CHAPTER V - The Process of Restitution - Part 2
A great upheaval in all the kingdoms in nature has characterised this day and generation; a stupendous destruction of all forms of divine life and in every kingdom has been the outstanding note of this upheaval. Our modern civilisation has received a death blow from which it will never recover, but which will be recognised some day as the "blow of release" and as the signal for that which is better, new and more suitable for the evolving spirit, to make its appearance. Great and penetrating energies and their [451] evoked forces have met in conflict which has, figuratively speaking, elevated the mineral kingdom into the skies and which has brought down fire from heaven. I am talking to you factually and not just symbolically. The bodies of men, women and children, as well as animals, have been destroyed; the forms of the vegetable kingdom and the potencies of the mineral kingdom have been disintegrated, distributed and devastated. The coherent life of all the planetary forms has been temporarily rendered incoherent. As an ancient prophecy has put it: "No true united Sound goes out from form to form, from life to life. Only a cry of pain, a demand for restitution and an invocation for relief from agony, despair and fruitless effort goes out from here to There."
All this upheaval of the "soil" of the world—spiritual, psychological and physical—all this disruption of the forms and of the familiar contours of our planetary life, had to take place before there could come the emergence of the Hierarchy into the public consciousness; all this had to do its work upon the souls of men before the New Age could come in, bringing with it the Restoration of the Mysteries and the rehabilitation of the peoples of the Earth. The two go together. This is one of the major points which I am seeking to make. The disruption, disintegration and the completely chaotic conditions existing for the past five hundred years within all the kingdoms of nature have at last worked their way out into paralleling physical conditions. This is good and desirable; it marks the prelude to a better building of a better world, and the construction of more adequate forms of life and of more correct human attitudes, plus a sounder orientation to reality. The best is yet to be.
Everything is being rapidly brought to the surface—the good and the bad, the desirable and the undesirable, the [452] past and the future (for the two are one); the plough of God has nearly accomplished its work; the sword of the spirit has severed an evil past from the radiant future, and both are seen as contributory in the Eye of God; our material civilisation will be seen as giving place rapidly to a more spiritual culture; our church organisations, with their limiting and confusing theologies, will soon give place to the Hierarchy with its emerging teaching—clear, factual, intuitive and nondogmatic.
A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. V. pages 134-135.
Intense desire for sentient existence or attachment. This is inherent in every form, is self-perpetuating and known even to the very wise.
When the life or Spirit withdraws itself, the form dies, occultly. When the thought of the ego or higher self is occupied with its own plane, there is no energy outgoing towards the matter of the three worlds, and so no form-building and form-attachment is there possible. This is in line with the occult truism that "energy follows thought," and is in line, too, with the teaching that the body of the Christ principle (the Buddhic vehicle) only begins to coordinate as the lower impulses fade out....Attachment to form or the attraction of form for Spirit is the great involutionary impulse. Repulsion of form and consequent form disintegration is the great evolutionary urge.
The Light of the Soul, pages 137-8.
When the cause, desire, has produced its effect, the personality or form aspect of man, then as long as the will to live exists, so long will the form persist. It is kept in manifestation through mental vitality. This has been demonstrated time and again in the annals of medicine, for it has been proven that as long as the determination to live persists, so will be the probable duration of the physical plane [453] life; but that the moment that will is withdrawn, or the interest of the dweller in the body is no longer centered upon personality manifestation, death ensues and the disintegration of that mind-image, the body, takes place.
The Light of the Soul, page 397.
There are two main lines of evolution, that which concerns matter and form, and that which concerns the soul, the consciousness aspect, the thinker in manifestation. For each of these the path of progress differs, and each pursues its course. As has been noted, for a long period of time the soul identifies itself with the form aspect and endeavours to follow the "Path of Death," for that is what the dark path is in fact to the thinker. Later, through strenuous effort, this identification ceases; the soul becomes aware of itself, and of its own path, or dharma, and follows then the way of light and of life. It should ever be borne in mind, however, that for the two aspects their own path is the right path, and that the impulses which lie hidden in the physical vehicle or in the astral body are not in themselves wrong. They become wrong from certain angles when twisted from their right use, and it was this realisation that led the disciple in the Book of Job to cry out and say, "I have perverted that which was right." The two lines of development are separate and distinct, and this every aspirant has to learn.
The Light of the Soul, pages 402-403.
The Art of Dying.
The soul, seated in the heart, is the life principle, the principle of self-determination, the central nucleus of positive energy by means of which all the atoms of the body are held in their right place and subordinated to the "will-to-be" of the soul. This principle of life utilises the blood stream [454] as its mode of expression and as its controlling agency, and through the close relation of the endocrine system to the blood stream, we have the two aspects of soul activity brought together in order to make man a living, conscious, functioning entity, governed by the soul, and expressing the purpose of the soul in all the activities of daily living.
Death, therefore, is literally the withdrawal from the heart and from the head of these two streams of energy, producing consequently complete loss of consciousness and disintegration of the body. Death differs from sleep in that both streams of energy are withdrawn. In sleep, only the thread of energy which is anchored in the brain is withdrawn, and when this happens the man becomes unconscious. By this we mean that his consciousness or sense of awareness is focussed elsewhere. His attention is no longer directed towards things tangible and physical, but is turned upon another world of being and becomes centered in another apparatus or mechanism. In death, both the threads are withdrawn or unified in the life thread. Vitality ceases to penetrate through the medium of the blood stream and the heart fails to function, just as the brain fails to record, and thus silence settles down. The house is empty. Activity ceases, except that amazing and immediate activity which is the prerogative of matter itself and which expresses itself in the process of decomposition. From certain aspects, therefore, that process indicates man's unity with everything that is material; it demonstrates that he is a part of nature itself, and by nature we mean the body of the one Life in whom "we live and move and have our being." In those three words—living, moving and being—we have the entire story. Being is awareness, self-consciousness and self-expression, and of this man's head and brain are the exoteric symbols. Living is energy, desire in form, coherence and adhesion to an idea, and of this the heart and the blood are the exoteric [455] symbols. Moving indicates the integration and response of the existing, aware, living entity into the universal activity, and of this the stomach, pancreas and liver are the symbols.
It must be noted also that death is, therefore, undertaken at the direction of the Ego, no matter how unaware a human being may be of that direction. The process works automatically with the majority, for (when the soul withdraws its attention) the inevitable reaction on the physical plane is either death, by the abstraction of the dual threads of life and reason energy, or by the abstraction of the thread of energy which is qualified by mentality, leaving the life stream still functioning through the heart, but no intelligent awareness. The soul is engaged elsewhere and occupied on its own plane with its own affairs.
A Treatise on White Magic, pages 496-497.
Before I take up this subject in greater detail I would like to make some reference to the "web in the brain," which is intact for the majority but is non-existent for the illumined seer.
In the human body, as you know, we have an underlying, extensive vital body which is the counterpart of the physical, which is larger than the physical and which we call the etheric body or double. It is an energy body and is composed of force centres and nadis or force threads. These underlie or are the counterparts of the nervous apparatus—the nerves and the nerve ganglia. In two places in the human body there are orifices of exit, if I may use so cumbersome a phrase. One opening is in the solar plexus and the other is in the brain at the top of the head. Protecting both is a closely woven web of etheric matter, composed of interlacing strands of life energy.
During the process of death the pressure of the life energy beating against the web produces eventually a puncturing [456] or opening. Out of this the life force pours as the potency of the abstracting influence of the soul increases. In the case of animals, of infants and of men and women who are polarised entirely in the physical and astral bodies, the door of exit is the solar plexus, and it is that web which is punctured, thus permitting the passing out. In the case of mental types, of the more highly evolved human units, it is the web at the top of the head in the region of the fontenelle which is ruptured, thus again permitting the exit of the thinking rational being.
In the process of death these are, therefore, the two main exits: the solar plexus for the astrally polarised, physically biased human being, and therefore of the vast majority, and the head centre for the mentally polarised and spiritually oriented human being. This is the first and most important factor to remember, and it will easily be seen how the trend of a life tendency and the focus of the life attention determine the mode of exit at death. It can be seen also that an effort to control the astral life and the emotional nature, and to orient one's self to the mental world and to spiritual things, has a momentous effect upon the phenomenal aspects of the death process.
If the student is thinking clearly, it will be apparent to him that one exit concerns the spiritual and highly evolved man, whilst the other concerns the low grade human being who has scarcely advanced beyond the animal stage. What then of the average man? A third exit is now in temporary use; just below the apex of the heart another etheric web is found covering an orifice of exit. We have, therefore, the following situation:
1. The exit in the head, used by the intellectual type, by the disciples and initiates of the world.
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2. The exit in the heart, used by the kindly, well-meaning man or woman who is a good citizen, an intelligent friend and a philanthropic worker.
3. The exit in the region of the solar plexus, used by those whose animal nature is strong.
This is the first point in the new information which will slowly become common knowledge in the West during the next century. Much of it is already known by thinkers in the East and is in the nature of a first step towards a rational understanding of the death process.
A Treatise on White Magic, page 500.
In relation to the technique of dying, it is only possible for me at this time to make one or two suggestions. I deal not here with the attitude of the attendant watchers, I deal only with those points which will make for an easier passing over of the transient soul.
First, let there be silence in the chamber. This is, of course, frequently the case. It must be remembered that the dying person may usually be unconscious. This unconsciousness is apparent but not real. In nine hundred cases out of a thousand the brain awareness is there, with a full consciousness of happenings, but there is a complete paralysis of the will to express and complete inability to generate the energy which will indicate aliveness. When silence and understanding rule the sick room, the departing soul can hold possession of its instrument with clarity until the last minute, and can make due preparation.
Later, when more anent colour is known, only orange lights will be permitted in the sick room of a dying person, and these will only be installed with due ceremony when there is assuredly no possibility of recovery. Orange aids the focussing in the head, just as red stimulates the solar [458] plexus and green has a definite effect upon the heart and life streams.
Certain types of music will be used when more in connection with sound is understood, but there is no music as yet which will facilitate the work of the soul in abstracting itself from the body, though certain notes on the organ will be found effective. At the exact moment of death, if a person's own note is sounded, it will coordinate the two streams of energy and eventually rupture the life thread, but the knowledge of this is too dangerous to transmit as yet and can only later be given. I would indicate the future and the lines along which future occult study will run.
It will be found also that pressure on certain nerve centres and on certain arteries will facilitate the work, and this science of dying is held in custody, as many students know, in Tibet. Pressure on the jugular vein and on certain big nerves in the region of the head and on a particular spot in the medulla oblongata will be found helpful and effective. A definite science of death will inevitably later be elaborated, but only when the fact of the soul is recognised and its relation to the body has been scientifically demonstrated.
Mantric phrases will also be employed and definitely built into the consciousness of the dying person by those around him, or employed deliberately and mentally by himself. The Christ demonstrated their use when He cried aloud, "Father, into thy hands, I commend My spirit." And we have another instance in the words, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace." The steady use of the Sacred Word, chanted in an undertone or on a particular key (to which the dying man will be found to respond), may later constitute also a part of the ritual of transition, accompanied by the anointing with oil, as preserved in the Catholic Church. Extreme Unction has an occult, scientific basis. The top of the head of the dying [459] man should also symbolically point towards the East, and the feet and hands should be crossed. Sandalwood only should be burned in the room, and no incense of any other kind permitted, for sandalwood is the incense of the First or Destroyer Ray, and the soul is in process of destroying its habitation.
A Treatise on White Magic, page 505.
If there is one factor aspirants recognise, it is the need of freeing themselves from the Great Illusion. Arjuna knew this, yet succumbed to despair. Yet in his hour of need, Krishna failed him not, but laid down in the Gita the simple rules whereby depression and doubt can be overcome. They may be briefly summarised as follows:
a. Know thyself to be the undying One.
b. Control thy mind, for through that mind the undying One can be known.
c. Learn that the form is but the veil which hides the splendour of Divinity.
d. Realise that the One Life pervades all forms, so there is no death, no distress, no separation.
e. Detach thyself therefore from the form side and come to Me, so dwelling in the place where Light and Life are found. Thus illusion ends.
A Treatise on White Magic, page 308.
A Master learns the meaning of each confining form; then He assumes control and wields the law upon the plane consistent with the form. He has then outgrown the form and discards it for other and higher forms. Thus, He has progressed always by means of the sacrifice and death of the form. Always, it is recognised as imprisoning, always it must be sacrificed and die so that the life within may speed ever on and up. The path of resurrection presupposes [460] crucifixion and death, and then leads to the mount whence Ascension may be made.
Letters on Occult Meditation, page 261.
THE ACT OF RESTITUTION
In considering the consciousness of the departing soul (note that phrase) as it undertakes the act of restitution, I would again point out that I am dealing with a subject of which there is no tangible physical proof. Occasionally men are brought back again into physical plane existence when at the exact point of complete physical restitution. This can only be done as long as the conscious entity is still occupying the etheric vehicle, though the discarding of the dense physical body has to all intents and purposes been completed. Though the etheric body interpenetrates the entire physical body, it is much larger than that body, and the astral body and the mental nature can still remain etherically polarised even if the death of the physical body—the cessation of all heart activity and the concentration of the basic etheric focus in the region of the head, or the heart, or the solar plexus—has been effective and the withdrawal is already well under way.
The etheric forces are first of all withdrawn into the surrounding extension of the etheric ring-pass-not, prior to that final dissipation which leaves the man free to stand as a human soul within the ring-pass-not of his astral vehicle. You have here a somewhat new aspect of the death process. The withdrawal of the etheric body from occupation of the dense physical body has oft been posited and presented. But even when that has been accomplished, death is not yet complete; it still awaits a secondary activity of the will of the soul. This secondary activity will result in all the etheric forces dissolving into an emanating source which is the [461] general reservoir of forces. Forget not that the etheric body has no distinctive life of its own. It is only an amalgamation of all the forces and energies which animated the physical body and which galvanised it into activity during the outer life cycle. Remember also that the five centres up the spine are not within the physical body, but are found at certain distinctive points in the paralleling etheric substance; they are (even in the case of the undeveloped man, and still more in the case of the average man) at least two inches away from the physical spine. The three head centres are also outside the dense physical body. The recollection of this will facilitate your understanding of the statement that the physical body is, per se, vacated when death is assumed by the watching authorities, but that, nevertheless, the man may not be truly dead. I would remind you also that this is equally true of the many minor centres as well as of the major centres, with which we are so familiar.
The last of the minor centres to "fade out into nothingness," in order to be resolved into the totality of etheric substance, are two which are closely related to and in the region of the lungs. It is on these two centres that the soul works if recalled into the dense physical body for some reason. It is when they swing into a returning or a fresh in-going activity that the breath of life returns to the vacated physical form. It is an unconscious realisation of this which constitutes the prompting cause of the process which is normally carried out in all cases of drowning or of asphyxiation. When a man has succumbed to disease and the physical body is consequently weakened, such restorative exercises are not possible and should not be employed. In cases of sudden death through accident, suicide, murder, unexpected heart attacks or through the processes of war, the shock is such that the somewhat leisurely process of soul withdrawal is entirely offset, and the vacating of the physical [462] body and the complete dissolution of the etheric body are practically simultaneous. In normal cases of death from disease, the withdrawal is slow, and (where the malignancy of the disease has not caused too great deterioration of the physical organism involved) there is the possibility of a return for a shorter or a longer period of time. This frequently happens, especially when the will to live is strong or the life task remains as yet unaccomplished and is not correctly concluded.
There is another point upon which I wish to touch and which has relation to the eternal conflict being waged between the dualities of the dense physical body and the etheric vehicle. The physical elemental (which is the name given to the integrated life of the physical body) and the soul, as it seeks to withdraw and dissolve the sumtotal of the combined energies of the etheric body, are in violent conflict and the process is often fierce and long; it is this battle which is being waged during the long or short period of coma which characterises so many death beds. Coma, esoterically speaking, is of two kinds: there is the "coma of battle" which precedes true death; there is also the "coma of restoration" which takes place when the soul has withdrawn the consciousness thread or aspect, but not the life thread, in an effort to give the physical elemental time to regain its grip upon the organism and thus to restore health. As yet, modern science does not recognise the distinction between these two aspects of coma. Later, when etheric or clairvoyant vision is more common, the quality of the coma prevailing will be known, and the elements of hope or of despair will no longer control. The friends and relations of the unconscious person will know exactly whether they are watching a great and final withdrawal from present incarnation or simply looking on at a restorative process. In the latter case, the soul is still retaining its hold upon [463] the physical body, via the centres, but is withstanding temporarily all energising processes. The exceptions to this withstraint are the heart centre, the spleen, and two minor centres connected with the breathing apparatus. These will remain normally energised, even if somewhat weakened in their activity; and through them control is retained. When true death is the soul's intention, then control over the spleen first of all takes place; then control over the two minor centres follows, and finally control over the heart centre supervenes and the man dies.
The above will give you some idea of the many points connected with dying that still remain to be discovered by orthodox medicine, and which will be revealed as the race of men reaches an increasing sensitivity.
I would ask you to remember that in all our present considerations we are dealing with the reactions and activities of the soul which is deliberately recalling its incarnated aspect because a life cycle has been concluded. The term of that life cycle may be long or short, according to the purposes involved; it may cover only a very few short years, or a century. Prior to the seventh year, the vitality of the physical elemental is largely the determining factor. The soul is then focussed in the etheric body, but is not fully utilising all the centres; it has simply a gently pulsating control and a gentle impulsive activity—sufficient to preserve consciousness, to vitalise the various physical processes, and to initiate the demonstration of character and of disposition. These become increasingly marked until the twenty-first year, when they stabilise into what we call the personality. In the case of disciples, the grip of the soul upon the etheric centres will be more powerful from the very start of the physical existence. By the time the fourteenth year is reached, the quality and the nature of the incarnated soul and its approximate age or experience are determined, the [464] physical, astral and mental elementals are under control, and the soul, the indwelling spiritual man, already determines the life tendencies and choices.
In the case of the ordinary man, where death is intended, the battle between the physical elemental and the soul is a distinctive factor; it is occultly called a "Lemurian departure"; in the case of the average citizen, where the focus of the life is in the desire nature, the conflict is between the astral elemental and the soul, and this is given the name "the death of an Atlantean"; where disciples are concerned, the conflict will be more purely mental and is oft focussed around the will-to-serve and the determination to fulfill a particular aspect of the Plan and the will-to-return in full force to the ashramic centre. Where initiates are concerned, there is no conflict, but simply a conscious and deliberate withdrawal. Curiously enough, if there appears to be a conflict, it will be between the two elemental forces then remaining in the personality: the physical elemental and the mental life. There is no astral elemental to be found in the equipment of an initiate of high standing. Desire has been completely transcended as far as the individual's own nature is involved.
Factors Confronting the Withdrawing Soul
In physical death, therefore, and in the act of restitution, the withdrawing soul has to deal with the following factors:
1. The physical elemental, the integrated and coordinated life of the physical body, which is forever seeking to hold together under the attractive forces of all its component parts and their mutual interaction. This force works through a number of minor centres.
2. The etheric vehicle, which has a powerful coordinated life of its own, expressed through the seven [465] major centres which react under astral, mental and soul impulsive energy. It works also through certain of the minor centres which are not dedicated to a response to that aspect of the man's equipment which H.P.B. states is not a principle—the dense physical mechanism.
The minor centres are therefore to be found existing in two groups: Those responsive to the life of dense matter, to the mother aspect, and which are definitely upon the involutionary arc; these are an inheritance from the previous solar system wherein the entire man was controlled via these minor centres, with only a very few of the major centres dimly indicated in the case of initiates and advanced disciples of that time; secondly, those centres which are responsive to energies reaching them via the major centres; these then come under the control of the astral body and the mental apparatus. You will see consequently why, earlier in this treatise, I made the following reference to the minor 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:
1. There are two in front of the ears, close to where the jaw bones are connected.
2. There are two just above the two breasts.
3. There is one where the breast bone connects, close to the thyroid gland. This, with the two breast centres, makes a triangle of force.
4. There are two, one each in the palms of the hands.
5. There are two, one each in the soles of the feet.
6. There are two, just behind the eyes.
7. There are two, also, connected with the gonads.
8. There is one close to the liver.
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9. There is one connected with the stomach; it is related, therefore, to the solar plexus, but is not identical with it.
10. 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.
11. There are two—one at the back of each knee.
12. 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.
13. 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.
Again, the death process can be seen as a dual activity and one which primarily concerns the etheric body. There is first of all the collecting and the withdrawing of the etheric substance, so that it no longer interpenetrates the dense physical organism, and its subsequent densification (a word I deliberately choose) in that area of the etheric body which has always surrounded, but not penetrated, the dense vehicle. This has been sometimes erroneously called the health aura, and it can be photographed more easily and successfully during the process of dying than at any other time, owing to the accumulation of the withdrawn forces for several inches external to the tangible body. It is at this point in the experience of the withdrawing soul that the "word of death" is spoken, and it is prior to this enunciation [467] of this word that a return to physical living can be possible and the withdrawn etheric forces can again interpenetrate the body. Relationship with all the withdrawn forces is, up to this point, retained via the head or the heart or the solar plexus, as well as via the two minor chest centres.
All this time the consciousness of the dying man is focussed in either the emotional (or astral) body or the mental vehicle, according to the point in evolution. He is not unconscious as the onlooker might infer, but is fully aware within himself of what is occurring. If he is strongly focussed on physical plane life, and if that is the dominating desire of which he is the most aware, he may then intensify the conflict; you will then have the physical elemental battling furiously for existence, the desire nature fighting to retard the processes of death, and the soul, intent upon the work of abstraction and of restitution. This can and frequently does occasion a struggle which is quite apparent to the onlookers. As the race of men progresses and develops, this triple struggle will become much rarer; desire for physical plane existence will not appear so attractive, and the activity of the astral body will die out.
I wish you could get a picture (symbolically considered) of a man who is in full incarnation and rooted in his phase of experience, and of a man who is withdrawing from that experience. It connotes a repetition on a tiny scale of the great planetary processes of involution and evolution; it concerns those activities which produce a focussing or a polarisation in one of two directions; it resembles what might be regarded as a process of pouring in life and light into a vessel upon the physical plane, or an intensification of the radiation of that life and light of so potent a nature that under the evocative power of the soul they are both withdrawn and gathered up into the centre of life and light from whence they originally came. I have here given you [468] (could you but recognise it) a definition of initiation, but one of a somewhat unusual phrasing. Perhaps some lines from the Manual of Death which is to be found in the hierarchical archives would prove explanatory to you, and might aid you in gaining a new perspective upon death. This manual has in it what are called the "Formulas preceding Pralaya." These deal with all the death or abstraction processes, covering the death of all forms, whether it be the death of an ant, a man or a planet. The formulas concern only the two aspects of life and light—the first conditioned by Sound and the second by the Word. The writing which I have in mind concerns the light, and the Word which abstracts it from the form or focusses it within the form.
"Bear in mind, O Chela, that within the known spheres naught is but light responsive to the WORD. Know that that light descends and concentrates itself; know that from its point of chosen focus, it lightens its own sphere; know too that light ascends and leaves in darkness that which it—in time and space—illumined. This descending and ascension men call life, existence and decease; this We Who tread the Lighted Way call death, experience and life.
Light which descends anchors itself upon the plane of temporary appearance. Seven threads it outward puts, and seven rays of light pulsate along these threads. Twenty one lesser threads are radiated thence, causing the forty-nine fires to glow and burn. Upon the plane of manifested life, the word goes forth: Behold! A man is born.
As life proceeds, the quality of light appears; dim and murky it may be, or radiant, bright and shining. Thus do the points of light within the [469] Flame pass and repass; they come and go. This men call life; they call it true existence. They thus delude themselves yet serve the purpose of their souls and fit into the greater Plan.
And then a Word sounds forth. The descended, radiating point of light ascends, responsive to the dimly heard recalling note, attracted to its emanating source. This man calls death and this the soul calls life.
The Word retains the light in life; the Word abstracts the light, and only That is left which is the Word Itself. That Word is Light. That Light is Life, and Life is God.
The manifestation of the etheric body in time and space has in it what has been esoterically called "two moments of brilliance." These are, first, the moment prior to physical incarnation, when the descending light (carrying life) is focussed in all its intensity around the physical body and sets up a rapport with the innate light of matter itself, to be found in every atom of substance. This focussing light will be found to concentrate itself in seven areas of its ring-pass-not, thus creating seven major centres which will control its expression and its existence upon the outer plane, esoterically speaking. This is a moment of great radiance; it is almost as if a point of pulsating light burst into flame, and as if within that flame seven points of intensified light took shape. This is a high point in the experience of taking incarnation, and precedes physical birth by a very short period of time. It is that which brings on the birth hour. The next phase of the process, as seen by the clairvoyant, is the stage of interpenetration, during which "the seven become the twenty-one and then the many"; the light substance, the energy aspect of the soul, begins to permeate [470] the physical body, and the creative work of the etheric or vital body is completed. The first recognition of this upon the physical plane is the "sound" uttered by the newborn infant. It climaxes the process. The act of creation by the soul is now complete; a new light shines forth in a dark place.
The second moment of brilliance comes in reverse of this process and heralds the period of restitution and the final abstraction of its own intrinsic energy by the soul. The prison house of the flesh is dissolved by the withdrawing of the light and life. The forty-nine fires within the physical organism die down; their heat and light are absorbed into the twenty-one minor points of light; these, in their turn, are absorbed by the major seven centres of energy. Then the "Word of Return" is uttered, and the consciousness aspect, the quality nature, the light and energy of the incarnating man, are withdrawn into the etheric body. The life principle withdraws, likewise, from the heart. There follows a brilliant flaring-up of pure electric light, and the "body of light" finally breaks all contact with the dense physical vehicle, focusses for a short period in the vital body, and then disappears. The act of restitution is accomplished. This entire process of the focussing of the spiritual elements in the etheric body, with the subsequent abstraction and consequent dissipation of the etheric body, would be greatly hastened by the substitution of cremation for burial.
Two Main Reasons for Cremation
Occultly speaking, cremation is needed for two main reasons. It hastens the release of the subtle vehicles (still enshrouding the soul) from the etheric body, thus bringing about the release in a few hours instead of a few days; it also is a much needed means for bringing about the purification [471] of the astral plane and for arresting the "downward moving" tendency of desire which so greatly handicaps the incarnating soul. It can find no point of focus, because essentially fire repels the form-making aspect of desire and is a major expression of divinity with which the astral plane has no true relation, being created entirely by the human soul and not the divine soul. "Our God is a consuming fire" is the statement in the Bible which refers to the first divine aspect, the aspect of the destroyer, releasing the life. "God is love" connotes the second aspect and portrays God as incarnated existence. "God is a jealous God" is an expression indicating God as form, circumscribed and limited, self-centered and not outgoing. The destroying Sound; the attracting Word; the individualised Speech!
At the time of death, speech fades out as the Word sounds forth and restitution is enforced; later, the Word is no longer heard as the Sound obliterates or absorbs it, and there is then complete elimination of all that interferes with Sound. Silence then supervenes and the Sound itself is no longer heard; complete peace follows the act of final integration. Here, in esoteric phraseology, the entire process of death is described.
It is important to note that it is under the basic and fundamental Law of Attraction that the Art of Dying is carried forward, and that it is the love aspect, the second aspect of divinity, which does the attracting. I exclude cases of sudden death. There the activity is the result of the destroyer, or the first divine aspect. There the condition is different; individual karmic necessity may not be involved at all, and reasons of group conditioning and of great obscurity may lie behind such a happening. So obscure is the subject at this time that I shall not attempt to elucidate. You do not know enough about the Law of [472] Karma, about karmic group involvement, or about relationships and obligations established in past lives. When I say, for instance, that on occasion the "soul may leave the door of protection open so that the forces of death itself may enter anew, having no focal point behind the door" in order "more rapidly to obliterate past penalties due," you can see how obscure this whole matter can be.
In all that I am here writing, I am dealing simply with normal death processes—death which comes as the result of disease, old age, or the imposed will of the soul which has completed a designed cycle of experience and is using normal channels to attain projected ends. Death in these cases is normal, and this humanity needs to grasp with greater patience, understanding and hope.
Under the Law of Attraction, the soul, at the close of a life cycle, and with full intention, exerts its attractive power in such a manner that it offsets the attractive power inherent in matter itself. This is a clear definition of the basic cause of death. Where no soul contact has been consciously established, as in the case of the majority of people at this time, death comes as an unexpected or sadly anticipated event. Yet—it is a true soul activity. This is the first great spiritual concept to be proclaimed as the fear of death is combatted. Death is carried forward under this Law of Attraction, and consists in the steady and scientific abstraction of the vital body out of the dense physical body, leading eventually to an elimination of all soul contact in the three worlds.
Sequence of Events at Death
I feel that the best that I can do, in order to clarify this subject more completely, is to describe the sequence of events which happens at a death bed, reminding you that the points of final abstraction are three in number: [473] the head for disciples and initiates and also for advanced mental types; the heart for aspirants, for men of goodwill, and for all those who have achieved a measure of personality integrity and are attempting to fulfill, as far as in them lies, the law of love; and the solar plexus for the undeveloped and emotionally polarised persons. All I can do is to tabulate the stages of the process, leaving you to accept them as an interesting and possible hypothesis awaiting verification; to believe them unquestioningly because you have confidence in my knowledge, or to reject them as fantastic, unverifiable and of no moment anyway. I recommend the first of the three, for it will enable you to preserve your mental integrity, it will indicate an open mind, and at the same time it will protect you from gullibility and from narrow-mindedness. These stages, therefore, are:
1. The soul sounds forth a "word of withdrawal" from its own plane, and immediately an interior process and reaction is evoked within the man upon the physical plane.
a. Certain physiological events take place at the seat of the disease, in connection with the heart, and affecting also the three great systems which so potently condition the physical man: the blood stream, the nervous system in its various expressions, and the endocrine system. With these effects I shall not deal. The pathology of death is well known and has received much study exoterically; much still remains to be discovered and will later be discovered. I am concerned, first of all, with the subjective reactions which (in the last analysis) bring about the pathological predisposition to death.
b. A vibration runs along the nadis. The nadis are, as you well know, the etheric counterpart of the [474] entire nervous system, and they underlie every single nerve in the entire physical body. They are the agents par excellence of the directing impulses of the soul, reacting to the vibratory activity which emanates from the etheric counterpart of the brain. They respond to the directing Word, react to the "pull" of the soul, and then organise themselves for abstraction.
c. The blood stream becomes affected in a peculiarly occult manner. The "blood is the life," we are told; it is interiorly changed as a result of the two previous stages, but primarily as the result of an activity hitherto undiscovered by modern science, for which the glandular system is responsible. The glands, in response to the call of death, inject into the blood stream a substance which in turn affects the heart. There the life thread is anchored, and the substance in the blood is regarded as "death dealing" and is one of the basic causes of coma and of loss of consciousness. It evokes a reflex action in the brain. This substance and its effect will be questioned as yet by orthodox medicine, but its presence will later be recognised.
d. A psychic tremor is established which has the effect of loosening or breaking the connection between the nadis and the nervous system; the etheric body is thereby detached from its dense sheath, though still interpenetrating every part of it.
2. There is frequently a pause at this point of a shorter or longer period of time. This is allowed in order to carry forward the loosening process as smoothly and as painlessly as possible. This loosening of the nadis starts in the eyes. This process of detachment often shows itself in the relaxation and lack of fear which [475] dying persons so often show; they evidence a condition of peace, and a willingness to go, plus an inability to make a mental effort. It is as if the dying person, still preserving his consciousness, gathers his resources together for the final abstraction. This is the stage in which—the fear of death once and for all removed from the racial mind—the friends and relatives of the departing person will "make a festival" for him and will rejoice with him because he is relinquishing the body. At present this is not possible. Distress rules, and the stage passes unrecognised and is not utilised, as it will some day be.
3. Next, the organised etheric body, loosened from all nervous relationship through the action of the nadis, begins to gather itself together for the final departure. It withdraws from the extremities towards the required "door of exit" and focusses itself in the area around that door for the final "pull" of the directing soul. All has been proceeding under the Law of Attraction up to this point—the magnetic, attractive will of the soul. Now another "pull" or attractive impulse makes itself felt. The dense physical body, the sumtotal of organs, cells and atoms, is steadily being released from the integrating potency of the vital body by the action of the nadis; it begins to respond to the attractive pull of matter itself. This has been called the "earth" pull and is exerted by that mysterious entity whom we call the "spirit of the earth"; this entity is on the involutionary arc, and is to our planet what the physical elemental is to the physical body of man. This physical plane life force is essentially the life and light of atomic substance—the matter of which all forms are made. It is to this reservoir of involutionary and material life that the substance of all forms is restored. Restitution of [476] the commandeered matter of the form occupied by the soul during a life cycle consists in returning to this "Caesar" the involutionary world what is his, whilst the soul returns to the God Who sent it forth.
It will therefore be apparent that a dual attractive process is at this stage going on:
a. The vital body is being prepared for exit.
b. The physical body is responding to dissolution.
It might be added that a third activity is also present. It is that of the conscious man, withdrawing his consciousness, steadily and gradually, into the astral and mental vehicles, preparatory to the complete abstraction of the etheric body when the right time comes. The man is becoming less and less attached to the physical plane and more withdrawn within himself. In the case of an advanced person, this process is consciously undertaken, and the man retains his vital interests and his awareness of relationship to others even whilst losing his grip on physical existence. In old age this detachment can be more easily noted than in death through disease, and frequently the soul or the living, interested, inner man can be seen losing his grip on physical and, therefore, illusory reality.
4. Again a pause ensues. This is the point where the physical elemental can at times regain its hold upon the etheric body, if that is deemed desirable by the soul, if death is not part of the inner plan, or if the physical elemental is so powerful that it can prolong the process of dying. This elemental life will sometimes fight a battle lasting for days and weeks. When, however, death is inevitable, the pause at this point will be exceedingly brief, sometimes only for a matter of seconds. The physical elemental has lost its hold, and the etheric [477] body awaits the final "tug" from the soul, acting under the Law of Attraction.
5. The etheric body emerges from the dense physical body in gradual stages and at the chosen point of exit. When this emergence is complete, the vital body then assumes the vague outline of the form that it energised, and this under the influence of the thoughtform of himself which the man has built up over the years. This thoughtform exists in the case of every human being, and must be destroyed before the second stage of elimination is finally complete. We will touch upon this later. Though freed from the prison of the physical body, the etheric body is not yet freed from its influence. There is still a slight rapport between the two, and this keeps the spiritual man still close to the body just vacated. That is why clairvoyants often claim to see the etheric body hovering around the death bed or the coffin. Still interpenetrating the etheric body are the integrated energies which we call the astral body and the mental vehicle, and at the centre there is a point of light which indicates the presence of the soul.