SOUL LIGHT AND BODY LIGHT

In these Rules for Magic, the laws of creative work are embodied and the means whereby man can function as an incarnated soul.  They do not deal primarily with the rules governing man's development.  Incidentally, of course, much may be learnt in this connection, for man grows through creative work and understanding, but this is not the primary objective of the teaching.

Through the gradually growing synthesis of the meditation process carried on by the soul on its own plane and that of the aspirant the man manifests (in the physical brain) a point of light which has been occultly lighted on the plane of the mind.  Light ever signifies two things, energy and its manifestation in form of some kind, for light and matter are synonymous terms.  The thought of the man and the idea of the soul have found a point of rapport, and the germ of a thought form has come into being.  This thought form, when completed, will embody as much of the great plan (on which the Hierarchy is working) as the man can vision, grasp, and embody on the mental plane.  This, in the early stages of a man's aspiration, in his first steps along the Path of Discipleship, and for the first two initiations, is covered by the word "Service".  He grasps, gropingly at first, the idea of the unity of the Life, and its manifestation as the Brotherhood existing between all forms of that divine Life.  This subjective ideal gradually leads to an appreciation of the way in which this essential relationship can work out practically.  This can be seen finding its expression in the great humanitarian efforts, in the organisations [94] for the relief of human and animal suffering, and in world wide efforts for the betterment of the internal relations of nations, religions and groups.

Enough human units have now contacted the hierarchical plan so that it may be safely concluded that the collective brain of the human family (that entity which we call the fourth Kingdom of Nature) is susceptible to the vision, and has fashioned its lighted form on the mental plane.  Later, the thought of service and of self will be found inadequate, and a more suitable form of expression will be found, but this suffices for the present.

This thought form, created by the aspirant, is brought into being by the focussed energies of the soul and the re-oriented forces of the personality.  This is pictured as covering three stages.

1. The period wherein the aspirant struggles to achieve that inner quiet and directed attentiveness which will enable him to hear the Voice of the Silence.  That voice expresses to him, through symbol and interpreted life experience the purposes and plans with which he may cooperate.  According to his stage of development those plans will express either:

a. The already materialized plans, taking group form on the physical plane, with which he may cooperate and in whose interest he may submerge his own.

b. The plan, or fraction of a plan, which is his individual privilege to bring through into manifestation and thus cause to materialize as a group activity on the physical plane.  It is the function of some aspirants to aid and help those groups which are already in functioning activity.  It is the function of others to bring into being those forms of activity which are, as yet, on the subjective plane.  Only those aspirants who are freed from personal [95] ambition can truly cooperate in this second aspect of the work.  Therefore "Kill out ambition."

2. The period wherein he habituates himself to the clear hearing and correct interpretation of the inner voice of the soul and broods reflectively upon the imparted message.  During this period "the Energy circulates."  A constant rhythmic response to the thought energy of the soul is set up, and, figuratively speaking, there is a steady flow of force between that centre of energy we call the soul on its own plane, and that centre of force which is a human being.  The energy travels along the "thread" we call the sutratma and sets up a vibratory response between the brain and the soul.

An interesting angle of information might here be given, as it is my intent in these Instructions ever to link up the analogies between the different aspects of divinity, as they express themselves in man or in the macrocosm, the Heavenly Man.

The ancient yoga of Atlantean days (which has come down to us in the necessarily fragmentary teaching of the yoga of the centres) conveys to us the information that the reflection of the sutratma in the human organism is called the spinal cord, and expresses itself in three nerve channels.  These three are called ida, pingala, and the central channel, the sushumna.  When the negative and positive forces of the body, which express themselves via the ida and pingala nerve routes, are equilibrized, the forces can ascend and descend by the central channel to and from the brain, passing through the centres up the spine without hindrance.  When this is the case we have perfected soul expression in the physical man.

This is in reality a correspondence to the sutratma as it links the physical man and the soul, for the sutratma in its turn expresses the positive energy of spirit, the negative energy of matter, and the equilibrized energy [96] of the soul—the attainment of equilibrium being the present objective of humanity.  During the period of the later initiations, the positive use of the spiritual energy supersedes the equilibrized use of soul force, but that is a later stage with which the aspirant need not as yet trouble himself.  Let him find the "noble middle Path" between the pairs of opposites, and incidentally he will find that the forces he uses on the physical plane will employ the central nerve channel up the spine.  This will occur as the transmission of light and truth to the physical brain, via the central channel of the linking sutratma, really works out into satisfactory usefulness.  Those ideas and concepts (speaking in symbol) which come via the sutratmic negative channel are well meaning, but lack force and peter out into insignificance.  They are emotionally coloured, and lack the organized form which pure mind can give.  Those which come via the opposite channel (speaking figuratively) produce too rapid concretion, and are motivated by the personal ambition of a ruling mentality.  The mind is ever egoistic, self-seeking, and expresses that personal ambition which carries within it the germ of its own destruction.

When, however, the sutratmic sushumna, the central nerve channel and its energy is employed, the soul, as a magnetic intelligent creator, transmits its energies.  The plans can then mature according to divine purpose and proceed with their building activities "in the light".  The point of egoic and lunar contact emits ever the point of light, as we have seen from our Rules for Magic, and that has its focus at the point in the sutratma which has its correspondence in the light in the head of the aspirant.

3. The period wherein he sounds the sacred Word and—blending it with the voice of the Ego or Soul—sets in motion mental matter for the building of his thought form.  It is the man on the physical plane who now sounds the Word, and he does it in four ways:

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a. He becomes the Word incarnated, and endeavours "to be what he is."

b. He sounds the Word within himself, seeking to do it as the soul.  He visualizes himself as the soul breathing out energy through the medium of that Word through the entire system which his soul animates—his mental, emotional, vital, and physical instruments.

c. He sounds the Word literally on the physical plane, thus affecting the three grades of matter in his environment.  All the time that he is thus occupied he is "holding the mind steady in the light", and is keeping his consciousness immovably in the realm of the soul.

d. Also he carries forward (and this is the most difficult stage) a paralleling activity of a steady visualization of the thought form through which he hopes to express that aspect of the plan which he has contacted, and which he hopes to bring into active being through his own life and in his own environment.

This is only truly possible when a steady rapport has been established between the soul and the brain.  The process involves the capacity of the brain to register what the soul is visioning and becoming aware of in the Kingdom of the Soul.  It involves also a paralleling activity in the mind, for the aspirant must interpret the vision and utilize the concrete intelligent faculty for the wise adaptation of time and of form to the true expression of that which has been learnt.  This is by no means an easy thing to do, but the aspirant has eventually to learn to express himself in full consciousness in more than one way and that simultaneously.  He begins to learn a triple activity in this manner.  This the Old Commentary expresses as follows:

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The Solar Orb shines forth in radiant splendor.  The illuminated mind reflects the solar glory.  The lunar orb rises from the centre to the summit, and is transformed into a radiant sun of light.  When these three suns are one, Brahma breaks forth.  A lighted world is born.

This literally means that when the soul (symbolized as the Solar Orb) the mind, and the light in the head form one unit, the creative power of the solar Angel can express itself in the three worlds, and can construct a form through which its energy can actively express itself.  The lunar orb is a symbolic way of expressing the solar plexus which eventually must do two things:

1. Blend and fuse the energies of the lower two centres of force, and

2. Raise these fused energies and so, blending with the energies of the other and higher centres, reach the head.

All the above embodies a teaching and a theory.  This has to be wrought out in the practical experiment and experience and conscious activity of the aspirant.

I would like also to point out the nature of the service humanity as a whole is rendering in the general plan of evolution.  The rule under our consideration applies not only to the individual man but to the predestined activity of the fourth Kingdom in Nature.  Through his meditation, discipline and service, man fans into radiant light, illuminating the three worlds, that point of light which flickered into being at the time of his individualization in past ages.  This finds its reflection in the light in the head.  Thus a rapport is set up, which permits not only of vibratory synchronization but of a radiation and display of magnetic force, permitting of its recognition in the three worlds of a man's immediate environment.

So it is with the human kingdom.  As its illumination increases, as its light waxes more potent, its effect upon [99] the sub-human kingdoms is analogous to that of the individual soul, its reflection, upon man in physical incarnation.  I say analogous as a causative force, though not a correspondence in effects.  Note this difference.  Humanity is macrocosmic in relation to the sub-human states of consciousness, and this H. P. B. has well pointed out.  The effect upon these lesser and more material states is primarily four-fold.

1. The stimulating of the spiritual aspect, expressing itself as the soul in all forms, such as the form of a mineral, a flower, or an animal.  The positive aspect of energy in all these forms will wax stronger, producing radiation, for instance, increasingly in the mineral kingdom.  In this lies a hint of the nature of the process that will set a term to our own planetary existence and eventually, to our solar system.  In the vegetable kingdom, the effect will be the demonstration of increased beauty and diversity, and the evolution of new species with an objective impossible to explain to those not yet initiate.  The production of nutritive forms which will serve the needs of the lesser devas and angels will be one of the results.

In the animal kingdom the effect will be the elimination of pain and suffering and a return to the ideal conditions of the Garden of Eden.  When man functions as a soul, he heals; he stimulates and vitalizes; he transmits the spiritual forces of the universe, and all harmful emanations and all destructive forces find in the human kingdom a barrier.  Evil and its effects are largely dependent upon humanity for a functioning channel.  Humanity's function is to transmit and handle force.  This is done in the early and ignorant stages destructively and with harmful results.  Later when acting under the influence of the soul, force is rightly and wisely handled and good eventuates.  True indeed it is that "the whole creation travaileth in pain until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God."

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2. The bringing of light.  Humanity is the planetary light bearer, transmitting the light of knowledge, of wisdom, and of understanding, and this in the esoteric sense.  These three aspects of light carry three aspects of soul energy to the soul in all forms, through the medium of the anima mundi, the world soul.  Physically speaking, this can be realized if we can appreciate the difference between our planetary illumination today and that of five hundred years ago—our brilliantly lit cities, our rural districts, shining through the night with their lighted streets and homes; our airways, outlined with their search-lights and fields of blazing globes; our oceans, dotted with their lighted ships, and increasingly our lighted airships will be seen, darting through the skies.

These are but the result of man's growing illumination.  His knowledge aspect of light has brought this into being.  Who shall say what will eventuate when the wisdom aspect predominates?  When these are welded by understanding, the soul will control in the three worlds and in all kingdoms of nature.

3. The transmission of energy.  The clue to the significance of this can be grasped as a concept, though as yet it will fail of comprehension, in the realization that the human kingdom acts upon and affects the three sub-human kingdoms.  The downpouring spiritual Triangle and the upraising matter Triangle meet point to point in humanity when the point of balance can be found.  In man's achievement and spiritualization is the hope of the world.  Mankind itself is the world Saviour, of which all world Saviours have been but the symbol and the guarantee.

4. The blending of the deva or angel evolution and the human.  This is a mystery which will be solved as man arrives at the consciousness of his own solar Angel, only to discover that that too is also but a form of life which, [101] having served its purpose, must be left behind.  The angel or deva evolution is one of the great lines of force, contained in the divine expression and the solar Angels, the Agnishvattas of The Secret Doctrine and of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire belong—in their form aspect—to this line.

Thus humanity serves, and in the development of a conscious aptitude for service, in the growth of a conscious understanding of the individual part to be played in the working out of the plan and in the rendering of the personality subject to the soul, will come the steady progress of humanity towards its goal of world service.

May I speak a word here so as to make this consummation a practical goal in your life?  Harmful magnetic conditions, as the result of man's wrong handling of force are the causes of evil in the world around us, including the three sub-human kingdoms.  How can we, as individuals, change this?  By the development in ourselves of Harmlessness.  Therefore, study yourself from this angle.  Study your daily conduct and words and thoughts so as to make them utterly harmless.  Set yourself to think those thoughts about yourself and others which will be constructive and positive, and hence harmless in their effects.  Study your emotional effect on others so that by no mood, no depression, and no emotional reaction can you harm a fellow-man.  Remember in this connection, violent spiritual aspiration and enthusiasm, misplaced or misdirected, may quite easily harm a fellow-man, so look not only  at your wrong tendencies but at the use of your virtues.

If harmlessness is the keynote of your life, you will do more to produce right harmonious conditions in your personality than any amount of discipline along other lines.  The drastic purgation brought about by the attempt to be harmless will go far to eliminate wrong [102] states of consciousness.  See to it therefore, and bring this idea in your evening review.

I would like to urge each one who reads these pages to make a fresh beginning in spiritual living.  I would say to him, forget all past achievements, realize fervour, and concentrate upon the Plan.

By this time some progress in group realization has surely been made, and less interest in the separated self has been gained.  More faith in the Good Law which guides all creation to ultimate perfection has been visioned without doubt, and, through this vision, has come the capacity to take one's eyes off the affairs of individual experience, and fasten them on the working out of the purpose for the whole.  This is the objective and the goal.  Breadth of vision, inclusiveness of understanding and a widened horizon are the preliminary essentials to all work under the guidance of the hierarchy of adepts; the stabilizing of the consciousness in the one life, and the recognition of the basic unity of all creation has to be somewhat developed before any one can be trusted with certain knowledges and Words of Power and the manipulation of those forces which bring the subjective reality into outer manifestation.

Therefore, I say to you at this time, I—an older and perhaps more experienced disciple and worker in the great vineyard of the Lord—practice harmlessness with zest and understanding, for it is (if truly carried out) the destroyer of all limitation.  Harmfulness is based on selfishness, and on an ego-centric attitude.  It is the demonstration of forces concentrated for self-enforcement, self-aggrandisement, and self-gratification.  Harmlessness is the expression of the life of the man who realizes himself to be everywhere, who lives consciously as a soul, whose nature is love, whose method is inclusiveness, and to whom all forms are alike in that they veil and hide the light, and are but externalizations of [103] the one Infinite Being.  This realization, let me remind you, will demonstrate in a true comprehension of a brother's need, divorced from sentiment and expediency.  It will lead to that silence of the tongue which grows out of non-reference to the separate self.  It will produce that instantaneous response to true need which characterizes the Great Ones who (passing beneath the outer appearance) see the inner cause which produces the conditions noted in the outer life, and so, from that point of wisdom, true help and guidance can be given.  Harmlessness brings about in the life caution in judgment, reticence in speech, ability to refrain from impulsive action, and the demonstration of a non-critical spirit.  So, free passage can be given to the forces of true love, and to those spiritual energies which seem to vitalize the personality, leading consequently to right action.

Let harmlessness, therefore, be the keynote of your life.  An evening review should be carried forward entirely along this line; divide the review work in three parts and consider:

1. Harmlessness in thought.  This will primarily result in the control of speech.

2. Harmlessness in emotional reaction.  This will result in being a channel for the love aspect of the soul.

3. Harmlessness in act.  This will produce poise, skill in action and the release of the creative will.

These three approaches to the subject should be studied from their effects upon one's own self and development, and from their effect upon those whom one contacts and upon one's environing associates.

May I interpolate here the remark that I make suggestions, based on experience in occult work.  There is no obligation to obey.  We seek to train intelligent servers of the race, and these are developed by self-initiated [104] effort, freedom in action and discrimination in method and not by unquestioning obedience, negative acquiescence, and blind following.  Let this not be forgotten.  If any command may ever emanate from the subjective band of teachers of whom I am a humble member, let it be to follow the dictates of your own soul and the promptings of your higher self.

Before we proceed to an analysis of this Rule and of the previous one, for Rules II and III are the two halves of a whole, I would like to remind you that, in this series of meditations upon these ancient formulas, we are concerned with the magical work of the aspirant as a co-worker in the enterprises of the Great White Lodge.  We are dealing with the methods of white magic.  Let me remind you also, that the magical work of our planetary Hierarchy consists of tending the psyche in the world of forms, so that the unfolding flower of the soul may be nurtured and fostered in such wise that radiant glory, magnetic force and (ultimately) spiritual energy may be demonstrated through the medium of the form.  Thus the power of the three Rays of divine Manifestation may be seen.

These rays likewise find their microcosmic reflections in the aura of perfected man.

You inquire, Why do I not say the throat centre?  Because the centres below the diaphragm symbolize primarily the personal lower self, and in their synthesising centre, the solar plexus, express the magnetic force of the matter aspect in man.  The throat centre is swept [105] into increasing creative activity as the personality vibrates to the soul.

Let us now consider the words at the end of the previous rule:  "The lower light is thrown upward and the greater light illuminates the three; the work of the four proceedeth."

What of this lower light?  The student should remember that for the present purposes he has three bodies of light to consider:

There is the radiant body of the soul itself, found on its own plane, and called, frequently, the Karana Sarira or the causal body.

There is the vital or etheric body, the vehicle of prana which is the body of golden light, or rather the flame coloured vehicle.

There is the body of "dark light", which is the occult way of referring to the hidden light of the physical body, and to the light latent in the atom itself.

These three types of energy are referred to in the Old Commentary under the following symbolic terms:

"When the radiant light of the Solar Angel is fused with the golden light of the cosmic intermediary, it awakens from darkness the rush light of anu, the speck."

The "cosmic intermediary" is the term given to the etheric body, which is part and parcel of the universal ether.  It is through the etheric body that all the energies flow, whether emanating from the soul, or from the sun, or from a planet.  Along those living lines of fiery essence pass all the contacts that do not emanate specifically from the tangible world.

The dark light of the tiny atoms of which the physical vehicle is constructed is responsive to the stimulation passing down from the soul into its vehicle, and, when the man is under control of the soul, there eventuates the shining forth of the light throughout the body.  This [106] shows as the radiance emanating from the bodies of adepts and saints, giving the effect of bright and shining light.

When the radiant light of the soul is blended with the magnetic light of the vital body, it stimulates the atoms of the physical body to such an extent that each atom becomes in turn a tiny radiant centre.  This only becomes possible when the head, heart, the solar plexus and the centre at the base of the spine are connected in a peculiar fashion, which is one of the secrets of the first initiation.  When these four are in close cooperation the "floor of the triangle" as it is symbolically called, is prepared for the magical work.  In other words—these can be enumerated as follows:

a. The physical material form with its centre at the base of the spine.

b. The vital body working through the heart centre where the life principle has its seat.  The activities of the body which are due to this stimulation are carried through the circulation of the blood.

c. The emotional body, working through the solar plexus centre.

d. The head centre, the direct agent of the soul and its interpreter, the mind.  These four are in complete accord and alignment.

When this is the case, the work of initiation and its interludes of active discipleship become possible.  Before this time the work cannot proceed.  This is foreshadowed in the aspirant when there is enacted a symbolic happening in the light in the head which is the forerunner of the later stage of initiation.

In this stage, the soul light penetrates into the region of the pineal gland; there it produces an irradiation of the ethers of the head, of the vital airs; this produces a stimulation of the atoms of the brain so that their light [107] is fused and blended with the other two, the etheric light and the soul light, and there is then produced that inner radiant sun of which the aspirant becomes conscious in his physical brain experience.  Frequently students speak of a diffused light or glow, this is the light of the physical plane atoms of which the brain is composed; later they may speak of seeing what appears to be like a sun in the head.  This is the contacting of the etheric light, plus the physical atomic light.  Later they become aware of an intensely bright electric light; this is the soul light, plus the etheric and the atomic.  When that is seen, they frequently become aware of a dark centre within the radiant sun.  This is the entrance to the Path disclosed by the "shining of the light upon the door."

Students must remember that it is possible to have reached a high stage of spiritual consciousness without seeing any of this brain radiance.  This is altogether in the nature of phenomena, and is largely determined by the calibre of the physical body, by past karma and achievement, and by the ability of the aspirant to bring down "power from on high", and to hold that energy steady in the brain centre whilst he himself in meditation is detached from the form aspect, and can look serenely at it.

When this has been accomplished (and it is not an objective to be worked for, but is simply an indication to be registered in the consciousness and then dismissed) the consequent stimulation produces a reaction of the physical body.  The magnetic power of the light in the head, and the radiant force of the soul produce stimulation.  The centres begin to vibrate, and their vibration awakens the atoms of the material body until eventually the powers of the vibrating etheric body have swung even the lowest centre into line with the highest.  Thus the fires of the body (the sum total of the energy of the atoms) are swept into increased activity until such time [108] as there is a rising up the spine of that fiery energy.  This is brought about by the magnetic control of the soul, seated "on the throne between the eyebrows".

Here enters in the work of one of the means of yoga, abstraction or withdrawal.  Where the three lights are blended, where the centres are aroused and the atoms are also vibrating, it becomes possible for the man to centre all three in the head at will.  Then, by the act of the will and the knowledge of certain words of Power he can enter into samadhi and be withdrawn from his body, carrying the light with him.  In this way the greater light (the three fused and blended) illuminates the three worlds of man's endeavours and "the light is thrown upward" and illuminates all the spheres of man's conscious and unconscious experience.  This is spoken of in the occult writings of the Masters in these words:

"Then the Bull of God carries the light in his forehead, and his eye transmits the radiance; His head, with magnetic force, resembles the blazing sun, and from the lotus of the head, the path of light issues.  It enters into the Greater Being, producing a living fire.  The Bull of God sees the Solar Angel, and knows that Angel to be the light wherein he walks."

Then the work of the four proceeds.  The four are at-one.  The Solar Angel is identified with his instrument; the life of the sheaths is subordinated to the life of the inner divinity; the light of the sheaths is fused with the light of the soul.  The head, the heart, and the base of the spine are geometrically aligned and certain developments then become possible.

In these two Rules, the foundation of the magical work of the soul has been laid down.  Let us list, for the sake of clarity, the steps outlined:

1. The Solar Angel begins the work of initiating the Personality.

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2. He withdraws his forces from soul enterprises in the spiritual Kingdom, and centres his attention on the work to be done.

3. He enters into deep meditation.

4. Magnetic rapport with the instrument in the three worlds is instituted.

5. The instrument, man, responds, and also enters into meditation.

6. The work proceeds in ordered stages and with cyclic activity.

7. The light of the soul is thrown downwards.

8. The light of the vital body and the physical form is synchronised with that of the head.

9. The centres swing into activity.

10. The light of the soul and the two other aspects of light are so intense that now all life in the three worlds is illumined.

11. Alignment is produced, the work of discipleship and of initiation becomes possible and proceeds according to the Law of Being.