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4. Diseases and Problems of Disciples and Mystics - Part 3

It can be noted that we have not summed up the two planes of abstraction on the atmic and the buddhic planes, the reason being that they mark a degree of realisation which is the property of initiates of higher degree than that of the adept, and which is beyond the concept of the evolving human unit, for whom this treatise is written.

We might, here, for the sake of clarity, tabulate the five different aspects of the five senses on the five planes, so that their correspondences may be readily visualised, using the above table as the basis:

 

a. The First Sense.......................................

Hearing.

1. Physical hearing.

 

2. Clairaudience.

 

3. Higher clairaudience.

 

4. Comprehension (of four sounds).

 

5. Beatitude.

 

 

 

b. The Second Sense.................................

Touch or feeling.

1. Physical touch.

 

2. Psychometry.

 

3. Planetary psychometry.

 

4. Healing.

 

5. Active service.

 

 

 

c. The Third Sense......................................

Sight.

1. Physical sight.

 

2. Clairvoyance.

 

3. Higher clairvoyance.

 

4. Divine vision.

 

5. Realisation.

 

 

 

d. The Fourth Sense...................................

Taste.

1. Physical taste.

 

2. Imagination.

 

3. Discrimination. [562]

 

4. Intuition.

 

5. Perfection.

 

 

 

e. The Fifth Sense......................................

Smell.

1. Physical smell.

 

2. Emotional idealism.

 

3. Spiritual discernment.

 

4. Idealism.

 

5. All knowledge.

 

 

Extract 2

Hearing gives him an idea of relative direction, and enables a man to fix his place in the scheme, and to locate himself.

Touch gives him an idea of relative quantity and enables him to fix his relative value as regards other bodies, extraneous to himself.

Sight gives him an idea of proportion, and enables him to adjust his movements to the movements of others.

Taste gives him an idea of value, and enables him to fix upon that which to him appears best.

Smell gives him an idea of innate quality, and enables him to find that which appeals to him as of the same quality or essence as himself.

In all these definitions it is necessary to bear in mind that the whole object of the senses is to reveal the not-self, and to enable the Self therefore to differentiate between the real and the unreal.

Extract 3

These three major senses (if I might so describe them) are very definitely allied, each with one of the three Logoi:

Hearing—The recognition of the fourfold word, the activity of matter, the third Logos.

Touch—The recognition of the sevenfold Form Builder, the gathering together of forms, their approximation and interrelation, the second Logos.  The Law of Attraction between the Self and the not-self begins to work.

Sight—The recognition of totality, the synthesis of all, the realisation of the One in Many, the first Logos.  The Law of Synthesis, operating between all forms which the self occupies, [563] and the recognition of the essential unity of all manifestation by the means of sight.

Extract 4

 

Hearing..........

Beatitude.

This is realised through the not-self.

Touch.............

Service.

The summation of the work of the Self for the not-self.

Sight..............

Realisation.

Recognition of the triplicity needed in manifestation, or the reflex action of the Self and the not-self.

Taste.............

Perfection.

Evolution completed through the utilisation of the not-self and its realised adequacy.

Smell............

Perfected Knowledge.

The principle of manas in its discriminating activity, perfecting the inter-relation between the Self and the not-self.

 

A close study of the above will bring to the open-minded student two major points which he would do well to consider:

1. That the instinctual nature, as it develops in the three kingdoms (animal, human and divine) is, in fact, that which develops stage by stage into what we call consciousness; it is in reality, the development of a gradual expansion of capacity to be aware of the environment, whatever that environment may be.  The herd instinct of the animal is, for instance, the embryonic unfoldment of what is later recognised by the intellect as group consciousness.  These higher developments are brought about by the application of the intellect and a change in the motivating power.  The same idea can be traced in connection with all the instincts.

2. That the lower psychic powers, inherent in the animal nature, are in every case embryonic indications of soul capacities.

[564]

Once this idea is grasped, the attitude of the sceptic and unbeliever will change and he will see (as he studies these lower powers) that, rightly understood and utilised, they can be direct avenues of approach to certain states of existence, but are incidental to and not substitutes for the higher powers.

I would like to offer two other points to your consideration:

First, that the man or woman who is expressing and interested in these lower powers (which are called the lower siddhis by the oriental philosophy) is demonstrating true powers.  They are not however the highest possible powers nor are they the powers which humanity is intended to express unless at the lowest point in evolution and, therefore, allied closely to the animal kingdom; or at the highest point, in which case the greater powers automatically include the lesser.  The lower psychic powers are shared with the animal kingdom and with all those human races which are low down in the scale of the human evolution.

This is a fact and a statement which arouses much antagonism among the present day exponents of these powers, both in and out of the spiritualistic and occult movements.  Such people are apt to consider these powers as indicative either of an advanced spiritual condition or as a rare and unique possession, setting their owner apart as more gifted, more wise and more able to advise and direct other human beings than is the ordinary man.  This attitude is demonstrated by the immense audiences such people can address and gather around themselves, and the willingness of the public to listen to them and to pay money for the privilege and the benefit of the demonstration and the advice.

Secondly, the difficulty of this situation is increased because, as evolution proceeds, certain more or less advanced [565] people recover these ancient animal propensities and capacities as their power to become inclusive goes forward; they begin to expand their consciousness so that the past as well as the future is brought within their range of awareness.  Knowing that they are aspiring to the higher things and towards the world of mystical realisation (in contradistinction to that of psychical realisation), they interpret some episode, which they may have clairvoyantly apprehended, as appertaining to them as individuals; they regard some clairaudient injunction or happening as appropriately theirs, and some vision of a thought form of the Christ or of one of the Masters as indicative of a direct and personal interview with these advanced leaders.  They thus enter into the world of glamour and of delusion from which they must, finally with great difficulty, extricate themselves.

May I also call your attention to the fact that the lines of demarcation between these animal, human and divine states of consciousness are not clear cut as in our tabulation?  A recognition of this will call attention to the complexity of the subject and the difficulty of our theme.  This complexity can, I think, be well illustrated by a study of the uses of the word telepathy.  As generally used today it indicates two powers:

1. An instinctual registering of some situation, some call and some impression which impinges upon the solar plexus centre.  This power of impression is Not controlled; there is no supervised intentional mental perception of a directed message; there is only a tuning in on a state of mind or on a condition and situation connected with the one who is regarded as sending the message.  In nine cases out of ten, this message is one of distress and goes forward and produces its effect without any capacity on the part of the recipient to induce the reception of the [566] message.  An illustration of this would be the recognition by a mother that a loved child is in danger.

2. A form of clairvoyance which enables the man to see that which is hidden, such as the number of symbols on a playing card which is laying face downwards upon the table.

True telepathy, however, is a direct mental communication from mind to mind and in its more advanced expression is a communication of soul to soul, using the mind later as a formulator of the communication, as in the case of inspiration.  It is interesting to note (and instructive also in view of our subject) that in true telepathic registration, the lesser powers may be raised and used at a high level of awareness.  It is well known esoterically that

a. Some people simply record telepathically in their minds the information coming from another mind.  The registration as well as the communication is wordless and formless.  The recipient simply knows and the imparted knowledge takes form in the consciousness without any intermediate stages or steps.  This is formless telepathy.

b. Other people instantaneously step down into form the knowledge which has been imparted; they will see the message, word or information appear before their eyes in written or printed form as if it were imposed upon a moving screen, seen within the head.

c. Others will step the information down into form whereby they hear it.

In these two latter cases, the true man is making use of his latent lower powers, raising them to as high a level as possible and subordinating them to mental or soul uses.  The difference [567] between this usage of the power of clairvoyant and clairaudient demonstration is that in this case there is full mental control and understanding, and in the other cases the lower powers are automatically employed, are uncontrolled, are occupied with matters of no true importance and are not understood in any way by the one who is employing them.

The one basic sense, as you well know is that of touch.  This is the reason why I have not placed psychometry in any particular category in my tabulation of the instincts, senses and powers.  Psychometry is essentially the capacity to work with and to get in touch with the soul of the higher grouping to which the unit in the lower grouping aspires, and with the soul that can thus aspire in any form.  It concerns, in reality the "measure" of inclusiveness.  This measure will govern, for instance, the relation of the dog or other domesticated animal to a human being, of a man to other men, and of an aspirant to his soul, his master and his group.  When this psychometrical inclusiveness is turned towards the world of tangible things—minerals, possessions and other material objects, for instance—we tend to make a magical performance out of it, and to charge money for the demonstration of psychometrical power.  We then call this the science of psychometry.  Yet it is the same power, turned towards the lower kingdoms as is employed in making contact with the higher.  There are three groups of people who use the lower psychic powers, either consciously or unconsciously:

1. Those whose evolutionary stage is low enough to permit of their automatic use.

2. Those who have brought over the capacity to see and hear on astral levels or to "work magic" from another life—from Atlantean times.  These powers are natural to them, but are usually neither understood nor controlled by [568] knowledge and they usually make their owner a victim or an exploiter of these powers.

3. The mystic upon the path of vision who (through the bringing in of energy from the soul through meditation and aspiration) stimulates the solar plexus or throat centres and thus opens a door on to the astral plane.

In all cases, it is the astral plane which stands revealed.  The statement can here be made that where there is colour, form and phenomena analogous to or a replica of that to be found upon the physical plane then there is to be seen the "duplicating phenomena" of the astral plane.  Where there is materialisation of forms upon the physical plane you see the joint activity of the astral and etheric planes.  You do not have the phenomena of the mental or soul levels.  Bear this definitely in mind.  The astral plane is—in time and space and to all intents and purposes—a state of real being plus a world of illusory forms, created by man himself and by his imaginative creativity.  One of the major lessons to be learnt upon the Path of Discipleship is to learn to distinguish that which is real from that which is illusion.

What then, is to be seen and heard by the medium when in trance or when giving an exhibition of clairvoyance and clairaudience?  Several possibilities, which I might list as follows:

1. A revelation of the "wish life" of the person or the group to whom the medium is addressing himself.  This wish life takes form in proportion to the power of the unexpressed wish or the mental ability of the person or persons concerned.

2. A recognition by the medium of the thought forms or thought form to be found in the aura of the person in the audience or circle.  These thought forms have been [569] built over a space of time and are usually of some one deeply loved or as deeply disliked.  They are often so real in appearance that the person can recognise them when described by the medium and the medium can at the same time by a process of telepathy (via the solar plexus centre) become aware of the things which the sitter wishes to hear, which will be in line with the usual mannerisms and methods of speech and thought of the departed or living friend.  This accounts for the mediocre calibre of the usual utterance and statement made at a seance.  The average person who frequents a seance is not usually of the highest grade of intelligence, unless he is simply there as an investigator.

3. A few rare cases when a soul on the path of return to incarnation or immediately after death is impelled (for good and sufficient purpose) to make a contact with a friend or relative via a medium.  Such cases are known and usually presuppose more than average intelligence on the part of the sitter, the communicator and the medium.  They constitute however, the exceptional occurrence.

4. The revelation to the clairvoyant and clairaudient worker of much of the phenomena of the astral plane, which parallels that of the physical plane and which is conditioned by the quality and calibre of the circle of people who constitute the audience.  This, the medium interprets to them and it usually evokes recognition.

I am here casting no doubt on the sincerity of the performance nor on those mediums who are born with these clairvoyant and clairaudient faculties.  I am only pointing out that the phenomena which they are contacting is astral in nature and that anyone looking at a circle from the standpoint [570] of the higher psychic powers would note around each sitter a group of astral forms (self-created) of those who have departed physical life through death, of those who are constantly in his thoughts though still alive, and also a kaleidoscopic and changing process of appearing and disappearing forms (some quite nebulous and some quite substantial according to the power of thought) which concern the wish life of the sitter, which are concerned with his home affairs, his business or are built up around his health.  The sensitive tunes in on these, connects them with the attendant thought forms and hence the production of the usual performance found in the seance room or with the average audience.  The medium is truly and accurately relating just what he sees and hears and therefore is sincere and truthful, but because he receives no real training in the art of interpretation and in the technique of distinguishing the illusory from the real, he is, perforce, unable to do more than describe the phenomena seen and the words heard.

When, however, the mystic opens up these same powers as is sometimes the case, the phenomena seen and the words which are heard can be of a very high order.  Nevertheless they are still astral, for they concern happenings and phenomena found upon the higher levels of the astral plane.  He comes into contact with the spiritual or religious wish life of the race and according to the basic trend of his individual aspiration at the moment so will be his contacts.  If he is an earnest and devoted Christian, he will see one of the beautiful and vital thought forms of the Christ there to be found and in the wonder of that revelation, his love and his imagination and all that is best in him will be evoked in adoration and mystery.  Hence some of the inspired writings and illumined visions of the mystic.  If he is a Hindu, there may come [571] to him a vision of the Lord of Love, Shri Krishna, or, if a Buddhist, he may see the Lord of Light, the Buddha, in all His radiance.  If he is an occult student, or a Theosophist or Rosicrucian, he may see a vision of one of the Masters or of the entire Hierarchy of adepts; he may hear words spoken and thus feel assured, past all controversy, that the Great Ones have chosen him for special privilege and for unique service.  And yet, his consciousness has never moved from off the astral plane and his contacts have only been a wonderful and inspiring expression of the phenomena of that plane, released to his inner sight and hearing through his aspiration.

All this is brought about through the over-activity of the solar plexus centre, stimulated by the energy pouring in from the heights he has attained in aspirational meditation.  The results are very emotional in their nature, and the reactions developed and the subsequent service rendered are on emotional levels.  A great deal of this is to be seen among the teachers in the world at this time in many lands.  Such teachers have been and are true aspirants.  They have awakened in consciousness upon the higher levels of the astral plane.  They have there seen the thought forms which humanity has created of the spiritual Hierarchy or the reflections on those levels of that Hierarchy (a still more potent group of thought forms) and have heard repetitions of that which has been said and thought by the world aspirants of all time—all of it most beautiful, good and true.  They then proceed to teach and proclaim what they have thus heard, seen and learnt and frequently do much good—on astral levels.  They are, all the same, confusing the reflection with the reality, the reproduction with the original, and the humanly constructed with the divinely created.

Forget not, that the astral plane is that whereon man has [572] to learn to distinguish truth from error, and the real from the unreal.  Thus those who are deceived are only learning a needed lesson.  The fact of the astral plane is being steadily recognised and that is good.  The fact of the existence of the spiritual Hierarchy and of Masters is being brought to the attention of the masses even if it is being done by those who are confusing the reflection and the thought form with the reality.

The question could here properly be asked:  How can the mystic avoid this error and confusion?  How can he distinguish the real from the illusory?  This constitutes an individual problem for every mystic and there is no one profound and scientific rule whereby he can guide his reactions.  The only rules which I can give you are so simple that those who are occupied at this time with teaching and proclaiming that which they have astrally contacted may not like to follow them.  The attitude of mind which will guard the mystic from astral delusion and error is:

1. The cultivation of a spirit of true humility.  There is a spiritual arrogance which masks itself behind a cloak of humbleness and which is very prevalent at this time.  It leads people to regard themselves as the chosen of the Hierarchy to save the world; it leads them to look upon themselves as the mouthpieces of the Masters or of the Christ; it tends to make them separative in their attitudes to other leaders and teachers, refusing to recognise the many aspects of the one work and the many methods which the Mind of God has devised for reaching the masses.

2. The refusal to accept any contact or message which has personality implications or which sets its recipient apart, thus tending to the development of a Messiah complex. [573] I like that phrase.  It is simple and concise and illustrates dramatically the state of mind and describes the assured nature of the consciousness of many of the present teachers of humanity.  A true contact with the Hierarchy and the true accolade of service carries with it the conviction of the existence of the many servers in the one Service, of the many messengers carrying the one message, of the many teachers of the many aspects of the one Truth, and of the many and various ways back to the Heart of God.  When this all-embracing revelation accompanies the call to service, then the spirit of inclusiveness is developed and the man can be sure that he is truly called to cooperate and convinced of the reality of his vision.

3. The freedom from emotional appeal.  The true disciple and mystic is ever mentally polarised.  His vision is free from the deluding reactions of the solar plexus centre.  His vision awakens the heart centre and evokes the response of his personality energy (focussed in the ajna centre) and produces eventually a "centering in the place of light".  This indicates the growing activity of the head centre.  He may, later, use controlled emotional appeal in dealing with the masses but he himself seeks to remain free from all emotional control.

We are considering the unfoldment of the psychic powers, producing conditions in the subject which are regarded by the orthodox investigator as pathological in nature or as indicating psychological trouble of a serious kind.  However, we are today close to the time when the fact of there being modes of perception other than those of the physical senses will be recognised, and the attitude of medicine and of the psychiatric and neurological sciences will undergo definite [574] changes—much to the assistance and aid of humanity.  The development of the psychic powers is basically due at this time (for the whole problem shifts into changing fields as evolution proceeds) to the psychic becoming aware of a field or fields of phenomena which are always present but which remain usually unrecognised because the inner mechanism of perception remains latent or quiescent.  In the undeveloped human being or in groups of men who are low down in the racial scale, as also in animals, there is much psychic perception because the sacral centre motivates the physical plane life and the solar plexus centre governs the psychic nature.  In these cases, all the higher centres are quiescent and undeveloped.  The solar plexus is to the worlds of lower psychic perception what the brain is intended to be in the worlds of higher psychic understanding.  In the one case, you have a centre of energy which is so potent that it swings the man into a state of consciousness which is fundamentally astral, thus governing the sex life from the angle of the sentient consciousness; in the other case, you have so close an identification between the head centre in etheric matter and the brain in physical substance that an organ which is definitely physical functions sympathetically, accurately and synchronously with its subjective counterpart, registering impressions from the head centre and the worlds with which that centre puts a man in touch.  The two are then as one.

In between these stages of low grade psychic life and the spiritual perception of the initiate there is to be found every possible type of sentient consciousness.  These can be divided into three major categories:

1. The unfoldment and use of the psychic powers, both higher and lower.

This is the stage of Psychism.

[575]

2. The evolution of the mystical vision.

This is the stage of Mysticism.

3. The revelation of light and power.

This is the stage of Occultism.

All these expressions of divine knowledge are connected with, and dependent upon, the development of the centres.  In the low grade human being, the centres are nothing more than slowly revolving, palpitating disks of dim light.  In Lemurian days, the sacral centre was the most active and the brightest.  In Atlantean days, the solar plexus centre was by far the most significant.  Today, as you know, the higher correspondences are coming into functioning activity and humanity is beginning to reap the benefits derived from experience in three races—the Lemurian, the Atlantean and the Aryan.

The throat centre is now the most active in the majority of cases and the most significant.  The time is, however, coming when humanity will function on a large scale and as a mass through the ajna centre; this will take place in the next race for, in the next great cycle of racial development, there will be no people with a Lemurian consciousness to be found anywhere and the "pull" or the activity of the sacral centre will be greatly lessened and controlled.  This can be seen happening today among the intelligentsia of the race.  The Atlantean state of awareness (which functions primarily through the solar plexus) will be also greatly lessened as the heart centre awakens.  Humanity will then be wrestling with difficulties and pathological and psychological troubles which will be based on group conditions and influences and not so much on a man's individual unfoldment.  The beginnings of this can already be seen in its lowest phase in the emergence today of what is called "mass psychology"—a thing practically unknown (except in urban centres) a few hundred years ago. [576] Now it is well nigh planetary in its radius of influence.  Public opinion, with its determining and conditioning influence, is another phase of the same emerging factor.

The Aryan state of consciousness, with its coordinating capacity and its mental emphasis, will control the mass of the people, for in the coming race the Atlantean emotional state of consciousness will be to humanity what the Lemurian or low grade type is to the Aryan at this time.  The masses will then all come under the category of the intelligentsia, whilst the intelligentsia of today will be the intuitives of tomorrow.  In the language of mysticism, the masses will be on the probationary path and the cream of the race will be on the path of discipleship.  The number also of the initiates and adepts, present in incarnation in order to carry forward the externalised work of the Hierarchy will be great.  The world will then be full of people who will be completely integrated personalities with all the virtues (and consequently all the vices), the ambitions and problems, incident to that stage of awareness.

It is for this reason that the Hierarchy is working at this time to bring about the fecundation of the race by the cosmic principle of love, so that love and intellect can proceed hand in hand and thus balance each other.  It is for this reason that the fact of the existence of the spiritual Hierarchy must be brought to the attention of the masses.  This must be done in order to enhance the magnetic power of the love aspect of the hierarchical effort and not in order to awaken fear or awe, for that is of the old order and must disappear.

I might here touch upon the paralleling activity of the forces which are working to prevent the externalisation of the Hierarchy of Light since such a happening as that would mean increased—because proven—power.  As you know, on the astral and mental planes centres exist which are [577] called "dark centres" because the emphasis of their activity is upon the material aspect of manifestation and upon the activity of material substance; all energy is subordinated to purely selfish purpose.  As I have before stated, the Forces of Light work with the soul, hidden in every form.  They are concerned with group purposes and with the founding of the kingdom of God on earth.  The dark forces work with the form side of expression and with the founding of a centre of control which will be theirs entirely and which will subdue all the living forms in all kingdoms to their peculiar behests.  It is the old story, familiar in Biblical phraseology, of the kingdoms of the world and the kingdom of the Christ, of the power of anti-Christ and the power of Christ.  This produced a great climax in Atlantean days and, though the Hierarchy of Light triumphed, it was only by the merest margin.  The battle was fought out on the astral plane, though it had its correspondence upon the physical plane, in a great world conflict of which the ancient legend tells us.  It ended in the catastrophe of the Flood.  The seeds of hate and of separation have been fostered ever since that time and the three modes whereby the forces of darkness seek to control humanity are hatred, aggression and separativeness.  The three great spiritual counterparts are love, selfless sharing and synthesis.

However, the hold of the forces which are working against the living principle of love (as embodied in the Hierarchy) is not gaining ground at this time, for the response of humanity to that which is good and synthetic is much more rapid and general than it was a few hundred years ago.  There is much reason to hope that there will be a steady waning of the undesired control.  The dark forces are ruled on the physical plane by a group of six oriental leaders and six occidental leaders; of these the oriental are the most powerful because [578] they are the oldest racially and therefore the most experienced.  They work by the intensification of glamour and by the stimulation of the lower psychic powers.  Their particular point of attack at this time is the group of world disciples and initiates, for these latter are responsible for the fostering of love in the world and for the binding of men together in the spirit of unity.  If they cannot succeed with this task now, it should be possible to externalise the Hierarchy and thereby greatly lessen the control of the so-called evil forces.

If these evil forces cannot induce the disciples everywhere, in group formation or individually, to succumb in some form to glamour, then they will endeavour to utilise group glamour to negative their efforts and force those with whom the disciples work to believe evil, to impugn motives, and to produce such a convincing story that the struggling disciple will be left to fight almost single-handed.  If this cannot be done, they may then attack the physical bodies of the workers and agents for the Hierarchy, and seek, through the distress of the physical body, to control the disciple's output.  This does not always prove successful, as the Master can, and often does, protect His disciple.  The dark forces work also through the intensification or stimulation of the psychic mechanism, so that the lower psychic powers become abnormally developed and prematurely assume proportions which are almost uncontrollable.  This happened on a large scale in Atlantean days and led to the entire astral plane standing revealed, but not understood.  Its undesirable potencies were then let loose upon the physical plane and this led to the war between the two great schools of the mysteries the Light and the Dark—which culminated in the destruction of the then known world.

Today these potencies, light and dark, are again struggling for physical plane expression and supremacy but this time [579] the result is vastly different.  The effort to produce soul contact or to hinder it is working out in the form of nervous diseases and pathological conditions and this is affecting potently the group activity of man.  The effort by the dark forces to stimulate the lower psychic powers seems able to reach no deeper into matter and form than the etheric vehicles and from there to condition the physical body physiologically in the form of diseases, lesions, nervous troubles and brain afflictions and the many other ways in which the human being is rendered helpless and unfitted to cope with daily living and modern world conditions.  But the mind nature has reached a stage of protective usefulness and some of the great guarding barriers which are flung up around humanity at this time are the spirit of scepticism, and the refusal to recognise the existence or the usefulness of the psychic powers.  This is a point to be remembered.

I have several times used the expression "the premature awakening" of the psychic powers.  By that I mean the abnormal unfoldment of the powers of clairvoyance and of clairaudience so that the entire lower levels of the astral plane stand revealed, though the possessor of these powers can neither control the phenomena of subtle sight and hearing, nor interpret correctly what he sees and hears.  In the earlier animal or savage stage, these faculties are frequently normal and there is no mental reaction of any kind and, therefore, no undue strain is put upon the nervous system and the brain.  There is what I might call a flat or unemotional acquiescence in the condition which is due to the complete lack of the interpretative sense and of the dramatic self-conscious attitude of the man who is beginning to use his mind.  The moment the "I-consciousness" becomes uppermost, then the possession of these lower psychic powers becomes a hindrance and a complication.  Temporarily, they must be thrust into the [580] background in order that the mind principle may assert its control and the life of the soul can then flow out into matured and considered expression upon the physical plane.  This relegation of the psychic powers to a position below the threshold of consciousness is the intent of the development planned for the Aryan race.

I would like here to point out that I use the word "Aryan" in contradistinction to the majority of the races found in Asia.  Speaking generally, we can today classify the races into three groups:

1. The many remnants of the Atlantean or fourth root-race people, plus a very small sprinkling of the Lemurian peoples—so small as to be negligible.

2. The Aryan race itself, which includes the civilisation of India and all Latins, Teutons, Nordics, and Anglo-Saxons, and their various off-shoots.

3. A group which bridges between the Oriental races and the Aryan race which we call the Semitic.  This race is neither purely Oriental nor is it Aryan.

The Jews are a group of people in whom the principle of separation is pronouncedly present.  For ages they have, with determination and in obedience to the injunctions in the Old Testament, insisted on regarding themselves as a people set apart.  For ages they have held themselves separated off from all other peoples in the world.  The result is that they are now evoking from the races among whom they are scattered a corresponding desire to force that very separation upon them.  Under the law, we draw forth from others what is actually present within ourselves, and to this law, races and nations are no exception.  Through the inter-relation of Jew and Gentile, of Semitic and Aryan, and through the solving of [581] the Jewish problem will the great heresy of separateness eventually be fought out.

It is not intended that the Aryan race should be a psychic race.  Their goal is bringing the mind nature into prominence.  This could not take place if the "drift" of the forces, flowing into the human mechanism was in the direction of the solar plexus—the major centre, governing all lower psychic unfoldment.  Just as certain transferences are going on today between the centres below the diaphragm into those above the diaphragm, so the solar plexus (which is like the controlling brain in the animal and the physical-emotional man) must cease finally to control the activities of the human being and the brain must become the seat of the directing agency in its place.  Speaking again generally, there are three major controlling factors in the career of a human being:—

1. The solar plexus, corresponding to that stage wherein the play of the forces is physical-etheric-astral.

This is the stage of psychic development.

2. The ajna centre between the eyebrows, corresponding to the period of integration and of personality control, wherein certain areas of the brain become sensitised and used.

This is the stage of mental development.

3. The head centre, involving the entire brain area around the pineal gland, wherein the spiritual man assumes control.

This is the stage of soul control.

It is in this latter stage that the higher psychic faculties come into play and the lower powers can then again be used, if deemed desirable.  The initiate has full control of all faculties and powers, and knows both when and how to use them the most profitably and with the least expenditure of energy.  It [582] should be noted, however, that the average modern psychic or medium does not come under this category, for the initiates and Masters use all Their powers quietly and behind the scenes and not for demonstration before the public.  The majority of psychics today are solar plexus workers, though a few—a very few—are beginning to shift their forces into the ajna centre and to develop mental faculties.  This has an integrating effect and temporarily is marked by a complete and necessary cessation of the lower powers.  In this sense "the mind is the slayer of the real", but only of the relatively real.  That which has seemed real and of importance or which proved interesting and exciting to the average psychic is eventually forced below the threshold of consciousness by the unfoldment of the mind.  It is this needed transition period in the case of many of the modern psychics which lies at the root of a number of their undoubted difficulties.  They are faced with issues they cannot resolve and which they do not understand as they have no background of occult practice or understanding.  They have been brought to the point of discarding the old ways and yet the new techniques of living and of practice mean nothing to them.  A future which must be faced without the phenomena which has made the past so exciting, interesting and frequently remunerative does not attract them.  Yet, in reality they are faced with the transition out of the Atlantean state of consciousness into the higher and Aryan state of awareness.  They are offered a step forward and need to remember that every step forward in evolution and, therefore, towards the spiritual goal, is always at a cost and through the relinquishing of that which has hitherto been held dear.

The psychical difficulties which eventually are many, fall into three general categories:

[583]