immaturity and [419] sometimes obsession or possession.  Frequently what is called a lack of will and the labelling of a person as "weak-willed" or "weak-minded" has in reality nothing to do with the will, but is apt to be the result of this feeble integration and loose connection between the consciousness and the brain which renders the man negative to the desire impulses which should normally stream through into his brain, galvanising his physical vehicle into some form of activity.

The will, which usually demonstrates itself through a programme or ordered plan, originates in the mind and not on the desire levels of awareness, and this programme is based on a sense of direction and a definite orientation of the will to a recognised objective, and it is not, in these cases, the cause of the difficulty.  The trouble is simpler and lies nearer home.  The handling of these difficulties and their right solution is of a definitely material nature, and the trouble is frequently overcome by increasing the vitality of the body, building up the etheric body, through sunshine, vitaminous foods and exercise, plus correct treatment and balancing of the endocrine system.  Along these lines much work is being done today and the less serious forms of etheric cleavage are rapidly yielding to treatment.  Lack of vitality, immaturity, depression based upon a weak vital connection and lack of interest in life (so prevalent at this time) will become less frequent.

I cannot here deal at length with the problems of obsession, due to the withdrawal of the self-conscious aspect of the dweller in the body.  This process of abstraction leaves only a living shell, an empty house.  Too much would have to be considered for a treatise such as this.  It is not easy for the scientific psychological investigator to accept the premise of the substitution of the consciousness of another entity in [420] [420] the place of the consciousness of the one who has been unable to hold the link within the brain with adequate positiveness.  But, speaking as one who knows, such cases frequently occur, leading to many of the problems of so-called "split personality" which is in reality the ownership of a particular physical body by the two persons—one providing the life stream (anchored in the heart) and the other providing the stream of consciousness (anchored in the brain) and thus controlling the body directing its activities and expressing itself through the organs of speech.  Sometimes this possession alternates between the two individuals concerned.  Sometimes more than two are concerned, and several persons upon the inner side of life use the same physical body.  Then you have multiple personalities.  This is however due to a definite weakness in the etheric connection of the original dweller; or again it may be due to that dweller's great dislike for physical incarnation; again it may be caused by some shock or disaster which suddenly severs the link of consciousness, and in this latter case there is no hope of restoration.  Each case has to be diagnosed and dealt with on its individual merits and preferably by dealing directly with the real dweller when he is "at home in his own dwelling".  Furthermore, the consciousness of this dweller is sometimes so strongly orientated in directions other than those of physical existence that a process of abstraction has taken place, with the focus of the conscious interest elsewhere.  This is the undesirable side or expression of the same power of abstraction which enables the mystic to see his visions and to participate in heavenly happenings, and which enables the advanced adept to enter into the state of Samadhi.  In the one case, the vehicle is left unguarded and the prey of any passing visitor; and in the other it is left duly guarded and positively attentive to the call and the note of its owner.

[421]

It is not possible for me to do more than hint at these various explanations and so start investigators with open minds and the willingness to accept unusual hypotheses, along a trail which may lead them into the valley of understanding.  The clue to success in eliminating these types of difficulty lies in pre-natal care and study of hereditary taints; syphilis and the other venereal diseases are potent predisposing causes.  The right culture of the body nature after birth and the development in the child of a positive sense of himself, thus making him positive in thought and training his sense of self-identity—all these are sound helps towards the elimination of this type of trouble.  The tendency today to emphasise the vitamins in food and to give a balanced diet is all to the good.

The true sense of cleavage and really serious difficulty comes, however, when two things have occurred.  These might be stated to be as follows:

1. The self-consciousness of the man has reached a point where his desires are so dominant and compelling that he becomes aware of their strength, and also simultaneously of his inability truly to satisfy them, coupled with the recognition that there is an aspect of himself which does not truly want to do so.  The sense of frustration then descends upon him and he becomes painfully aware of what he wants and of what he would be if his desires were met and satisfied.  He is then torn in two directions:  his desire-mind keeps him dwelling in the realm of longing, of hope and of wish, whilst his brain and his physical nature bring to him the conviction that nothing he wants is possible and if possible, does he really want it?  This is true of the man whose objective is the satisfaction of his material longings or of the man who is responding to the desire for intellectual or spiritual satisfaction. [422] In the one case the cleavage begins to appear in the lower aspects of his desire nature.  In the other it appears in the higher aspects, but in both cases the lines of the cleavage are clear.  The conflict has begun and two possibilities lie ahead:

a. Eventual acquiescence of a nature which ends the life in futility, deep depression and a sense of frustration which runs all the way from a submissive life of acceptance to those many ways of escape which push a man into the dream world, into the land of illusion, into a state of negativity and even over the border to death through self-destruction.

b. A furious conflict, based on a refusal to be moulded by circumstance or environment.  This drives a man on to success and to achievement of his desire or it breaks him on the wheel of life, either physically or mentally.

2. Cleavage comes also when the man fails to use his God-given intellect and so is unable to choose between the essentials and the non-essentials, between right direction and wrong goals, between the various satisfactions which appeal to the various aspects of his lower nature and eventually between the higher and the lower duality.  He must learn to grasp the distinction between:

a. Submission to the inevitable and submission to the urge of his own desire.

b. Recognition of capacity and recognition of potentiality.  Many conflicts would be solved through the summation, understanding and right use of recognised assets, thus eliminating impossible goals and the consequent inevitable frustration.  When this part of the conflict [423] has been overcome, then potentiality can emerge in recognition and become power in expression.

c. Recognition of individual goals and group goals, between the ability to be social or anti-social.  Much is being done along these lines but the emphasis is still upon the individual and not upon the group.  When this is the case, we become responsible for anti-social groups.

I have mentioned only three of many possible recognitions but the resolution of the cleavage for which these are responsible will result in the liberation of a large majority of sufferers.  It might perhaps be said that the release of many whose cleavage lies primarily in the realm of the desire nature, leading to the sense of frustration and a break in the life continuity of interest, can be cured by—

1. Attention first of all to the physical equipment and to the glands, particularly to the thyroid gland, plus the regulation of the diet.

2. Attention to the physical coordination of the patient, for physical coordination is the outer expression of an inner process of integration and much can be done by training.

3. Interpretation of the life and the environment, given in terms of appreciation.  Ponder on this.

4. Decentralisation through—

a. The providing of right interests and the right kind of education and vocational training.

b. Cultivation of the power to recognise and meet surrounding need, thus evoking the desire to serve and providing the sense of satisfaction which comes from accomplishment and appreciation.

[424]

c. The careful and slow transmutation of desire into aspiration.

5. Reorientation to higher goals and the development of the sense of right direction.  This involves

a. The cultivation of a wider vision.

b. The formulation of an inner programme, intelligently compiled, and suitable for the point in evolution but not so advanced as to be impossible.

c. The avoidance of those steps and activities which are doomed to failure.

6. Later, when the above is somewhat grasped, there must be the search for, and the development of, any creative faculty, thus meeting the desire to be noticed and to contribute.  Much artistic effort or literary and musical effort is based on the desire to be the centre of attention and is not based on any true creative ability.  It is the sense of "I, the dramatic actor".  This rightly used and developed, is of real value and importance.

7. The elimination of the sense of sin, of disapprobation, with its concomitants, revolt, suspicion and an inferiority complex.

One point I feel the need definitely to re-emphasise and that is the necessity, when considering the human being and his expression and existence, to remember that we are really considering energy, and the relation or non-relation of forces.  As long as this is carefully borne in mind, we shall not go astray as we deal with our subject.  We are considering related units of energy, functioning in a field of energy; remembering this always, we shall (at least symbolically) be enabled to get a fairly clear idea of our theme.  As long as we regard our problem as consisting of the inter-relation of [425] many energies, their fusion and their balancing, plus the final synthesis of two major energies, their fusion and their balancing we shall arrive at some measure of understanding and subsequent solution.  The field of energy which we call the soul (the major energy with which man is concerned) absorbs, dominates or utilises the lesser energy which we call the personality.  This it is necessary for us to realise; and to remember, at the same time, that this personality is itself composed of four types of energy.  According to our ray type, so will be our use of the words "absorbs, dominates and utilises".  I would here remind you, as I have oft done before, that words fail to express and language handicaps rather than aids the objective that I have in view.  Human thought is now entering a field for which there exists, as yet, no true language-form, for we have no adequate terms, and in which word-symbols mean but little.  Just as the discovery of the automobile, and the radio have necessitated the formulation of an entirely new set of terms, phrases, nouns and verbs, so in the years that are coming the discovery of the fact of the soul will necessitate a new language approach.  It is true, is it not, that a man of the Victorian age, listening to the technical jargon of the present radio laboratory or the ordinary garage, would be completely in the dark?  So the psychologist of today is in the dark very often and understands not what we are trying to convey, for the new language is not yet evolved and the old terms are inadequate.  I am, therefore, unable to do more than employ the terms which seem to me to be the most suitable, knowing that I am failing to express the true significance of my ideas, and you are consequently gaining only an approximate understanding and conception of the concepts I am endeavoring to expound.

We have already somewhat considered the problem of the [426] cleavages to which man is subject, and we saw that the human evolutionary process was, in the last analysis, a series of at-one-ments; each step forward meant the bringing together of certain types of energy in order that their fusion might produce a more complete person.  May I state here an interesting point?  The problem itself is brought about by the fact that there Is an Observer.  This Observer, at certain points in the normal development of the man, comes to the realisation that there are cleavages.  This Observer suffers because of their existence in his self-awareness.  He realises that he is the victim of the divisions in his nature.  Yet—and this is of importance—the man upon the physical plane is unable either to understand them or, apparently, to heal them without aid from the soul, the Observer, the higher aspect of himself.  For instance, a man suffering from dissociation between the emotional, sentient part of himself and the mental aspect is aware of need, of frustration and of intense suffering and difficulty, yet needs the understanding help of a trained psychologist or of his own soul before fusion can be made and he, as an individual, can "be made whole".

This same truth exists in connection with all the cleavages found in man, but three of these cleavages are of major importance:

1. The cleavage between the mind and the rest of the lower nature—physical, vital, astral or emotional

.

2. The  cleavage between the man and his environment which—when once healed and bridged—makes him a responsible human being and a good citizen who accepts his environment and gives to it of his best.  Thus he grows in character and capacity, as a result of a definite interplay between the two—himself and his environment.

[427]

3. The cleavage between the man (the personality) and the soul.  This produces sequentially:

a. A dominant selfish personality.

b. A practical mystic, conscious of the need for fusion and for unity.

Parallels to these states of consciousness are found in the adolescent.  They are found also in the man who is integrating into his life work, and also in the thinking aspirant.  This is true, whether his thoughts, purposes and ambitions are selfishly polarised or spiritually inclined.  The sense of cleavage, the need for orientation, the bridging process and the ultimate sense of achievement are identical in both cases.

In dealing with these situations certain general rules should govern the psychologist, and certain general premises should eventually be accepted by the man who constitutes the problem case.  These same rules and premises can be considered and accepted by the man who, without the aid of a trained psychologist, manages to train himself and to bridge his realised cleavages.  These basic premises are:

1. That any psychological difficulty is universal and not unique.  It is the sense of uniqueness—with its separative tendency and its realised loneliness—which is often the all-engrossing factor.  It makes the personality too important, and this should be definitely negated.

2. That the crisis faced indicates progress and opportunity, and that it does not indicate disaster and failure.  It must be realised by the patient (can I use that term?) that the race has progressed to its present point in evolution by just such crises.  So does the individual human unit progress.  In the last analysis, psychological crises are indicative of progressive steps upon the Way, bringing with them the need for effort and at the same time a [428] sense of gain and of freedom, when surmounted, overcome and solved.

3. That the power to produce the needed integration and to end a cycle of sensed duality lies within the man himself because:

a. His discomfort, lack of coordination, pain and distress are symptoms of aspiration, unrealised perhaps but none the less there.  They are the reaction of the integrated aspects to that aspect which is seeking integration.

b. The aspect to be integrated is essentially more powerful than the lower waiting aspects, for they are negative or receptive whilst that which should be realised and accepted is positive and dynamic.  Hence the sensed discomfort.

4. That the capacity, innate in that imaginative creature, man, to act "as if", holds the solution to the problem.  By the use of the creative imagination, the bridge between the lower aspect and higher can be built and constructed.  "As a man thinketh, hopeth and willeth" so is he.  This is a statement of an immutable fact.