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CHAPTER I - The Psychological Causes of Disease - Part 7

2. He is drawn into close service relationship with humanity.  His growing sense of responsibility, due to heart activity, leads him to serve and work.  Eventually he too becomes the heart of a group or of an organisation—small at first but becoming worldwide as his spiritual power develops and he thinks in terms of the group and of humanity.  These two relationships on his part are reciprocal.  Thus the love aspect of divinity becomes active in the three worlds, and love is anchored on earth and takes the place of emotion, of desire and of the material aspects of feeling.  Note that phrase.

h. In the early stages of unfoldment, of both the individual and the race, the inverted heart lotus with its twelve petals reaches downwards towards the solar plexus centre.  This last centre, since Atlantean days, has been reversed, and its petals are now reaching upwards towards the next centre up the spine, the heart centre, owing to the slowly mounting energies from the solar plexus centre which are seeking to escape from the "prison of the lower regions" through a process of transmutation.

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As a result the heart centre is beginning slowly to unfold and also to reverse itself.  The reversal of the "lotus centres" is always brought about as the result of a dual action—the pushing from below and the pull from above.

The reversal of the heart lotus and its upward unfolding is due to the following factors:

1. The growing potency of the hierarchical approach.

2. A rapidly establishing soul contact.

3. The response of the unfolding heart lotus to the pull of the Master's Ashram.

4. The surging upwards of the transmuted energies from below the diaphragm, via the solar plexus, in response to spiritual "pull".

5. The growing understanding by man as to the nature of love.

There are other factors but these are the ones you will most easily understand if you will regard them as symbolic and not too literally.  Until the year, 1400 A.D., the relation of the solar plexus centre to the heart centre might be pictorially expressed as indicated in this diagram. [iv]*

Eventually, at the close of the next root race, you will have the full expression of love and the lotuses up the spine will appear—all five of them—differing only in the number of petals found in each.

Finally at the close of the great world cycle when all the lotuses have reversed themselves, all will be opening and presenting free channels for the inflow and the transmission of the three major divine energies and the four lesser forces.

To this constant movement of the centres and to the constant inflow of energies we can trace much of the discomfort of humanity in its various bodies; it is the inability of the centres to respond or to unfold which in many cases produces disease and difficulty; it is the unbalanced unfoldment of the centres, their arrested development and their lack of response which creates problems in other cases; it is their premature unfoldment and their overactivity which in other cases brings about danger; it is the failure of the physical mechanism to measure up to the inner unfoldment which causes so much trouble.  Thus again you can see the complexity of the subject.  The stage of theory is a simple one, except in so far as it sets forces in motion which eventually lead to difficulty.  The stage of reaction to response and of adjustment to the theory also institutes a cycle of intense difficulty and complexity, because it leads to a cycle of experiment and experience during which the disciple learns much and suffers much.  Then as experience is gained, the stage of spiritual expression supervenes and freedom from danger and emancipation from difficulty and liberation from disease takes place.  Simplicity is restored.

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The Body, Phenomenal Appearance

Not much need be written here anent this, for the body nature and the form aspect have been the object of investigation and the subject of thought and discussion of thinking men for many centuries.  Much at which they have arrived is basically correct.  The modern investigator will admit the Law of Analogy as the basis of his premises and recognises, sometimes, that the Hermetic theory, "As above, so below," may throw much light on the present problems.  The following postulates may serve to clarify:

1. Man, in his body nature, is a sumtotal, a unity.

2. This sumtotal is subdivided into many parts and organisms.

3. Yet these many subdivisions function in a unified manner, and the body is a correlated whole.

4. Each of its parts differs in form and in function, but all are interdependent.

5. Each part and each organism is, in its turn, composed of molecules, cells and atoms, and these are held together in the form of the organism by the life of the sumtotal.

6. The sumtotal called man is roughly divided into five parts, some of greater importance than others, but all completing that living organism we call a human being.

a. The head

b. The upper torso, or that part which lies above the diaphragm.

c. The lower torso, or that part lying below the diaphragm.

d. The arms

e. The legs

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7. These organisms serve varied purposes, and upon their due functioning and proper adjustment the comfort of the whole depends.

8. Each of these has its own life, which is the sum total of the life of its atomic structure, and is also animated by the unified life of the whole, directed from the head by the intelligent will or energy of the spiritual man.

9. The important part of the body is that triple division, the head, upper and lower torso.  A man can function and live without his arms and legs.

10. Each of these three parts is also triple from the physical side, making the analogy of the three parts of man's nature and the nine of perfected monadic life.  There are other organs, but those enumerated are those which have an esoteric significance of greater value than the other parts.

a. Within the head are:

1. The five ventricles of the brain, or what we might call the brain as a unified organism.

2. The three glands, carotid, pineal and pituitary.

3. The two eyes.

b. Within the upper body are:

1. The throat

2. The lungs

3. The heart

c. Within the lower body are:

1. The spleen

2. The stomach

3. The sex organs

11. The sumtotal of the body is also triple:

a. The skin and bony structure.

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b. The vascular or blood system.

c. The threefold nervous system.

12. Each of these triplicities corresponds to the three parts of man's nature:

a. Physical nature:  The skin and bony structure are the analogy to the dense and etheric body of man.

b. Soul nature:  The blood vessels and circulatory system are the analogy to that all pervading soul which penetrates to all parts of the solar system, as the blood goes to all parts of the body.

c. Spirit nature:  The nervous system, as it energises and acts throughout the physical man is the correspondence to the energy of spirit.

13. In the head we have the analogy to the spirit aspect, the directing will, the monad, the One.

a. The brain with its five ventricles is the analogy to the physical form which the spirit animates in connection with man, the fivefold sumtotal which is the medium through which the spirit on the physical plane has to express itself.

b. The three glands in the head are closely related to the soul or psychic nature (higher and lower).

c. The two eyes are the physical plane correspondences to the monad, who is will and love-wisdom, or atma-buddhi, according to the occult terminology.

14. In the upper body we have an analogy to the triple soul nature.

a. The throat, corresponding to the third creative aspect or the body nature, the active intelligence of the soul.

b. The heart, the love-wisdom of the soul, the buddhi or Christ principle.

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c. The lungs, the analogy for the breath of life, is the correspondence to spirit.

15. In the lower torso again we have this triple system carried out.

a. The sex organs, the creative aspect, the fashioner of the body.

b. The stomach as the physical manifestation of the solar plexus is the analogy to the soul nature.

c. The spleen, the receiver of energy and therefore the physical plane expression of the centre which receives this energy, is the analogy to the energizing spirit.

I realise well the technicalities which I have given here and their difficulty and apparent uselessness.  It might be asked:  Why should it be necessary to be so meticulous in enumerating the physical, psychological and systemic details of a purely academic nature when, by an act of the will and of divine power, and by the use of certain Words of Power, healing can be accomplished?  These ideas are basically true, but are based upon a misapprehension—in time and space.  If all healers were Masters of the Wisdom, if they were all clairvoyant, if they comprehended the Law of Karma and its working out in the life of the patient, if they had the full cooperation of the patient, and if they had the ability to add to all the above requirements the use of certain Words and Mantrams, then the academic knowledge would indeed be needless.  But these requirements are not and can not be met.  Healers, as a rule, have none of these powers.  That they frequently heal (though not as often as they think they do) is true, but when successful they have succeeded in doing one or other of the following:

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Healed the patient when his destiny and fate so willed it and his soul had therefore drawn its vehicle (the physical man) into the radiatory aura of a healer or a healing group.  The probability is that the patient would have recovered in any case but that the process was hastened by the applied effort and attention, plus faith.

Interfered with the immediate design or pattern of the patient's life, and so postponed certain processes of spiritual tuition which were needed.  This is very apt to be forgotten.  It is too intricate a subject to be dealt with here, but I may be able to make it somewhat clearer as we deal with our final section.

Therefore (until there is full knowledge) it is vitally necessary that the structure of power and vitality and the network of energies and forces which compose the human organism should be studied.  A mental grasp of the processes of healing is needed; and the reasons which make them seem difficult and complicated, unnecessary and wasteful of time, are as follows:

The inability of even the most advanced human mind to grasp themes and subjects as a wholeThe synthetic element is as yet lacking.  At present, the teaching and processes involved must be mastered step by step, detail by detail, precept by precept, application by application.  But the future holds the promise clear, and the ability of the human eye to function synthetically, to grasp a landscape, for instance, in its broad and salient outlines and to do this simultaneously and in a flash of vision is the guarantee of the future technique of the race.  One look by the illumined mind, one great radiation of love, and the healer or the healing group [168] will know whether to heal, to aid the effort of the patient—a much slower process—or to refrain from healing.

The inertia of the average man or woman, which rebels against the effort needed to master the technical side of healing.  It is so much easier to fall back on divinity (a divinity in reality latent but not expressive) and "let God do it."  It is so much easier to recognise love and the outpouring of love than to master the processes whereby it can be made effective—or the nature of that which must be affected.

These are points requiring careful attention and consideration.  They merit reflection.  The synthetic power of the mind, aided by true love, will some day be the instrument of all true healers.  In the meantime, for the sake of the future and in order to aid the formulation of the coming healing art—based on the understanding of energy, its inflow and circulation—this treatise will deal somewhat with the academic side.  After all, the facts given are facts in existence and are truly present, as are those emotions which the average healer calls love.

The Seven Major Centres—(Continued)

Let us now continue with our consideration of the centres.  We have dealt with the four above the diaphragm—the three centres through which the Spiritual Triad must eventually work, and the synthetic centre, the ajna centre, which finally expresses the integrated personality and becomes the direct agent of the soul.  We now have three more centres to consider, all of them to be found below the diaphragm—the solar plexus centre, the sacral centre, [169] and the centre at the base of the spine.  The most important for all aspirants at this time is the solar plexus centre; the most active—generally speaking—in humanity as a whole, is still the sacral centre; the most quiescent centre in the body (from the angle of the spiritual man) is the basic centre.

5. The Solar Plexus Centre.  This is located well below the shoulder blades in the spine and is exceedingly active.  In Atlantean days, it was brought to a high stage of development, just as in Aryan days, the throat centre is being rapidly awakened.  This centre is peculiarly related to two other centres:  The heart and the ajna centre, and they form at this time an interesting triangle of energies in the human body and one which is receiving much attention from the Hierarchy.  There is a downflow of energy from the ajna centre to the heart from the soul, just in so far as the aspirant is in touch with his soul.  This leads to three things:

A stimulation of the heart centre.

A responsive reaction from the heart which evokes a stimulation of the ajna centre and produces eventually the recognition of group consciousness by the personality.

The evocation of the heart centre in the head.

All this, however, is facilitated by the advanced development of the solar plexus in the aspirant, which has its own effect upon the heart and a reciprocal effect upon the ajna centre.  There are, consequently, two important triangles to consider:

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Just as there is, astrologically, a Science of Triangles, so there will later be developed a science of triangles in relation to the human system.  But the time is not yet.  I but give occasional indications of such a science upon which the intuition of disciples may play.

a. The solar plexus is a reflection in the personality of the "heart of the sun," just as the heart centre is.  It is the central factor in the life of the personality for all humanity below the grade of probationary disciple.  At that point the mind definitely begins to function, however faintly.  It is the outlet—if such a word can be used—of the astral body into the outer world, and the instrument through which emotional energy flows.  It is the organ of desire.  It is of supreme importance in the life of the average man, and its control is a vital goal for the aspirant.  He must transmute desire into aspiration.

b. The solar plexus came into full functioning in Atlantean times, during the period wherein the second great human race was developing.  These lower centres are not so specifically related to initiations as are the centres above the diaphragm, for they are personality centres and have [171] [171] to be under the full control of the soul when initiations of a certain degree are taken.

c. The solar plexus centre is the great clearing-house for all energies below the diaphragm.  This refers to the three major centres and the minor centres which were enumerated on page 72.  The relation of this centre to the astral plane is (to use a peculiar but most expressive word) acute.  It is the recipient of all emotional reactions and of desire impulses and energies and, because humanity is today becoming active in a group sense and is more inclusive than ever before in human history, the situation is one of acute and extreme difficulty.  Mankind, through the individual and also through the collective solar plexus, is being subjected to almost unendurable pressure.  Such are the tests of initiation!  It is not my intention to deal here with the processes of attracting the lower energies, the mode of centralising them in the solar plexus, and there transmuting them and refining them to the point where transference into the heart centre becomes possible.  Much of this is connected with the training given to accepted disciples, prior to the second initiation.  It would be too intricate a matter to discuss, as well as carrying with it certain peculiar dangers for those not ready for the process; it is, however, one that—under living effort—goes forward almost automatically.  The solar plexus is thus the most separative of all the centres (except the ajna centre, in the case of the man on the left-hand path) because it stands at the midway point, between the throat and the heart centres—above the diaphragm—and the sacral and basic centres—below the diaphragm.  This is a consideration of major importance.

d. The solar plexus is the centre in the etheric vehicle through which humanity (average, unenlightened humanity) [172] lives and moves and has its being.  Humanity is conditioned by desire—good desire, selfish desire, wrong desire, and spiritual desire.  It is the centre through which most of the energies flow which make a man progressive because he is ambitious, selfish because his personal desires are of importance, and fluidic because astrally polarised.  Through it the "bright light generated in Atlantis" is poured, and the astral light is contacted.  It is therefore the centre through which most mediums work and clairvoyants function.  Later, these people will learn to work as intermediaries, consciously and intelligently using their powers; they will possess clear perception, and this will supersede clairvoyance.  They will then be polarised in the ajna centre.  It is consequently a most disturbing centre in the body, and is a basic cause of the majority of stomach complaints and troubles connected with the liver.  The entire area immediately below the diaphragm is in a constant state of turmoil, where average man is concerned; this is due to individual and collective causes.

It is interesting to note here that just as the ajna centre (the synthesis of the personality forces, when highly developed) is a great directing and distributing agent, so the solar plexus centre (the synthesis of the average developed personality energies, prior to the process of integration) is a centre for collection, for a gathering-in of all the lower energies, and is finally a focal point for the direction and distribution of these collected energies—remitting them to their receptive higher centres:

1. The energies of the solar plexus centre itself have to be directed to the heart centre.

2. The energies of the sacral centre have to be transmitted to the throat centre.

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3. The energies of the centre at the base of the spine have to be transferred to the head centre.  After the third initiation, these basic energies are raised, controlled or distributed by an act of the will of the Spiritual Triad.  Then "the light generated in Lemuria" (the sacral light) and "the light generated in Atlantis" (solar plexus light) will die out, and those two centres will simply be recipients of spiritual energies from on high; they will possess no direct, inherent light of their own; the light which they will transmit will come to them from collective sources on etheric planes.

The dense physical externalisation of this centre is the pancreas, with a secondary externalisation in the stomach.  There is, in relation to the solar plexus centre, a curious relation which is symbolic both in form and in implication.  You have

Here again appears the theme of a centre of spiritual force (for astral force is spiritual in essence) and its three manifestations.  All these three dense materialisations are fed and nurtured by the forces and energies of the solar plexus centre.  I have here given a very important fact to those who are interested in the study of medicine from the esoteric angle; rightly appreciated, it will lead to an understanding [174] of the healing art.  Control of the solar plexus centre, and the right reception and release of the energies focussed in that centre would bring about a major purification, an intensive strengthening and a vital protection of the three vital organs to be found in that area of the human physical mechanism.

As I have earlier pointed out, this centre is an organ of synthesis and gathers into itself all the lower energies at a certain point in the higher development of the human being.  It is factually then an instrument (when rightly understood and rightly directed) for aiding in the integration of the personality life.  The major problem of the man who is highly developed but not yet spiritually inclined is that of desire.  What are his goals?  To what are his aims directed?  What is the nature of his realised ambitions?  To what does he aspire?  According to the nature of the forces and the energies which his thought life brings to bear upon the solar plexus centre, so will be his decision to move forward along the path of light, to remain statically self-centred, or to take the lower way which leads to the blotting out of the soul light.

As we have seen, the petals of the solar plexus centre are reaching upwards towards the heart centre.  This, in reality, means that emotional energy, desire and ambition (in the race of men as a whole) are striving upwards towards the higher way.

It should be noted here that the transference of solar plexus energy per se is the task of all aspirants to the Path of Discipleship at this particular time, plus the gradual awakening of the heart centre.  The first members of the human family to become group conscious are naturally the aspirants and the disciples, and these set the pace for the rest of humanity.  This they achieve through the pressure of life itself and of circumstances, and not by the following [175] of set rules or specific meditations.  Later, prior to a certain major initiation, such rules and measures may be applied so as to give the initiate immediate and conscious control over the astral body and its focal point of entry into the physical organism, the solar plexus centre, and again at the time that certain major transferences are consciously made.  Of these transferences there are three of primary importance:

1. From the three centres below the diaphragm into the heart, throat and ajna centres.

2. From the two centres above the diaphragm—the heart and throat centres—into the ajna centre and the thousand-petalled lotus of the head.

3. From the ajna centre into the head centre, signifying the complete unification of all the energies throughout the entire etheric body into one central focal point of distribution—under direct control of the Spiritual Triad.

The processes involved in these three great experiences (each preceded by much testing and experiment) naturally put a strain upon the physical body and are the cause of many of the ills to which disciples fall heir.

It will be obvious to you, for instance, that the transference of all the accumulated energies in the solar plexus centre into the heart centre will cause difficulty, very frequently of a serious nature; this is the reason why today so many advanced people die of heart disease.  In the long cycle of the soul life and experience, this is of relatively small moment; in the short cycle of the individual disciple's life it is of great difficulty and oft of tragedy.  Similarly, the transference of the energies of the five centres up the spine into the head centres will carry with it its own problems.  The stimulation of the ajna centre by the focussing of these energies may lead to disastrous psychological problems.  A [176] man may become an ego-maniac temporarily (all is temporary in the long life of the soul!) and become such a human monster as Hitler and others of his ilk, though in lesser degree; there may be also violent conditions of epilepsy, or the eyesight may be affected and a man may become blind.  All these points warrant careful thought.

6. The Sacral Centre.  This centre is located in the lower part of the lumbar area and is a very powerful centre, controlling as it does the sex life.  One of the interesting things about this centre is that it must always remain a powerful centre until two-thirds of mankind have taken initiation, for the generative processes must go on and remain active in order to provide bodies for incoming souls.  But as the race progresses, this centre will be controlled and its activities will be carried forward intelligently and as the result of knowledge, of insight and of higher and subtler contacts, and not as the result of unlimited and uncontrolled desire, as is now the case.  I cannot enlarge further upon this matter as the theme is too big.  I can, however, bring to your attention what I have already written, and suggest that someone with the interest and the time should collect all I have said in all my books anent the subject of sex so that a pamphlet on the subject may be compiled.

a. The sacral centre corresponds to the physical sun, the source of vitality, and the life-giving agent on our planet.

b. The symbolism of the sacral centre is concerned primarily with the gestation period prior to birth, and in its right understanding can be traced and expanded the whole story of conception, of form-building, and this whether it is the physical form of a human being, the form of an idea, an organisation [177] built around a central truth, the form of a planet or of a solar system.  It is perhaps above everything else the centre through which the forces of IMPERSONALITY must eventually express themselves, and the whole problem of dualism must be solved.  This solution and interpretation of the symbol must come from the realm of the mind, thereby controlling the physical reaction and occupying itself with purposes and not with desire.  Ponder on this.  When it is thus understood, then we shall be reaching the point where a great transference can take place into the higher centre of creation, the throat centre.

c. The sacral centre is therefore closely related to matter, and there is a flow of energy between three points in the lower part of the human body:

1. The spleen, the organ of prana or of physical vitality coming from the sun.

2. The sacral centre, the predisposing agent towards physical generation.

3. The centre at the base of the spine which (until the will aspect is aroused in man) feeds the life-giving principle, the will-to-live, to all parts of the human frame.

These create a great triangle of force, concerned with matter, with substance, form-building, creation, vitality and persistence in form.  This triangle is a reflection of a much higher one, composed of

1. The throat centre, corresponding to the sacral centre.

2. The pituitary body, corresponding to the splenic centre.

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3. The pineal gland, corresponding to the basic centre.

In the relation of these two triangles lies the clue to the instinct of self-preservation, the survival of the subtle bodies after death, and the principle of immortality which is seated in the soul and functions when self-preservation and survival no longer hold sway.  This constitutes a triplicity of ideas which requires most careful study and which—if I might so express it—gives the key to the spiritualistic movement.

d. The sacral centre is also connected with the ajna centre in the last analysis; the two together create a functioning duality which is productive of that subtle quality which we call personality.  There is a wide field for investigation in the theme of personality as an integrated whole and in the quality of personality, which is the aroma, the influence, the effect and the radiation of a personality.  I throw out these ideas to students, hoping that some research may follow which will relate this subject of the centres to the recognised facts of coordination, integration and their effects in producing greatness.

For those of you who are students of The Secret Doctrine, there is much to be unfolded anent the relation of the "lunar Lords," the Barhishad Pitris, to the solar Lord or Angel.  The field of work of the former is the sacral centre, par excellence; that of the solar Angel is the throat centre.

e. The sacral centre registers the energy of the third aspect of divinity, just as the solar plexus centre registers that of the second aspect and the basic centre expresses the energy of the first aspect.  Here [179] again you have the lower centres reflecting the throat, heart and head centres and thus completing the higher and the lower manifestation of the divine Trinity in man.  This centre was brought into full functioning activity in old Lemuria, the first human race; its energy is that of the Holy Spirit, overshadowing virgin substance.  Here again we find also another divine reflection in the following:

Eventually, in the Divine Hermaphrodite (later to appear) you will have another combination:

Again you will note, my brother, how the Science of Triangles governs the human frame in all its aspects, as well as the frame of a solar system.  This is to be expected.

f. The dense physical externalisation of this centre is to be found in the gonads, the human organs of generation—[180] viewing them as a basic unity, though temporarily separated in the present dualistic expression of the human being.  It must be remembered that this separation fosters a powerful impulse towards fusion, and this urge to blend we call sex.  Sex is, in reality, the instinct towards unity:  first of all, a physical unity.  It is the innate (though much misunderstood) principle of mysticism, which is the name we give to the urge to union with the divine.  Like all else that undeveloped man has touched, we have perverted and distorted a divine idea and prostituted an immaterial urge to material desire.  We have reversed the direction of the sacral energy, hence the over-developed animal nature and functions of average humanity.

There is necessarily much more that I could add to the above, but the theme would require much careful analysis, elucidation and wording that time permits not, or the established balance of this Treatise would not be preserved.

There is also little that I can say anent the centre at the base of the spine.  Before, however, I take up whatever information is fruitful or possible, I would like to point out that the diagram on page 715 portrays the point in evolution of a disciple and not of an advanced initiate.  It is not a description either of the everyday, average human being.  This is indicated by the fact that the reflection of the heart centre in the head is turning upwards in response to an increased activity of the heart centre itself, and that the definition of the ajna centre is clear and exact, demonstrating an integrated, coordinated personality.  This is not therefore the diagram of the centres of the ordinary or undeveloped person.  It is impossible for such diagrams to do more than give some point of consummation, but it should be remembered [181] that these points of consummation are not static attainments but are each of them preceded by phases and stages of activity which produce constantly changing results and varying aspects of the centres; these, in their turn, are succeeded by other cycles of movement, of change and of a renewed release of energies.  The effects of the deep underlying causes themselves become causes, for in the cycle of manifestation there is nothing static or fixed or finally determined.  This is a point of extreme importance.  Be not therefore misled by apparent moments of achievement.  They are but prefaces to change, for such is the Law of Being.

7. The Centre at the Base of the Spine.  This centre is, above everything else, controlled and governed by the Law of Being, above referred to, and is established where spirit and matter meet and where matter, the Virgin Mary—under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the energy of the etheric vehicle—is translated "into Heaven," there (as the Christian phraseology puts it) "to be seated beside her Son in the house of the Father."

This centre is found at the very base of the spine, and supports all the other centres.  It is relatively quiescent at this time, for it is only roused into full activity by an act of the will, directed and controlled by the initiate.  It is responsive only to the will aspect, and the will-to-be in incarnation is the factor which at present controls its life and produces its effects as it feeds and directs the life principle in matter and form.  Just as we are told that the life principle is "seated in the heart," so the will-to-be is seated in the base of the spine.  There has been much idle and dangerous talk anent this centre, and the whole subject of the "kundalini fire" has proved an exciting and enticing tale by the pseudo-occultists of the world.  The true occultist in training has naught to do with the kundalini fire—as usually [182] understood.  It is not possible for me to do more than make certain facts somewhat clearer to you, and yet at the same time I must refrain from indicating modes and methods of arousing the activity of this centre, on account of the extreme danger involved in any premature work on the basic centre.  The best I can do is to make a series of statements which will be comprehended in the right way by those who know (and these are as yet few and far between), which will aid the thinking of those who are in training and give them a somewhat more complete picture, but which will protect the ignorant from disaster.  I shall make these statements as clearly and briefly as possible, but shall give practically no explanatory matter with them.

1. This basic centre is the point where, under the evolutionary law, spirit and matter meet, and life is related to form.

2. It is therefore the centre where the essential dualism of the manifested divinity—man or planetary Logos—meet and produce form.

3. The nature of this divinity is only revealed when the second aspect has accomplished its work, through the medium of the third aspect, but under the directing will of the first aspect.

4. It is the centre where the "serpent of God" undergoes two transformations:

a. The serpent of matter lies coiled.

b. This serpent is transformed into the serpent of wisdom.

c. The serpent of wisdom is translated and becomes the "dragon of living light."

5. These three stages are nurtured by the life and energy pouring down through the entire length of the spinal [183] column, via the etheric correspondence of the spinal cord, and—in time and space—this downpouring (plus the simultaneously uprising life) produces:

a. The awakening in a gradual and orderly manner of the centres, according to ray types.

b. The reversal of the centres so that the consciousness of the indwelling man is adequate to his environment.

c. The synthesis of the life energies of all the centres, and adequacy to the demands of the initiate and the service of the Hierarchy and of Humanity.

6. The spinal column (from the angle of the esoteric sciences) houses a threefold thread.  This is the externalisation of the antahkarana, composed of the antahkarana proper, the sutratma or life thread, and the creative thread.  This threefold thread within the spinal column is therefore composed of three threads of energy which have channeled for themselves in the substance of the interior of the column a "threefold way of approach and of withdrawal."  These are called in the Hindu terminology:  the ida, the pingala and the sushumna paths, and they together form the path of life for the individual man and are awakened into activity sequentially and according to ray type and the point of evolution.  The sushumna path is not used correctly and safely until the antahkarana has been built and the Monad and Personality are thereby related, even if it is only by the most tenuous thread.  Then the Monad, the Father, the will aspect, can reach the personality in a direct manner, and can arouse the basic centre, and with it blend, unify and raise the three fires.

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7. One of these paths is the one along which the energy which feeds matter is poured.  Another is related to the path of consciousness and of sensitive psychic unfoldment.  The third is the path of pure spirit.  Thus in every living form the work of the Father, of the Mother and of the Son is carried on.  Life-consciousness-form and life-quality-appearance are blended, and the response apparatus of the divine man is perfected, enabling him to contact and recognise the major divine aspects in the kingdoms in nature, in the planet and in the solar system—eventually.

Be not betrayed into placing these interlaced spheres of living energy on the right or the left of the spinal cord.  Constantly a movement, an interplay and a reversal is going on.  I can but portray the nature of a symbol which will indicate the special path of the three energies of the divine Trinity.  I indicate not a fact in location or place, for it is this materialising and localising of the main concept which has produced so much danger.  The initiate-student seeks to grasp the relation of the three basic energies, the three paths of living fire, their relation and inter-relation and their sequential polarisation.  He seeks not to narrow the teaching down to points and lines and place until such [185] time when these terms mean little to him and he knows more.

8. These three paths of life are the channels for electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction, and are related in their usage to the three stages of the path of evolution:  the path of evolution in the material, earlier stages; the Path of Probation, and the early stages of the Path of Discipleship until the third initiation; and the Path of Initiation itself.

9. The Kundalini Fire, about which so much is taught and written in the East, and increasingly in the West, is in reality the union of these three fires, which are focussed by an act of the enlightened will, under the impulse of love, in the basic centre.  This unified fire is then raised by the use of a Word of Power (sent forth by the will of the Monad) and by the united authority of the soul and personality, integrated and alive.  The human being who can do this in full consciousness is therefore an initiate who has left the third initiation behind him.  He, and he alone, can safely raise this triple fire from the base of the spine to the head centre.

10. As usually interpreted by the ignorant esotericist in the various occult groups, the kundalini fire is something which must be "raised," and when it is raised all the centres will then come into functioning activity and the channels up and down the spine will be cleared of all obstruction.  This is a dangerous generalisation and a reversal of the facts.  The kundalini fire will be raised and carried up into heaven when all the centres are awakened and the channels up the spine are unimpeded.  This removal of all obstruction is the result of the livingness of the individual centres which, [186] through the potency of their life, themselves are effective in destroying all hindrances and obstructions.  They can "burn up" all that hinders their radiation.  What usually happens in those accidental cases (which do so much harm) is that the aspirant, through his ignorant curiosity and by an effort of the mind (not of the spiritual will, but purely as an expression of personality will), succeeds in arousing the lowest of the three fires, the fire of matter, fire by friction; this produces a premature burning and destroys the etheric web in the etheric body.  These circular disks or webs are to be found between each pair of the centres up the spine and also in the head.  They are normally dissipated as purity of life, the discipline of the emotions, and the development of the spiritual will are carried forward.

Diagram

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There are four of these webs.  When the fourfold personality is highly developed and the ajna centre is awakening, then these webs slowly and gradually, normally and automatically disappear.  The webs in the head are of much higher quality and bisect the skull horizontally and vertically.  Thus they symbolise the Cross upon which a Son of God is crucified.

11. The three channels up the spine are responsive in their totality to the three major centres:

a. To the solar plexus centre, providing thus the impulse of desire and feeding the physical life and the creative urge.

b. To the heart centre, providing the impulse to love and to conscious contact with ever widening areas of divine expression.

c. To the head centre, providing the dynamic impulse of the will to live.

I do not indicate which channel is responsive to which centre, except in the case of the sushumna channel which is responsive only to the energy of the head centre and the directing will, centred in the 1000-petalled lotus.  This can be safely stated, as the spiritual will is as yet undeveloped in those who seek to arouse kundalini.  When it is aroused, they will know what they can safely do.

12. The three centres in the head are also related to this triple channel:

a. The medulla oblongata area (the alta major centre) and the carotid gland.

b. The ajna centre and the pituitary body.

c. The 1000-petalled lotus and the pineal gland.

Students will find it interesting to relate all these triplicities to the three major rays:

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a. The first ray of will or power,

b. The second ray of love-wisdom,

c. The third ray of active intelligence,

and also to the three human races which are endowed with the power to unfold the seed of these divine aspects:  Lemuria, Atlantis and the Aryan race.  These can be linked, as seed, to the two final races which will fuse and synthesise all the above powers, qualities, achievements and goals into one perfected planetary life.

Another synthesis is also possible and of importance:

 

a. Path of Evolution. . . . . .

centres below the diaphragm.

b. Path of Discipleship. . . .

centres above the diaphragm.

c. Path of Initiation. . . . . . .

centres in the head.

 

These groups and triplicities are all related in time and space to the triple spinal cord.

13. There is also—again in relation to all the above points of synthesis in the body—one consummating point of complete fusion.  I give each of these in the sequence of their work of fusion:

a. The solar plexus centre, fusing the centres below the diaphragm.

b. The ajna centre, fusing centres both above and below the diaphragm.

c. The base of the spine, fusing all six centres.

d. The thousand-petalled lotus of the head, fusing all the seven energies.

Bear in mind, in connection with all the above, that we are dealing entirely with forces and energies, functioning through the etheric body; that we are dealing with [189] the tertiary world of causes, which is responsible for the organic world of the dense physical manifestation.  This physical manifestation is itself subject to the influence of the secondary world of conscious life, which in its turn is responsive in time and space to the dynamic world of purpose and of Being.

The key to the full life of the soul lies hidden in my words, but it takes the dedicated life and the illumined mind to profit by the knowledge conveyed, and to see behind the form of words the key thought which gives it life and—occultly speaking—generative warmth.

Have clearly in mind the concepts of stimulation or lack of stimulation, of interplay or of separativeness, of quiescence or of activity, for in these dualities are to be found the causes of health or of disease.

The Etheric Body, Nervous and Endocrine Systems

What I have to say here is based upon certain remarks in the previous pages wherein I pointed out that

1. The etheric body itself

2. The nervous system

3. The endocrine system