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CHAPTER VIII - The Laws and Rules Enumerated and Applied - Part 3

Free energy, from the angle of the anchored point of contact, is in some ways less effective (within a limited sphere) than the energy already anchored there.  It is essentially more potent but not effective.  Ponder on this and let me illustrate my point.  In the life of the aspirant, the energy of the solar plexus centre (from long use, centralisation and habit) is more potent in its effect upon the life of the aspirant than is the energy of the heart centre, which is only slowly, very slowly, coming into effective action.  To illustrate further:  the energies of the personality are far more potent in conditioning the life of the average man than is the energy of the soul, which for aeons has tried to grasp effectively its point of manifestation, the personality, but has failed until very late in the cycle of incarnations.  Yet, in the last analysis, heart energy and soul energy are infinitely more potent than those of the solar plexus centre or the personality.  For aeons, however, the energy of the heart centre and the energy of the soul have lacked responsive vehicles in the three worlds.

In a way, this simplifies the problem of the healer, because the first thing he has to decide is whether soul energy or personality energy is in control; that is a matter very simply discovered.  The life trend of the patient, his mode of living or of service, the character he displays, are all indicative of the potencies which control his manifested expression.  If the man is a true aspirant and is aiming [585] consciously to tread the Path of Discipleship, he will aid the discovery by frank admission; however, if there is no response from the personality forces to the soul impact of the healer, the personality will remain unaware of the opportunity and quite unconscious of the impact.  These conditions the healer can therefore easily ascertain.

This law is a long one and contains statements of major importance.  It would be profitable for us, in the interests of our subject, to study them with the utmost care and so become aware of their significance and true meaning; this understanding must be from the standpoint of the initiate-consciousness, and not from the angle of vision of the average or unillumined man.  We will, therefore, take each sentence by itself and seek its meaning.  There are seven statements contained in this law, and much of their import is exoterically familiar to you, but can be restated in relation to the healing art.

1. There is naught but energy, for God is Life.

This is a broad generalisation which may convey much to the initiate but assuredly conveys very little to the average thinker, to whom life means essentially and simply that which calls into manifestation a form, which sustains it in being and constantly demonstrates its presence by activity of some kind or another—an activity which demonstrates its livingness.  We, however, erroneously apply the term living to the ability of a form to manifest and express its quality and nature.  Yet livingness and quality exist apart from form and often come into major expression and usefulness through the application of the Law of Death.

The fact of divinity and of divine origin is proved by the fact of life.  This is oft overlooked, and the emphasis is put upon the concept that life evokes and supports a form [586] which anchors the life-essence and proves the reality of its existence.

It is the life of the One Source of all manifesting forms which creates relationships and essential qualities, and though this has been affirmed ceaselessly it still remains a meaningless platitude.  As men, however, begin to recognise God as energy and themselves as aspects of that energy, as they begin consciously to work with energies and recognise the distinction in time and space between energies and forces, and then as the soul comes into greater functioning activity, the fact of life will be recognised in a new and almost formidable manner.  It should be remembered that the soul is a secondary energy, which proves the existence of the primary energy and is responsible for the appearance of the third form of energy—the tangible and the objective. Life will eventually be known as capable of being invoked by the soul in the interests of the form.  Here lies a clue to our general theme.

Up till now the mechanism of approach to the life aspect—the antahkarana and the agent, the spiritual will—has not been understood in any useful sense.  Today, the first faint hints as to the use of the antahkarana, and its purpose in relation to the personality and the Spiritual Triad, are being studied by a few students in the world, and their numbers will steadily increase as both personality and soul establish contact and fusion and more people take initiation.  The purpose, consequently, for the very existence of the fourth kingdom in nature (as a transmitting agent for the higher spiritual energies to the three lower kingdoms) will begin to appear, and men, in group formation, will consciously begin this work of "saving"—in the esoteric sense, needless to say—these other grouped lives.  The Macrocosm with its purpose and incentives will for the first time begin to reflect itself into the human kingdom in a new [587] and more potent manner, and this in its turn will become the macrocosm of the three lesser states of conscious lives—the animal, the vegetable and the mineral kingdoms.

All this is a deep mystery, but has remained so only on account of the lack of development of the fourth kingdom.  There had been a deviation from the original intent. Its function and field of service could, however, be realised and expressed only when this highest aspect, the will aspect, had been brought into conscious expression in mankind through the building and the utilisation of the antahkarana.  Along the rainbow bridge the life aspect can flow, and it is to this that the Christ referred when He states that He had come so that there might be present upon the Earth, "life more abundantly."  Always there has been life, but when the Christ consciousness is radiantly present (as is the case today, though on a small scale) and the numbers of those expressing it are vast indeed, the inference is that the antahkarana is firmly established; the rainbow bridge can then be traversed and crossed, and life in abundance and in a new and impelling sense, and a fresh impulsing sense can also flow through humanity into the subhuman kingdoms in nature.  This is evidence of divinity, and outstanding testimony of man's divine origin, and the hope, the saving hope, of the world.

The energy and the forces constitute the sumtotal of all that is.  This is another basic truism or platitude upon which the science of occultism is built and which the healing art must recognise.  There is, in manifestation, nothing else of any kind whatsoever.  Disease itself is a form of active energy, demonstrating in forces which destroy or produce death.  Therefore, if our basic premise is correct, disease is also a form of divine expression, for what we know to be evil is also the reverse side of that which we call good.  Shall we belittle the subject or cause a false impression [588] if we regard evil (at least as far as disease is concerned) as misplaced or maladjusted good?  Will you misunderstand if I say that disease is energy which is not functioning as desired or according to plan?  Inpouring energies are brought into relation with forces, and good health, strong and adequate forms and vital activity result; the same inpouring energies can, however, be brought into relation with the same forces and a point of friction be set up, producing a diseased area, pain, suffering and perhaps death. The energies and the forces remain of the same essentially divine nature, but the relationship established has produced the problem.  If this sentence is studied it will be obvious that a definition such as that can be used to cover all forms of difficulty, and that the ultimate producer of the situation (either good or evil) is the relationship aspect.  This statement is of major importance in all your thinking.

2. Two energies meet in man but other five are present. For each is to be found a central point of contact.

The two energies which meet in man are the two aspects of the monad, of the One in manifestation; the monad manifests essentially as a duality:  it expresses itself as will and love, as atma-buddhi and these two energies when brought into relation with the point of mind, with the third aspect of divinity, produce the soul and then the tangible manifested world:  then there is demonstrated in the planet will, love, and mind or intelligence:  or atma-buddhi-manas.

As the soul anchors itself as consciousness and life within the human being, that human being contributes the third something which is latent or karmically present in all substance, manas or mind; this is inherited or held in solution in substance from a previous solar system.  In that system intelligence was unfolded and was retained within substance [589] in order to form the basis of the evolutionary development of this, the second solar system.  Forget not that the seven planes of our solar system constitute the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane and that, therefore, spirit is matter at its highest point of expression, and matter is spirit at its lowest.  Life differentiates itself into will and love, into great impulsing energies which underlie the entire evolutionary process and motivate its inevitable consummation.

Atma-buddhi, as energies, anchor themselves in the soul vehicle, in the egoic lotus, and their fused activity evokes a response from the substance of the mental plane which then makes its own contribution.  Its reaction produces what we call the higher mind, which is of so subtle a nature and so tenuous an emanation that it must perforce relate itself to the two higher aspects and become part of the Spiritual Triad.  The vortex of forces established under the impact of the divine will, expressing divine purpose and unified with Being (as identity and not as a quality), produces the egoic lotus, the vehicle of that "identified soul" which has been swept into expression by the third result of the atmic-buddhic impact on the three worlds; the concrete mind and the human intellect come into expression.  There is, therefore, a curious resemblance between the three divine aspects in manifestation and the spiritual man upon the mental plane.  The correspondence is as follows:

The monad............ Abstract mind.

The soul................ Egoic lotus.

The personality...... Lower or concrete mind.

That vague abstraction, the monad, for aeons of time seems unrelated in any way to the soul and the personality; these two have been and are occupied with the task of establishing, in due time and under the evolutionary urge, a close fusion [590] or at-one-ment.  The abstract mind remains also for aeons of time something inconceivable and outside the modes of expression and of thinking of the man who is kama-manasic (or emotion and lower mind) and then finally soul and concrete mind (or the illuminator and the transmitter of illumination).  These correspondences can be found most enlightening if due consideration is given to them.

In the human being you have, therefore, two major energies anchored; one unrealised, to which we give the name of the PRESENCE, the other realised, to which we give the name of the Angel of the PRESENCE. These are the soul (the solar angel) and the monad.  One embodies the monadic ray and the other the soul ray, and both of these energies actively or subtly condition the personality.

The other five energies which are present are the ray of the mind or the conditioning force of the mental body; the ray of the emotional nature, and the ray of the physical body, plus a fourth ray which is that of the personality.  The ray of the physical body esoterically "ascends upward towards juncture, whereas the others all move down," to quote an ancient writing.  The ray of the personality is a consequence or result of the vast cycle of incarnations.  You have therefore:

1. The monadic ray.

2. The soul ray.

3. Ray of the mind.

4. Ray of the emotions.

5. Ray of the physical body.

6. Ray of the personality.

7. The planetary ray.

The planetary ray is always the third Ray of Active Intelligence because it conditions our Earth and is of great potency, enabling the human being to "transact his business in the [591] world of planetary physical life."

I have made only casual reference to these rays elsewhere and have said little anent the planetary ray; I have laid the emphasis upon another analysis of the conditioning rays, and in this analysis recognised only five rays for practical usefulness to the man.  These are:

1. The soul ray.

2. The personality ray.

3. The mental ray.

4. The astral ray.

5. The ray of the physical body.

However, with the creation and development of the antahkarana, the ray of the monad must also be brought into line, and then that which is its polar opposite, the planetary "livingness," the third ray, will have to be recognised.  I have here imparted a point of much importance to you.  All these energies play an active part in the life cycle of every man and cannot be totally ignored by the healer, even though the information may be relatively useless at this time.

3. The conflict of these energies with forces and of forces twixt themselves produce the bodily ills of man.

You will note here that diseases are produced, according to this law, in two ways:

1. By the conflict of energies with forces.

2. By the conflict of the forces twixt themselves.

It will be apparent on the surface that this dual warfare is to be expected.  Under the first category there is the warfare which takes place in the personality life when the soul definitely turns its attention to its vehicles and attempts to take [592] control. The more determined the person is to submit his personality to soul control, the more intense will be the conflict, with consequent physical conditions of a serious kind as a result.  Under this category would come the majority of the diseases of disciples and mystics, largely of a nervous nature and often affecting the heart or the blood stream.  They will, in the majority of cases, be confined to the area above the diaphragm, and therefore to those areas conditioned by the head, the throat and the heart centres.  A number of what we might call "borderline" cases come under this heading also, but these are confined to the transfer of energies (under soul impact) from the solar plexus centre to the heart, and the "line" involved is simply the diaphragm.

Under this first category also would come those difficulties which are brought about, for instance, when the energy of the astral body makes its impact upon the forces of the etheric vehicle, setting up an emotional turmoil, and thus producing serious solar plexus difficulty with resultant gastric, intestinal and liver disturbances.  These are all the result of the conflict between energy and forces.  All I can do at this point is to give indication of the type of problem which is related to one or other of these two categories; the subject is unsuitable for the brief handling which I purpose here to give.

Under the second category, which concerns the conflict between forces and forces, you have the etheric body involved, and the forces concerned are those to be found in the major and the minor centres, involving their relation to each other and their internal reaction to the impact of energies coming from without the etheric body.  These forces and their interplay produce the common ills of man and control the disturbances in the physical organs and the areas of the physical body which are found around these centres.  [593] These in reality constitute the major conditioning factors for the mass of human beings for long aeons or until such time as the soul "pays attention" to the appropriation in full control of its mechanism in the three worlds.  These secondary difficulties, due to the interplay between the centres, fall into three categories, and these should be carefully noted:

1. The interplay between:

a. The centres above the diaphragm, i.e., the head, the throat and the heart, and very occasionally the ajna centre.

b. The centres below the diaphragm and their relation to each other.

2. The relation of certain centres to each other, such as takes place under the Law of Transmutation, or the process of lifting up of the forces from one centre to another:

a. From the sacral centre to the throat centre.

b. From the solar plexus centre to the heart centre.

c. From the centre at the base of the spine to the head centre.

3. The impact of the "energy" (note the technical accuracy of my phrasing) of the centres above the diaphragm on those below the diaphragm.

This is a reverse process to that which takes place when the forces below the diaphragm are raised to the centres above the diaphragm.  In this third type of relation you have the exercise of the potency of magnetism, and in the other you have the expression of radiation.  These two are closely allied at a certain stage of unfoldment.

[594]

Under all these relationships there are possibilities of difficulties, resulting in an undesirable effect upon the physical organs found within the area involved.  In the early stages of the relation of the centres above the diaphragm to those below, the man is usually quite unaware of what is going on and is then simply the victim of the stimulation applied by the centre emanating energy to the centre which receives its impact; or he is the victim of devitalisation (producing consequently many forms of physical ills) as the centres respond to the stimulation.  It is all a question of balance or of equilibrium, and it is for this that the intelligent man and the aspirant must strive.

We come now to a very ambiguous statement and one that is purposely meant to be so:

4. The conflict of the first and second persists for ages until the mountain top is reached—the first great mountain top.

This refers vaguely (and again purposely so) to the conflict between the energies above the diaphragm—which normally come from the soul on its own plane—and the forces below the diaphragm.  This is a major and persistent conflict; it begins when the solar plexus centre becomes dominant and powerful, producing crises as in Atlantean days.  As the mass of men are still Atlantean in consciousness, being swayed mainly by their emotional natures, these crises arise today.  Eventually, and metaphysically speaking, the solar plexus centre begins to have a radiatory effect in response to the magnetic "call" of the heart centre.  When the first initiation is taken the first great interplay is set up between the two and the first coordinated activity is established.  "That which is above is now related to that which is below, but that which is below loses its identity in that which is above," as the Old Commentary expresses it.  The [595] mother is lost to sight because the Christ-Child assumed the place of interest.  The soul is taking control and leading the aspirant from mountain top to mountain top. At the first initiation, and increasingly at all initiations, energy is brought into a major conflict with the forces; soul energy sweeps into the etheric body and all the centres become "fighting areas," with one centre being emphasised more than the others.  The nature of the battle is no longer that "twixt the forces and each other," but is now between the energies and the forces, and it is this which creates the acuteness of the tests for initiation; it is this which produces so many physical ills among those who have taken or are preparing to take the first and second initiations.  And it accounts for the diseases of the saints!

A great science of the centres will some day emerge, and this will clarify the entire complex problem; the time, however, is not yet.  At present, if this science were taught openly, the result would be that the thoughts of men would be turned to the fact of the centres and to the areas which they control, and not to the energies which pour through them.  There would be an unwholesome and undesirable stimulation or devitalisation of the substance of the centres, with consequent acute disease.  The law forever holds good that "energy follows thought," and that energy can be either radiatory or magnetic, but must not be statically contained within a centre.  The true science of the centres will only be permitted free circulation when—and only when—men know the rudiments at least of thought direction and the control of energy impacts.

5. The fight between the forces produces all disease, all ills, and bodily pains which seek release through death.

[596]

There is here an interesting distinction which should be noted.  Death, when it comes, is the result of two things:

1. The fight between the forces, and not between energy and the forces.  The area of conflict is the etheric body and the physical body, and no energies are coming in from without because the man is too ill.

2. The loss of the will-to-live.  The patient has given in; the internal fight is too much for him; he can bring in no outside energy to combat the warring forces, and he has reached the point where he does not want to do so.

These two phases of the process of dying are indicative of the destiny of the patient, and should be immediately noted by the healer who (when he finds them present) will then apply his skill in aiding the man to die and will not attempt to effect a cure.  The door of entry for the life-giving energies is sealed; nothing can enter to aid the healer in his work, and the conflict between the forces—of a general nature or confined to a bitter fight in a particular area—produces so much friction that there is no hope anywhere, except in death.  In this sentence, it might be pointed out that disease refers to the point of friction or of acute trouble; all ills has reference to the general reaction of the man to the area of difficulty and to the general disability produced by the disease, whilst bodily pain refers to the discomfort of the area where the disease is located and which is indicative of its nature.  All words in these rules are most carefully chosen, and even if inadequate from the translator's point of view, are not redundant but express different meanings.

6. The two, the five and then the seven, plus that which they produce, possess the secret.

[597]

The enumeration is in the nature of a summation of what has been previously given, and its most superficial meaning and the one of the most use to the healer could be simply expressed as follows:

The healer must bear in mind the fact of the two major energies which are present in every personality; the soul and the personality rays.  He must then bear in mind that to these two he must add three conditioning rays, making the five above mentioned:  the mind ray, the ray of the astral body and the ray of the physical body.

This enumeration will usually prove adequate for all ordinary or average people.  If, however, the patient is a very advanced person, another form of enumeration will be in order; it will be necessary to add two more energies which will then be present in real potency:  the ray of the monad and the ray of the planet, which is the third ray.  This planetary ray when very active (as is the case with very advanced persons and those who have attained a high point of general integration) has a potent effect; planetary prana comes in powerfully on the planetary ray, and this can be used to bring about a cure.  One reason why the general health of all very advanced people is usually good is that pranic energy from the planet has a free flow through the mechanism.  It is this energy which the Master, working through a relatively perfect body, depends upon to keep it in good health.  This is a somewhat new piece of information and one which—when recognised—will appear both simple and reasonable.  "That which they produce" in this case, and to the healer, means the outer tangible form; there are other significances, but with these we need not here deal.

The "secret" referred to is the revelation of the manner in which good health may be preserved.  It is not the secret [598] [598] of how to cure the physical vehicle when "bodily ills" are present.  But there is a secret of good health which is known to all initiates above the third initiation; and this they can simply employ, if they so choose.  However, they may not so choose always unless they are working with other parts of the Plan which have nothing to do with humanity.  If they are among those who are occupied with the unfolding consciousness in man and who are workers for and in the human kingdom, they may know the secret but may, at the same time, choose not to profit by it because of the need they feel to be completely identified with mankind; they therefore choose to share consciously all human experience and to die along lines which are common to the rest of men.  The entire question of identification lies behind all manifestation; it is identification with or of spirit and matter which is the secret of divine appearance; one of the main causes of disease, as well you know, is the facility with which men identify themselves with the form aspect (with the many localised forms—localised within the personality ring-pass-not). Man neglects to identify himself with the producer of the form, the true spiritual man, and with the energies which he seeks to direct, and which—later in the evolutionary cycle—he is insistent upon directing.

There is also a secret meaning here which relates to the seven rays as they express themselves in the human kingdom; the knowledge of this secret enables a Master to control epidemics and widespread diseases; with this you are not at this time concerned.  Incidentally, the relative freedom from the plagues and epidemics which usually follow in the wake of war has been partly due to the use of this sevenfold knowledge by the Hierarchy, plus the scientific knowledge of humanity itself.

In this connection also (and I mention it simply from the angle of its interest) there are two hierarchical officials—[599] the Mahachohan and His Representative upon the seventh ray—Who are today in possession of this secret in its entirety, and They are aided by five other Masters in applying the gained knowledge.  These five Masters are working primarily with the deva evolution, and this is, as you know, connected with form, and in this particular case with the healing devas.  These seven Members of the Hierarchy are aided in Their turn by one of the Buddhas of Activity, and also by the representative of the Spirit of the Earth.  This again makes the two, the five, and then the seven—a different enumeration, and one which when brought together equals nine, which is the number of initiation.  This numerical relationship brings man to the point where he is "initiated into the realm of perfection and knows no further aches or pains, and his mind is thus deflected from that which is below to that which is above."

I have mentioned this phase of mankind's relation to the subject of health so as to show you how subtle and esoteric are the matters with which we are dealing, and so give to the individual patient a sense of proportion, where his bodily ills or even his death are concerned.

7. This is the fifth Law of Healing within the world of form.

This fifth law is primarily concerned with the fifth principle of mind or manas; it is this principle which makes a human being what he is; it is this principle which makes him a prisoner within the form and upon the planet, and thus makes him vulnerable and open to attacks upon the form aspect; these constitute part of the agelong action of evil versus good.  It is this fifth principle, when controlled and used by the Son of Mind, Who is a Son of God, which will enable the spiritual man to free himself from form of every kind, and therefore from disease and death.

[600]

It will be obvious that the healer, as he trains himself in the healing art, has to grasp clearly and candidly certain exceedingly simple yet esoteric facts:

1. That healing is simply and essentially the manipulation of energies.

2. That he must carefully differentiate between energies and forces.

3. That if he seeks real success, he must learn to place the patient as accurately as possible upon the correct rung of the ladder of evolution.

4. That knowledge of the centres is imperative.

5. That he himself must work as a soul through his personality.

6. That his relation to the patient (unless the latter is highly evolved) is a personality one.

7. That he must locate the centre controlling the area which involves the point of friction.

8. That, as with all else in the occult sciences, disease and healing are both of them aspects of the great "relationship" system which governs all manifestation.

If the healer will take these eight points and reflect and brood upon them, he will lay a sound foundation for all work to be done; their relative simplicity is such that it will be obvious that anyone can be a healer if he so chooses and is willing to conform to the requirements.  The current idea that a person is a "born" healer, and therefore unique, in reality indicates only that it is one of his main directed interests.  Therefore, because of this interest, his attention has been turned towards the healing art and consequently towards contact with patients; owing to the inevitable working of the law which governs thought, he discovers that energy follows his thought and flows through him to the [601] patient.  When he does this with deliberation, a healing will often follow.  Any man or woman—given real interest and prompted by the incentive to serve—who thinks and loves, can be a healer, and it is time that people grasped that fact.  The entire process of healing is thought-directed; it concerns the direction of energy currents or their abstraction, and this is another way of speaking about radiation and magnetism.  Every initiate is a healer, and the more advanced the initiate the less is he occupied with the intricacies of centres and forces, energies and their direction. He heals automatically, as was the case with the initiate, Peter; of him we read that "the shadow of Peter passing by healed everyone of them."

The major difference to be seen in the interim (an interim of many, many thousands of years) between the type of healing mentioned above and the work of a less advanced healer, will be that those healers who are trained physicians and accredited medical men as well as spiritual healers will have a great advantage over the untrained healer, because their diagnosis of the disease will be more apt to be correct and their powers of visualisation will be greater, owing to their trained familiarity with the structure of the body and their knowledge of morbid pathology.  It will be wise, for a very long time to come, for the spiritual healer to work always in collaboration with a trained physician.  The healer will provide the required occult knowledge.  The time when any nice, kindly and spiritually minded person sets up as a healer should be well-nigh over; any healing practice should be preceded by years of careful study anent the nature of energy, of the ray types, of the centres; a minimum of at least three years should be given to this; when to this is added the science of the trained medical man, graduating from our best medical colleges, you will then have a new and much better treatment of the human vehicle than is now [602] the case.  Then the healer's orthodox and occult knowledge, his visualising capacity and his power of thought direction will be real and practically effective.

The rule connected with Law V makes clear the need for this occult knowledge, for it states very definitely certain fundamental injunctions.

RULE THREE

Let the healer concentrate the needed energy within the needed centre.  Let the centre correspond to the centre which has need.  Let the two synchronise and together augment force.  Thus shall the waiting form be balanced in its work.  Thus shall the two and the one, under right direction, heal.

This rule presupposes a knowledge of the centres, and this knowledge is, as you well know, still embryonic; all that is known in most cases is the location of a centre.  This, however, especially with untrained healers, is sufficient.  Too detailed a knowledge of the formation, condition and responsiveness of a centre would handicap the healer, for his thought would be deflected to the detail of the form and away from the energy and its movements.

The rule here requires that the healer, having aligned himself with the soul and "tapped" soul energy (thereby making himself a channel for spiritual force), directs this energy into that one of his own centres which corresponds to the centre conditioning the area of the point of friction. If the disease or physical trouble is stomachic, for instance, or related to the liver, the healer will direct his soul energy into the solar plexus centre, situated in the etheric spinal column.  If the patient should be suffering from difficulty in the heart or the lungs the healer will use the heart centre, employing the throat centre for diseases of the bronchial tract, the throat, the mouth or the ears.

[603]

Two things, therefore, become of importance in connection with the healer himself:

1. He must know as accurately as possible his own point of development, for that will indicate to him capacity or non-capacity to work with any or with all the centres. In order to use any of his centres in the healing work, the healer must have awakened them in some measure and be able, consciously and by the power of thought, under the agency of the will, to focus energy in whichever centre he chooses.  This does not mean that all the centres are awakened and truly functioning.  It should, however, mean (if he is to heal at all) that he is not confined to the sole use of the centres below the diaphragm but that, by an effort of the spiritual will, thought can be channelled into the higher centres.  Many aspirants can do this with greater facility than they believe.

2. The healer, as he channels energy into some centre, prior to directing it to a centre in the patient's body, must run no risk of his personal overstimulation.  This is a very important point.  So much disease and physical difficulty among ordinary people is abdominal, necessitating the constant use of the solar plexus centre by the healer; this could bring about a grave condition of overemotionalism and even acute astralism on the part of the healer.  He would then be the victim of his good intentions and of his spiritual service, for the consequences would all the same be bad; energy is an impersonal force and a purely impersonal agency.  Purity of intention, selfless service and goodwill are no true protection, in spite of the platitudes of the sentimental occultist.  In fact, the presence of these desirable conditions only increases the difficulty, for soul energy will pour in with [604] great force.  An understanding of the risks involved, a sane appraisal of possibility and a scientific and technical understanding of protective measures will be given to the healer towards the latter end of his training.  For the present, and because the danger is not at this time so great (owing to lack of potency in people's thinking and their inability to direct thought) the major protective measure consists in the ability of the healer to hold his consciousness steady in the head centre with the "eye of direction" turned to the needed centre.  This involves a dual focus, and for the ability to do this the healer must strive.

It is here that the healer distinguishes between the processes of radiation and magnetisation.  Having concentrated soul energy in the appropriate centre, through the power of direction from the head (the seat of soul energy) and by the potency of thought, the process of radiation ends.  This radiation has passed through two stages:

1. The stage wherein the soul radiated energy into the head centre.

2. The stage wherein the healer directs a ray of that energy from the head centre into the "needed centre"; it is there focussed and held steady.

From that appropriate centre the stage of synchronisation with the corresponding centre in the patient's body is established; this is done, not by the healer sending a ray into that centre, but because the potency of the healer's centre evokes response from that of the patient; it acts like a magnet, drawing forth a definite radiation from the patient.  This radiation, esoterically, "lights up" the point of friction in the surrounding area and—were the healer clairvoyant—would thus enable him to see more clearly the seat of the [605] trouble and, therefore, to arrive at a more accurate diagnosis.  Ordinarily, the spiritual healer is depending upon the diagnosis of the medical man in attendance, if he is not one himself.

The interplay is now established between the healer and the patient and upon etheric levels.  The energy of their two synchronised centres is now en rapport, and the healer has at this point to determine whether the treatment requires an expulsive technique or a stimulating one.  He has therefore to ascertain whether the patient's centre is overstimulated and if some of the surplus energy should consequently be driven out or abstracted, or whether there is a condition of devitalisation and the energy of the centre involved requires a deliberate augmenting.

There is, however, a third possibility mentioned here which is slower, but in practically every case is more desirable; it is the attainment of that balance of energies (between the healer and the patient) which will hold the energy in the area of the point of friction and permit nature itself to bring about an unassisted cure.  This is possible only when the rapport between the patient and the healer is complete. Then the sole task of the healer is to hold the situation steady, give the patient confidence in the powers inherent within him, and encourage a period of patient waiting. The cure then is more lasting, and there is no sense or period of psychic shock, which can be the case if sudden stimulation or drastic expulsion is employed.

We have noted here, as you see, three modes whereby the healer employs the force focussed, by direction, in his centres:

1. For the expulsion of surplus energy in an overstimulated centre.

[606]

2. For definite processes of stimulation of the patient's centres.

3. To preserve a state of equilibrium wherein natural healing can take place.

In the first case, the healer deliberately increases the potency of the energy stored in his centre, so that it becomes exceedingly magnetic and abstracts the oversupply of energy in the patient's centre; in the second case, the healer sends a powerful ray of his own energy into the corresponding centre in the patient's body.  This is an act of radiation and is very effective; in the third case, an interplay is set up which preserves balance, and furthers steady and normal activity in the centre controlling the area of trouble.

You will note also how all these processes (and they are relatively simple when grasped) are dependent upon the decision of the healer.  It is here that mistakes can be made, and the man who is seeking to work along the lines I indicate would be well-advised to move slowly and with due caution even at the expense of being ineffectual and unsuccessful. It is better to have no effect upon the patient and his condition than by the potency of one's unwise decision, the power of one's thought and the focus of one's direction, to hasten the patient's death by the sudden abstraction of needed energy or by the stimulation of a centre already overstimulated and overactive.

In the last analysis the aim in the three modes of aiding the patient by direct work with the centres involved, is to bring about a balanced and wholesome activity.  This is more easily achieved in the case of an advanced person than in the case of the individual in whom the centre is normally inactive and unawakened and where the difficulty is more apt to be due to the action of some of the twenty-one minor centres situated in the body than to that of the seven major [607] centres. In these cases, the patient can far more easily be helped by orthodox medicine and surgery than by any processes of spiritual healing.  It is for this reason that the spiritual healer is only now becoming important and his work in any way possible.  This is owing to the rapid spiritual development of humanity, which enables men, for the first time and on any substantial scale, to take advantage of these laws and rules.

In the last sentence in Rule Three, the meaning of the two and the one is that the combined energy within the healer—soul energy focussed in the head centre and the energy of the "needed centre," plus the energy of the centre which controls the point of friction in the patient's body—is responsible for the healing, providing it is the destiny of the patient to be healed.

LAW VI

When the building energies of the soul are active in the body, then there is health, clean interplay and right activity. When the builders are the lunar lords and those who work under the control of the moon and at the behest of the lower personal self, then you have disease and ill health and death.

This is a most interesting law, because it deals basically with causes, primarily with causes over which the average person has no conscious control, and because it occultly gives a picture in miniature or microcosmically of the universal or macrocosmic situation.  It deals with the entire problem of evil, or pain and suffering (the great mysteries of our little planet) in a few sentences, but they are sentences conveying vast implications.  The very simplicity of this great natural law veils the far-reaching significances of its normal working.  It says the following things quite simply, and I enumerate them because the breaking down of a paragraph [608] into its clear and simple statements is a sound way to arrive at understanding:

1. When the soul controls the form involved, there is health.

2. The soul is the builder of the form, the constructive force in manifestation.

3. This is true of both the microcosm and the macrocosm.

4. The results are wholeness, right relation and correct activity.

5. When the soul is not in control, and the forces of the form nature are therefore the controlling factors, there will be ill health.

6. The builders of the form are the "lunar lords," the physical, astral and mental elementals.

7. These, in their triple totality, compose the personality.

8. They are occultly under the direction of the moon, the   symbol of form, called often the "mother of the form."

9.  The emanation coming from the moon has in it the seeds of death and disease, because the moon is a "dead planet."

It all comes back again, as you will note, to the source of the major energy controlling the body.  Though the soul is the source of all life and consciousness, for aeons all the soul does is to preserve the form in life and in consciousness, until such time that it has reached the stage in evolution where it is a useful and suitable instrument (and will become increasingly so) for the soul to employ as a medium of expression and service.  Karma determines then the quality and nature of the physical body. It can be healthy because it has not been misused in the particular life or lives conditioning a particular incarnation, or unhealthy because it is paying the price of error.  Good health is not necessarily dependent upon conscious soul contact.  [609] That can and does produce good health, but it is also dependent, in the majority of average cases, upon the life and intentions of the personality—in this life and in previous lives; it is not until the will of the personality is towards spiritual betterment and a cleaner, purer life that the soul can be of real assistance.

This law carries also the implications of that basic relation which makes the threefold form of the man an integral part of the macrocosmic whole.  All forms in all kingdoms are built by the lunar lords under an impulse emanating from the planetary Logos, working in cooperation with the Spirit of the Earth—the sumtotal of all the lunar lords and of the three types of energised substance which go to the creation of the physical, astral and mental bodies.  The relation of the planetary Logos to this Spirit of the Earth (the relation of an evolutionary Being to an involutionary entity) is a reflection (distorted and under the influence of glamour) in the three worlds of the relation of the soul to the personality elemental.  It is most useful for the healer to realise that in handling disease he is in reality handling involutionary lives and attempting to work with elementals.  The natural trend of these elemental lives, all of them upon the involutionary arc, is to block and to frustrate his efforts and the efforts of the soul, and this—for them—is their way of evolution; it is that which will eventually bring them on to the evolutionary arc.

When the time comes that the soul can assume conscious control within and over the form, and can eventually create a form which is adequate to its spiritual needs, it will be because the elementals which are the sumtotal of the personality elemental have reached a point in their development where they are ready to move on to the path of return. The work of the soul is never the purely selfish one of having a medium of expression in the three worlds, as might sometimes [610] appear to the casual and superficial thinker.  That is entirely incidental from the angle of the soul; it is a needed activity, but it involves also the sacrificial work of salvaging substance and forwarding the evolution of matter.  As the Old Commentary expresses it:  "The Mother (substance-matter) is saved by the birth of her Son (the Christ within, the spiritual consciousness)."  This is true of the macrocosm as well as of the microcosm.

Here lies the secret of planetary suffering and of death. Our planetary Logos (viewing the truth from the angle of the macrocosm) is, as you know, one of the "imperfect Gods" of The Secret Doctrine, although perfect past our human comprehension—the comprehension of a unit in one of the kingdoms which constitute His body of manifestation. There is still no true balance between spirit and matter, though the point of balance has almost been achieved; the involutionary forces are still potent and the spiritual energies are still frustrated, though far less so than earlier in human history; the next great human race, following on our present one, will see a point of balance reached which will usher in the so-called golden age.  Points of friction will then be far fewer upon the planet and therefore in individual man; areas of frustration and of futile activity will die out.  This can be seen working out in the body of an advanced person or an initiate to a great extent and for long periods in their incarnations; paralleling correspondences are as a general rule accurate.

This law gives an amazing picture, and one too which is full of hope, particularly if one considers certain facts which are present in the world today and compares them with conditions hundreds of years ago.  The consciousness of humanity is awakened everywhere; the most undeveloped races are in process of achieving education, involving necessarily the discovery of the mind; goodwill is being recognised [611] as necessary to world unfoldment, and men are finding that "no man liveth unto himself"—or any nation either; they are registering the fact that it is simply commonsense and the part of wisdom to better conditions for all men everywhere.  This is a new attitude and a fresh and most hopeful approach.  Men are learning to know and understand each other; nations are arriving at a closer contact with one another; statesmen of all nations are wrestling together and in joint conclave with the problem of bettering human living conditions; everywhere there is thought, there is appraisal, and there is the struggle for freedom and for the truer values.  What is all this but the effort of the soul of humanity to kill out disease, restore unhealthy areas to health and eliminate points of friction?  Is not this what the spiritual man who is ill is seeking to bring about in his own body, and what the healer is attempting to aid him to do?