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CHAPTER I - The Psychological Causes of Disease - Part 3

Let the healer train himself to know the inner stage of thought or of desire of the one who seeks his help.  He can thereby know the source from which the trouble comes.  Let him relate the cause and the effect, and know the point exact through which relief must come.

I would like to call your attention to those last few words, and would emphasise to you the fact that disease primarily is an effort on the part of the natural physical body to seek relief and achieve release from inner pressures, from subjective inhibitions and hidden retentions.  Primarily, from the point of view of esotericism, all physical disease is the result of:

1. Wrong stimulation, or overstimulation, or wrongfully placed stimulation and of inner tensions in some part of the mechanism.

2. Inhibitions, psychical starvation, and those accumulated subjective forces which dam the flow of the life forces.

You will see, therefore, that again (in the domain of health) all problems resolve themselves into the right use and the correct handling of force, in order to effect the free flow of energy.

The following questions will inevitably arise:  From whence come these inherited taints?  Is it possible to arrive at their source?  The problem of the past, and the present effects of that past, is too vast for consideration, nor can any statements anent the situation possibly help humanity. [58] One generalisation I can, however, make, and even that may convey but little to your understanding.

Of the three major diseases which have been inherited from the past, it might be said that the syphilitic or so-called social diseases are remainders of the excesses indulged in in Lemurian times; they are of such ancient origin that the very soil is permeated with the germs of these diseases—a fact quite unknown to modern science.  Down the ages, men have suffered from these groups of infections; they have died and been buried and in their millions have contributed their quota of infection to the earth.  In Lemurian times, the emphasis of the life force was upon the physical body, upon its development, its use and control, and also upon its perpetuation or reproduction.  It was in Lemurian times that troubles connected with the misuse of the sex life began; this was, in a peculiar sense, the essential primeval evil, and concerning this fact, ancient legends and hints are found throughout the earliest records and writings.  There is much misinterpreted testimony to this effect, and when men can read the records more correctly and with right interpretation, they will understand the way out, because they will see more clearly the underlying causes.

Cancer is a gift to modern man from the Atlantean humanity, and the scourge of this disease was the major factor which devastated the inhabitants of old Atlantis.  The roots of this dire evil are deep-seated in the emotional or desire nature, and are grounded in the astral body.  Cancer is partially the result of a reaction to the diseases connected with the sex life which became so rampant in later Lemurian times and early Atlantean days.  The people of those times, seeing the fearful evils and the extent of the disease which grew up out of the fertile Lemurian life, resulting from the promiscuous sex life on every hand, for the sake of self-preservation dammed back the natural flow of desire (the [59] flow of life as it expresses itself through the centres of reproduction and procreation), and this in due time produced other evils.  Cancer is primarily a disease of inhibition, just as the syphilitic diseases are those of over-expression and overuse of one aspect of the mechanism of man.

Today, owing to the vast reaches of time involved and to the untold generations of those who have died upon the earth, the "germs" (so-called by the unlearned thinker) of the dread complaint of cancer are to be found in the very soil on which we live, infecting the vegetable kingdom and also the human family.  A correspondence to the syphilitic complaints of man are to be found in the mineral kingdom.

Tuberculosis, which was devastatingly rampant at a certain stage in Atlantean times, is nevertheless a disease which has been generated principally in our Aryan race, and one which we are bequeathing to the animal kingdom and are sharing with them.  This is beginning to be realised.  So close, however, is the relation between men and animals (particularly the domestic animals) that they today share with men practically all his ailments in some form or another, sometimes recognisable and sometimes not.  Curiously enough, the cause of this great white scourge is to be found in the fact of the shift of the life emphasis away from the emotional nature into that of the mind nature, producing a temporary starvation of the emotional nature.  It is largely a disease of depletion.  Cancer, in its turn, was based similarly on a previous shift of the life force from the physical body into that of the emotional nature, producing an overdevelopment of the cellular life, through overstimulation.  I realise the difficulty of grasping these statements.  I can only give you these unsubstantiated hints.  Later discoveries alone can prove the truth of my suggestions.  Let us here tabulate our conclusions:

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Disease

Race

Body

Kingdom

Organ

Syphilitic.....

Lemurian..

Physical..

Mineral.......

Sex organs.  Sacral centre.

Cancer.......

Atlantean..

Astral.....

Vegetable......

Solar plexus.

Tuberculosis..

Aryan.....

Mental......

Animal.......

Breathing apparatus.  Throat centre.

 

In referring above to the centres I am referring to the centre for the distribution of the life force, wherein the emphasis for the mass will be found.  From the above it will be apparent where the emphasis of the possible cure will have to lie.  Already, and because it is the latest, and therefore the least deep-seated of the three major diseases inherited by modern man, we have learnt how to cure tuberculosis.  It has been discovered (when the mind was intelligently applied to the problem) that sunshine and good food could cure, or at any rate arrest, the disease.  It is an interesting item in the field of esoteric correspondence that just as the light of the soul, pouring into the mind, can be depended upon to solve any problem, so that light of the sun and its prophylactic rays can dispel the dread symptoms of tuberculosis.

Similarly, as the race develops right emotional control we shall see the gradual disappearance of the phenomena of cancer.  I said right emotional control; inhibition and the suppression of the desire impulses by the force of the will is not right control.  It is interesting also to note that though both men and women suffer from the disease of cancer, the general cause is not identical, though the basic cause (reaction from an over-expression of the sex life through the cultivation of the desire nature) remains the same.  Women, owing to the risks they run in childbearing, through the turning of the life emphasis to the sex aspect of life, have revolted on a large scale (as did the Atlanteans) against this form of life expression, and it is along this line—the sex [61] line—that their major inhibitions are found.  They do not suffer so much from the general inhibition of the emotional-desire-feeling expression.  Men do suffer from this latter inhibition and have a tradition or a marked tendency to greater emotional control in the handling of life than have women.  Men do not require or acquire so marked a sex control.  The general field of their inhibited life tendency is therefore of greater extent, and consequently (if statistics can be trusted) more men suffer from cancer than do women, though it is a dread disease, feared by all.

In the secret of right transmutation lies the cure of cancer, and this will eventually be realised.  I am using this phrase not only symbolically but also technically and scientifically.  This again will later be seen.  In the secret of right rhythmic living and in a right proportional accent upon all phases of life will come (and it is rapidly coming) complete immunity from tuberculosis.  In the secret of right understanding of times and cycles and of periodic reproductive creation, will come the emergence of the race from the evils of the social diseases.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that the syphilitic diseases will be the last to disappear, just as they were the first to devastate the race.  Tuberculosis is disappearing.  The attention of the experts is now being given to the cure of cancer.

I would like to add one or two comments which will be of general or rather modern interest.  I have said that these taints to which humanity is prone are found in the soil, and that their presence there is largely due to the burial, down the ages, of millions of corpses.  By the increased use of the processes of cremation, this condition will be steadily improved.  Gradually, very gradually, the taint will thus die out.  It is therefore highly desirable that there be as much propaganda as possible for the use of this method of [62] disposing of the discarded physical vehicles of the souls who are passing out of incarnation.  As the soil becomes less tainted, and as soul contact is established, we can hope to see a steady decrease in the number of those who succumb to the inherited taints.  Curiously enough, the free use of salt sea bathing has a definite effect on the healthiness of the physical body.  The water, incidentally absorbed through the medium of the skin and by the mouth, has a vitally prophylactic effect.

One of the major problems today to the psychologist and in a lesser degree to the medical man, is the growth of homosexuality, both female and male.  Specious arguments are brought forth in order to prove that this abnormal development (and the consequent interest in this morbid tendency) is due to the fact that the race is slowly becoming androgynous in its development, and that the future hermaphroditic man or woman is gradually making its appearance.  This, again, is not true.  Homosexuality is what you call a "left-over" from the sexual excesses of Lemurian times, an inherited taint, if you like.  Egos who individualised and incarnated in that vast period of time are the ones who today demonstrate homosexual tendencies.  In those days, so urgent was the sexual appetite, the normal processes of human intercourse did not satisfy the insatiable desire of the advanced man of the period.  Soul force, flowing in through the processes of individualisation, served to stimulate the lowest centres.  Hence, forbidden methods were practised.  Those who thus practised them are today, in great numbers, in incarnation, and the ancient habits are too strong for them.  They are now far enough advanced upon the evolutionary path so that the cure lies ready at this time—if they choose to employ it.  They can, with relative ease, transfer the sex impulse to the throat centre, and thus become creative in the higher sense, employing the energy [63] sensed and circulating in right and constructive ways.  Many of them are beginning automatically to do this.  However, it is well known that, among the so-called artistic types, homosexuality is very prevalent.  I say "so-called" for the truly creative artist is not the victim of these ancient evil predisposing habits.

It might be pointed out here that homosexuality is of three kinds:

1. That which is the result of ancient evil habits.  This is the major cause today and indicates:

a. Individualisation upon this planet; for those who individualised upon the moon chain are not susceptible to these dangerous characteristics.

b. A relatively advanced stage upon the evolutionary path which was achieved by the Lemurian egos who succumbed to this desire-satisfaction.

c. A consequent study of sex magic, plus a constant insatiable physical and sexual urge.

2. Imitative homosexuality.  A number of persons of all classes imitated their betters (if I might use so paradoxical a term) and so developed evil habits in sexual intercourse from which they might otherwise have remained free.  This is one of the prevalent reasons today, among many men and women, and is based upon a too active imagination, plus a powerful physical or sex nature, and a prurient curiosity.  This I say with advisement.  This category accounts for many of our Sodomites and Lesbians.

3. A few rare, very rare, cases of hermaphroditism.  These people, combining in themselves both aspects of the sex life, are faced with a very real problem.  It is a problem which is greatly increased by human ignorance, human refusal to face facts, wrong early training and teaching, [64] and a widespread misunderstanding.  These cases are to be found in small numbers everywhere, even though their numbers, in relation to the world population, is still negligible.  But that they exist is of real interest to the medical profession and a subject of deep pity and commiseration to the humanitarian and the understanding psychologist.  They face a difficult situation.

I have somewhat elaborated this matter as it is of use for you to know such facts and the information is of value to you.  It serves to throw light upon a problem which an increasingly large number of people are called upon to face.  Psychologists, social workers, physicians, and all those occupied with group training constantly meet with this problem, and it is just as well that some distinction is made between the types which must be considered, thus clarifying the issue. [ii]*

You will find in these instructions many hints which, though they may not be classified definitely as instructions in healing, yet fall into that category, for they will make those of you who read more efficient in understanding.

You will note also from the above how this taint, as might well be expected, has its roots in the astral or sentient body, the body of sensation.  It is for this reason that I have included it.  It would be an interesting experiment in analysis if these various well-known difficulties, diseases and complaints could be classified under their originating impulses.  So few of them have a mental origin, in spite of all that Christian Science or Mental Science may say to the contrary.  Perhaps I should say, rather, that they are not based on wrong human thought, though all evil can be aggravated and intensified by wrong thought.  Many or perhaps most of the [65] complaints from which average man suffers are based upon astral causes or upon some clearly defined desire.  A formulated desire is one that finds expression in some form of activity.  Of these homosexuality is one of the clearest to define.  The other diseases to which humanity is heir are sometimes not so easy to clarify and define.  The man or woman is a victim but the cause producing the illness or difficulty—physical or psychological—lies hid in a long past which the victim (with his limited knowledge) is unable to investigate, nor can he arrive at the cause producing the effect.  All that he can affirm is that, in all probability, desire was the initiating impulse.  What human beings are today and what they suffer is the result of their long past, and the past presupposes long and well-established habits.  Such habits are inevitably the result of one of two factors:

1. Desire, dominating and controlling action,

or

2. Mental control which substitutes for desire a planned campaign which will run counter in many cases to the normally sensed, defined desire.

You will note from the above that it is my wish that you grasp the importance of the emotional sentient body and its power to initiate those secondary causes which, in this life, demonstrate as disease.

You will note consequently the emphasis I have laid upon the astral body as a promoter of wrong physical conditions, and the necessity for astral understanding and control on the part of the patient, if there is to be a true overcoming of disease.  Will you understand me if I say that the true overcoming may mean an acceptance of the Way of Death as the way out, should it come normally, or of healing, if the causes [66] which are the initial impulses are exhausted?  Ponder on this.

In all the above, even in connection with what I have said concerning homosexuality, I have considered either rampant or inhibited desire, but I have only considered it in general terms and in a broad outline.  Will you misunderstand if I point out to you that where desire is inhibited (which is the case with many aspirants today) all kinds of diseases—cancer, congestion of the lungs and certain liver complaints—become possible, as well as the dread malady of tuberculosis?  The diseases of inhibition are numerous and serious, as you will note from the above enumeration.  It should be noted that where desire is rampant and uncontrolled and no inhibition is present, such diseases as the syphilitic disorders, homosexuality and inflammations and fevers appear.  According to the temperament so will be the types of disease, and the temperament is dependent upon the ray quality.  People on the different rays are predisposed to certain disorders.  The psychologists are right in their basic differentiation of human beings into the two major types—extroverts and introverts.  These two types produce their own qualities of disease, which demonstrate as ill health through over-expression or inhibition.

We have considered our second point under the healing of diseases which arise in the emotional or desire nature.  Our first point deals with uncontrolled emotion.  I would remind you of our premise that we would only consider the ills to which advanced humanity, the aspirants and disciples of all degrees are prone.  We will not deal (in this short treatise) with the whole gamut of diseases which affect humanity as a whole, or down the ages.  The more advanced the aspirant, the greater probability there is that the diseases from which he suffers will be pronounced and powerfully demonstrating, on account of the inflow to a greater [67] or less degree of the stimulating force of the soul.  Subsidiary to the five major groups of diseases to which I earlier referred, and working out in connection with them in the human frame, are a group of symptoms which are loosely covered by the terms:  fevers, tumors, congested areas, plus general debility and the auto-intoxication which lies behind so many symptoms.  I would have you remember this with care and bear steadily in mind that I am here only generalising, but that this generalisation is basic and therefore of importance.

C. Diseases of Worry and Irritation.

The third category of complaints which arise in the emotional or astral body is synthesised esoterically under the term:  diseases of irritation.  These are the insidious poisons which lurk behind the phenomena of disease.

It might be said that all diseases can be covered by two definitions, from the standpoint of occultism:

1. Diseases which are the result of auto-intoxication.  These are the most general.

2. Diseases which are the result of irritation.  These are very common amongst disciples.

We hear much today about auto-intoxication, and many efforts are made to cure this by diet and the regulation of the life in terms of rhythmic living.  All this is good and of help, but it does not constitute a basic cure, as its protagonists would lead us to believe.  Irritation is a basic psychological complaint and has its roots in the intensification of the astral body, which definitely produces abnormal effects upon the nervous system.  It is a disease of self-interest, of self-sufficiency, and of self-satisfaction.  Again I would say, ponder on these terms, for these three aspects of irritation are of general discovery.  We will therefore [68] deal with irritation, "imperil," as it is called by exponents of the first ray, such as the Master M.

We have nearly completed our first section under the heading Psychological Causes of Disease, and have very briefly, yet I believe suggestively, considered those problems which arise from the overactivity and wrong condition of the astral body.  All I can do in this short treatise is to generalise, because most of the statements I may make are, in any case, so new and revolutionary (from the standpoint of orthodox medicine) that it will take time for even this first inner structure of ideas and this somewhat new formulation of truth to make its impact upon the thinkers of the race.  Then, if accepted as hypothetical possibilities by the open-minded among them, a long period of time must elapse before there has been enough investigation, leading to definitely formulated conclusions, which will make the ideas of popular recognition and use.  In saying this, I am not reflecting critically upon the medical profession.  The money-grasping specialist and the charlatan are rare; they of course exist, as do the corrupt and the undesirable in every profession.  Where are they not to be found?  The closed minds are many; but again, where are they not found?  The pioneers along the new lines of thought and the man who has grasped some of the New Age concepts have often equally closed minds and see nothing but the new ways, modes and methods, and throw overboard all the old, losing much thereby.  The medical profession has one of the greatest and most beautiful records in the world of its purpose and field of activity, and has developed some of the greatest of the soul qualities—self-sacrifice, compassion and service.  But the ways and the techniques of the New Age are hard to grasp.  Much of the old ways have to be given up and much sacrificed before the new art of healing becomes possible.

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Until the fact of the subtler bodies is properly recognised by the world thinkers, and their existence is established through a right and true science of psychology and the development of the faculty of clairvoyance, the tracing of the causes of disease back to the subtler bodies is relatively meaningless.  The best reaction which the most open-minded physician can (I say can and not will) produce or admit is that the psychological attitude, the mental state, and the emotional condition of the patient do either help or hinder.  Many are already admitting that.  That in itself is much.

When, therefore, I say that cancer, for instance, has its roots in an astral condition and began its career in Atlantean times, it means but little to the average man today.  He does not realise that large numbers of people today are Atlantean in their consciousness.

I want briefly to touch upon the most common of all causes of trouble:  Worry and Irritation.  They are more prevalent at this time than ever before, and for the following reasons:

1. The world situation is such, the problems and uncertainty are such, that scarcely a person in the world at this time is exempt.  Everyone is more or less involved in the planetary situation.

2. The intercommunication between people has increased so much, and men live so much in massed groups—large or small—that it is inevitable that they produce an effect upon each other as never before.  "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it" is a statement of truth, ancient but new in application and today realised for the first time.

3. The increased sensitivity of the human mechanism is also such that men "tune in" on each other's emotional conditions and mental attitudes in a new and more potent [70] manner.  To their own engrossing concerns and worries are added those of their fellowmen with whom they may be en rapport.

4. Telepathically, and also with a developed sense of prevision, men are today adding the difficulties that belong to someone else, or to some other group of thinkers and of people, to the difficulties that may be.  It is not sure that they will be.

These problems will demonstrate to you how intensely difficult it is for men to face up to life.  It will be obvious that the problems of worry and irritation (called by the Master Morya "imperil") are many and must be considered.

Why are these difficulties of the astral body so "perilous" and so serious?  Worry and Irritation are dangerous because:

1. They lower the vitality of the man to such a point that he becomes susceptible to disease.  The scourge of influenza has its roots in fear and worry, and once the world settles down to freedom from the present "fearful" condition, we shall see the disease die out.

2. They are so highly infectious from the astral point of view that they lower in a peculiar manner the astral atmosphere, and thus make it hard for people—in the astral sense—to breathe freely.

3. Because the astral conditions of fear, worry and irritation are so widespread today that they might be regarded as epidemic, in a planetary sense.

4. Because irritation (I speak not here of worry) is inflammatory in its effects—and inflammation is hard to bear—and leads to much difficulty.  It is interesting to note that certain forms of eye trouble are caused by this.

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5. Because worry and irritation prevent true vision.  They shut out the view.  The man who is the victim of these conditions sees nothing but the cause of his complaints and is so submerged through self-pity, self-consideration, or in a focussed negative condition, that his vision is narrowed and his group hindered.  Remember that there is group selfishness as well as individual selfishness.

I have cited sufficient reasons for the effects of Worry and Irritation to demonstrate to you the wideness of the difficulty.  It is not much use at this time to talk of the remedy.  One does not say to an influenza patient (when the worst throes of the disease are upon him), "There is nothing the matter.  Pay no attention.  Get up and go about your business."  It is no use saying to men today, "Do not fear.  Leave off worrying.  All will be well."  They will not believe you, for one thing—and that is fortunate, for it is not true.  Things are not well and humanity and the planetary life are not well.  This, the Hierarchy knows, and is working for the amelioration of the conditions.  When the throes of the "planetary influenza" are over (and the patient will not die), then investigation can be made and effort produced which can prevent a recurrence.  At present, all that can be done is to keep the patient quiet and also keep the fever down.  This is the work of the New Group of World Servers and the intelligent men of goodwill.  Their name is Legion.

2. CAUSES ARISING IN THE ETHERIC BODY

It will be wise for you to bear in mind that I am not here going to deal with those causes which, producing effects in the physical body, arise in the mind or in the astral body.  Necessarily they pass through the etheric body.  The etheric body is a transmitter of all energies to the physical body, [72] and all types of force pass through it to different parts of the physical form, producing good and bad results, negative or positive results, as the case may be.  This is a fact which we accept.  I am here considering the diseases, problems and physical difficulties which arise in the etheric body itself and work out in its relations to the physical body.  These are quite widespread and usual.  It is essential that you keep these two lines of force-activity clearly differentiated in your mind.  Both pass through and from the etheric body into the physical body, but only one of them originates in or is concerned with difficulties which have an etheric origin.

The etheric body is a body composed entirely of lines of force and of points where these lines of force cross each other and thus form (in crossing) centres of energy.  Where many such lines of force cross each other, you have a larger centre of energy, and where great streams of energy meet and cross, as they do in the head and up the spine, you have seven major centres.  There are seven such, plus twenty-one lesser centres and forty-nine smaller centres known to the esotericists.  However, we will confine ourselves at this time to the etheric body as a whole and to the seven major centres.  It might be of interest to you, nevertheless, to be told where the twenty-one minor centres are to be found.  They can be located at the following points:

There are two of them in front of the ears close to where the jaw bones are connected.

There are two of them just above the two breasts.

There is one where the breast bones meet, close to the thyroid gland.  This, with the two breast centres, makes a triangle of force.

There are two, one each in the palms of the hands.

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There are two, one each in the soles of the feet.

There are two, just behind the eyes.

There are two also connected with the gonads.

There is one close to the liver.

There is one connected with the stomach; it is related, therefore, to the solar plexus, but is not identical with it.

There are two connected with the spleen.  These form one centre in reality, but such a centre is formed by the two being superimposed one on the other.

There are two—one at the back of each knee.

There is one powerful centre which is closely connected with the vagus nerve.  This is most potent and is regarded by some schools of occultism as a major centre; it is not in the spine, but is no great distance from the thymus gland.

There is one which is close to the solar plexus, and relates it to the centre at the base of the spine, thus making a triangle of the sacral centre, the solar plexus, and the centre at the base of the spine.

The two triangles referred to in this tabulation are of real importance.  One is above and the other below the diaphragm.

It is of course apparent that where there is a free flow of force through the etheric body into the dense physical body there will be less likelihood of disease or sickness.  There may, however, be increased tendency to difficulties arising from overstimulation and its consequent results of overactivity of the nervous system, with all the attendant problems.  These forces, seeking inlet into the dense vehicle, are emanations from three directions (if I may use such a term):

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1. From the personality vehicles—the astral and mental bodies.

2. From the soul, if contact, recognised or unrecognised, has been established.

3. From the environing world to which the vehicles of the soul and of the personality have acted as "doors of entrance."  Incidentally, in connection with this last phrase, I would call your attention to a possible relation between these "doors of entrance" and the phrase "door of initiation."

In the case where these centres, through which the inflowing energy from these sources of supply flow, are quiescent, unawakened or only functioning partially or too slowly (as far as their vibratory rhythm is concerned), then you will have a condition of blocking.  This will produce congestion in the etheric vehicle, and consequent and subsequent difficulties in the functioning of the physical body.  One of the most common of these is congestion of the lungs which—though it may be exoterically traced to certain and definite physical causes—is in reality those causes, plus an inner condition of etheric congestion.  It is the bringing together of the outer apparent cause and the inner true cause which is responsible for the outbreak of the trouble.  When these two conditions are brought into conjunction with each other, and you have a physical handicap and an etheric situation which is undesirable, then you will have disease, illness, or weakness of some kind.  Every outer congestion can always be traced to these two causes—an inner and an outer cause.  In these cases, the outer cause is not an effect of the individual inner cause, which is interesting.  You will note, therefore, that all ills are not purely subjective or psychological in origin as far as an individual is concerned, [75] but are sometimes both exoteric and esoteric.  Hence the complication of the problem.

The above statement opens up the whole question of the activity of the seven centres of force in the etheric body.  These can be regarded as dormant or unawakened, awakening but only as yet sluggishly alive, or functioning normally, which means that some of the energies which produce the form of the centre are moving rhythmically, and are therefore receptive to inflow, while others are still entirely inactive and unresponsive.  Other centres will be fully active, and therefore predominantly attractive to any inflowing forces; still others will be only partially so.  For the majority of people, the centres below the diaphragm are more active than those above the diaphragm (I am referring here to the seven major centres and not to the twenty-one minor centres).  For aspirants, centres below the diaphragm are active and the heart and throat centres are slowly coming into activity, while in the case of disciples, the ajna centre, plus those centres below it in the body, are rapidly awakening.  In the initiate, the head centre is coming into vibrant activity, thus swinging all the centres into real and coordinated rhythm.  Each patient or human being, being on some ray, responds differently; the time factor also differs; the pattern of the unfoldment varies, and the response to the inflowing forces is slightly differentiated.

All of this we will consider with due care when we deal with Chapter IX, which concerns itself with the seven modes of healing.  I simply mention it here so as to lay the foundation for what must later be considered, and thus show you how the whole question of the relation of the etheric body to the physical body is connected with the problem of healing.  It will be apparent, therefore, how important it is—before real healing can take place—that the healer should know the point in evolution reached by [76] the patient, and should also know his ray type, both personality and egoic.  If to this you add some knowledge of his astrological inclinations and indications, a far more accurate diagnosis can be produced.  The key to all release (either through the physical cure of disease or through death) lies in the understanding of the condition of the centres in the etheric body.  These determine the rate of the bodily vibratory activity and the general responsiveness of the physical body.  They even condition the activity and accuracy of the instinctual nature and its relation to the outer plane life and the "wholeness" and general health of the sympathetic nervous system.

A. Congestion.

Much real difficulty can be traced to congestion or to the lack of the free play of the forces.  In this connection it might be pointed out that the etheric body is a mechanism for intake and for outlet.  There is consequently a curious and intimate relation between it and such organs as the lungs, the stomach, and the kidneys.  The symbology here present, when correctly understood, will tend to show that there is a deep underlying esoteric relation between:

1. The mind and the lungs.  The process of breathing, with its stages of inhalation, the interlude, and exhalation, works out in connection with both aspects of force, mental and physical.

2. The desire nature and the stomach.  Here again is the process of intake, of assimilation, and of elimination.

3. The etheric body itself and the kidneys, with the processes clearly defined in both cases of absorption, chemicalisation, and transmission.

There is no symbol so relatively accurate to the whole [77] creative process as the human frame.

Congestion in the etheric body, producing much distress in the physical body, can exist, therefore, at the point of intake from the astral body or from the astral plane (Note the phrasing and the difference.) or at the point of outlet, in relation to the centre to which the particular type of etheric force most easily flows and through which it most easily passes.  Where there is no free play between the etheric body and the astral body, you will have trouble.  Where there is no free play between the etheric body and the physical body, involving also the nerve ganglia and the endocrine system, you will also have trouble.  The close relation between the seven major centres and the seven major glands of the physical system must never be forgotten.  The two systems form one close interlocking directorate, with the glands and their functions determined by the condition of the etheric centres.  These, in their turn, are conditioned by the point in evolution and gained experience of the incarnate soul, by the specific polarisation of the soul in incarnation, and by the rays (personality and soul) of the man.  Forget not, that the five aspects of man (as he functions in the three worlds) are determined by certain ray forces; you have the ray of the soul, the ray of the personality, and the rays of the mental, the astral and the physical bodies.  All these will, in the coming New Age, be definitely considered and discovered, and this knowledge will reveal to the healer the probable condition of the centres, the order of their awakening, and their individual and basic note or notes.  The new medical science will be outstandingly built upon the science of the centres, and upon this knowledge all diagnosis and possible cure will be based.  The endocrinologist is only beginning to glimpse possibilities, and much that he is now considering has in it the seeds of future truth.  The "balancing of the glandular system" [78] and the relation of the glands to the blood stream, and also to character and predispositions of many kinds, are considerations of real value and worth following.  Much, however, remains to be discovered before it will be really safe to work with the glands, making them a major subject of attention (as some day will be the case in all forms of illness).

Throughout this short treatise I will give many hints which will serve to guide the open minded investigator in the right direction.  Before passing on to the consideration of the relation of the etheric body, as a unit, to the physical body, I would like to point out that I place the complications of congestion first upon the list of diseases arising in the etheric body, because it is at this time—and will be for a couple of centuries—the major cause of difficulty for the bulk of humanity or of those people whom we esoterically call "solar-sacral" people.  This is partly due to the age-long habits of suppression and of inhibition which the race, as a whole, has developed.  It is this congestion at the point of intake and of outlet in the etheric body which is responsible for the impeding of the free flow of the life force, with the results of a rapid succumbing to diseases.  Hence, also, you will see how carefully assigned breathing exercises, with their subtle effects of reorganising and readjusting the subtler bodies (particularly the etheric and astral bodies) will become more and more generally used.  The widespread interest in breathing today evidences a subjective recognition of this fact, though not enough is yet known about methods and effects.

One other thing I would like to call to your attention is that the points of congestion may exist either in the astral body centre or in the etheric body, and this situation the healer will have to investigate.

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B. Lack of Coordination and Integration.

We come now to a brief consideration of our second point of difficulty to be found in the etheric body, which in our tabulation we have called lack of coordination or integration.  This is exceedingly prevalent today and is responsible for a good deal of trouble.  The etheric body is the inner "substantial" form upon which the physical body is built or constructed.  It is the inner scaffolding which underlies every part of the whole outer man; it is the framework which sustains the whole; it is that upon which the outer form is patterned; and it is the network of nadis (infinitely intricate) which constitutes the counterpart or the duplicate aspect of the entire nervous system which forms such an important part of the human mechanism.  It is thus definitely, with the blood stream, the instrument of the life force.  If, therefore, there is weakness in the relation between this inner structure and the outer form, it will be immediately apparent to you that real difficulty is bound to supervene.  This difficulty will take three forms:

1. The physical form in its dense aspect is too loosely connected with the etheric form or counterpart.  This leads to a devitalised and debilitated condition, which predisposes man to sickness or ill health.

2. The connection is poor in certain directions or aspects of the equipment.  Through certain focal points or centres the life force cannot adequately flow, and therefore you have a definite weakness in some part of the physical body.  For instance, impotence is such a difficulty and a tendency to laryngitis is another—to mention two widely different disorders.

3. The connection can also be so basically loose and poor that the soul has very little hold upon its vehicle [80] for outer manifestation, and obsession or possession is easily established.  This is an extreme example of the difficulties incident to this condition.  Others are certain forms of fainting or loss of consciousness and "petit mal."

There are also, as will be apparent, the exactly reverse conditions when the etheric body is so closely knit or integrated with the personality—whether it is of a highly evolved nature or simply an example of an ordinary etheric body—that every part of the physical body is in a constant condition of stimulation, of galvanic effort, with a resultant activity in the nervous system which—if not correctly regulated—can lead to a great deal of distress.  It is to this that I refer in the third heading, "Overstimulation of the Centres."  Too loose a connection or too close a connection leads to trouble, though the first kind of difficulty is usually more serious than the others.  I have here given enough to show how interesting and how important a study of the etheric body may be.  The whole theme of healing is "tied up" (to use a modern phrase which I find difficult) with the development, unfoldment and control of the seven major centres.

C. Overstimulation of the Centres.

There is much that I could add to what I have said on the cause of disease arising in the etheric body, but in Part II (when dealing with the section on certain basic requirements) I shall elaborate the theme much further.  Congestion, lack of integration and over-stimulation of the centres, are obviously fundamental causes as far as the dense physical body is concerned, but they themselves are frequently effects of subtler causes, hidden in the life of the astral and mental bodies and, in the case of overstimulation, [81] the result sometimes of soul contacts.  The etheric body reacts normally, and by design, to all the conditions found in the subtler vehicles.  It is essentially a transmitter and not an originator and it is only the limitations of the observer which lead him to ascribe the causes of bodily ills to the etheric body.  It is a clearing house for all the forces reaching the physical body, provided the point in evolution has brought the various force centres to a condition wherein they are receptive to any particular type of force.  Esoterically speaking, the centres can be in one of five conditions or states of being.  These can be described in the following terms:

1. Closed, still and shut, and yet with signs of life, silent and full of deep inertia.

2. Opening, unsealed, and faintly tinged with colour; the life pulsates.

3. Quickened, alive, alert in two directions; the two small doors are open wide.

4. Radiant and reaching forth with vibrant note to all related centres.

5. Blended they are and each with each works rhythmically.  The vital force flows through from all the planes.  The world stands open wide.

Related to these five stages, wherein the etheric body expands and becomes the vital livingness of all expression upon the physical plane, are the five races of men, beginning with the Lemurian race, the five planes of human and superhuman expression, the five stages of consciousness and the various other groupings of five with which you meet in the esoteric philosophy.  Incidentally it might be of value and of interest to point out that the five-pointed star is not only the sign and symbol of initiation and finally perfected man, but it is also the basic symbol of the etheric [82] body and of the five centres which control perfected man—the two head centres, the heart centre, the throat centre and the centre at the base of the spine.  When these centres are fully awakened and functioning in right rhythm with each other, the various quintuplets to which I have referred above form an integral part of the consciousness of the perfected man.

Though this particular piece of information is not definitely related to the Science of Healing, yet the entire subject is related to energy, and energy in some form or another is related to the causes and the effects of disease, because disease is the undesirable effect of energy upon the energy unit which we call the atom.

It should be remembered that the etheric body of the human being is an integral part of the etheric body of the planetary Logos and is, therefore, related to all forms found within that body in any and all the kingdoms in nature.  It is part of the substance of the universe, coordinated with planetary substance, and hence provides the scientific basis for unity.