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3. Some Problems of Psychology - Part 4

The emotionally inclined people in the Churches of all denominations and persuasions are ever prone to find a way of escape from the troubles and difficulties of life by living always with a sense of the guiding Presence of God, coupled to a blind acquiescence in what is generalised as the "will of God".  The practice of the Presence of God is most definitely a desirable and needed step but people should understand what it means and steadily change the sense of duality into the sense of identification.  The will of God can take the form of the imposition of life circumstance and conditions from which there is no possible escape; the subject of this imposition accepts it and does literally nothing to improve or truly better (and perhaps avoid) the circumstances.  Their destiny and situation is interpreted by them as such that within the imposed ring-pass-not and lines of limitation they determine placidly, submissively to live.  A spirit of submission and acquiescence is inevitably developed, and by calling the situation in which they find themselves an expression of God's will they are enabled to bear it all.  In some of the more sublimated states of this acquiescence, the sensitively inclined person voices his submission, but fails to recognise that the voice is his own.  He regards it as God's voice.  For them, the way of [483] understanding, the recognition of the great Law of Cause and Effect (working out from life to life) and the interpretation of the problem in terms of a lesson to be mastered would spell release from negativity and blind, unintelligent acceptance.  Life does not demand acquiescence and acceptance.  It demands activity, the separation of the good and high values from the undesirable, the cultivation of that spirit of fight which will produce organisation, understanding, and eventual emergence into a realm of useful spiritual activity.

People who participate in the activity of those schools of thought which are called by many names such as Mental Science schools, New Thought groups, Christian Science and other similar bodies are also prone to drift into a state of negativity, based on auto-suggestion.  The constant re-iteration of the voiced, but unrealised, fact of divinity will eventually evoke a response from the form side of life which (even if it is not worded guidance) is, nevertheless, the recognition of a form of guidance and leaves no scope for free will.  This is a reaction on a large scale, from the one dealt with above.  Whereas in the one case there is found a blind acceptance of an undesirable lot because it is the will of God and that Will therefore must be good and right, in the second group there is an attempt to stir the subjective man into the acceptance of a definitely opposite condition.  He is taught that there are no wrong conditions except as he himself creates them; that there is no pain and nothing undesirable; he is urged to recognise that he is divine and the heir of the ages and that the wrong conditions, limited circumstances and unhappy occurrences are the result of his own creative imagination.  He is told they are really non-existent.

In the two schools of thought, the truth about destiny as it works out under the Law of Cause and Effect and the truth [484] about man's innate divinity are taught and emphasised, but, in both cases, the man himself is a negative subject, and the victim either of a cruel fate or of his divinity.  I am wording this with deliberation because I am anxious for my readers to realise that destiny never intended man to be a helpless victim of circumstance or the self-hypnotised tool of an affirmed, but undeveloped, divinity.  Man is intended to be the intelligent arbiter of his own destiny, and a conscious exponent of his own innate divinity, of the God within.

Again, schools of esotericists, theosophists and rosicrucians (particularly in their inner schools) have also their own forms of this illusion of guidance.  It is of a different nature to the two dealt with above, but the results are nevertheless of much the same quality and reduce the student to a condition of being guided, often of being directed, by illusionary voices.  Frequently the heads of the organisation claim to be in direct communication with a Master or the entire Hierarchy of Masters, from Whom orders come.  These orders are passed on to the rank and file of the membership of the organisation and prompt unquestioning obedience is expected from them.  Under the system of training, imparted under the name of esoteric development, the goal of a similar relationship to the Master or the Hierarchy is held out as an inducement to work or to meditation practice, and some day the aspirant is led to believe that he will hear his Master's voice, giving him guidance, telling him what to do and outlining to him his participation in various roles.  Much of the psychological difficulties found in esoteric groups can be traced to this attitude and to the holding out to the neophyte of this glamorous hope.  In view of this, I cannot too strongly re-iterate the following facts:

1. That the goal of all teaching given in the real esoteric [485] schools is to put man consciously in touch with his own soul and not with the Master.

2. That the Master and the Hierarchy of Masters work only on the plane of the soul, as souls with souls.

3. That conscious response to hierarchical impression and to the hierarchical plan is dependent upon the sensitive reaction which can be developed and made permanent between a man's own soul and his brain, via his mind.

4. That the following points should be borne in mind:

a. When a man is consciously aware of himself as a soul, he can then be in touch with other souls.

b. When he is consciously a disciple, he is then in touch with, and can collaborate intelligently with, other disciples.

c. When he is an initiate, other initiates become facts in his life and consciousness.

d. When he is a Master, the freedom of the Kingdom of Heaven is his, and he works consciously as one of the senior members of the Hierarchy.

But—and this is of prime importance—all these differentiations relate to grades of work and not to grades of persons; they indicate soul expansions but not graded contacts with personalities.  According to the realised soul development upon the physical plane will be the response to the world of souls of which the occult Hierarchy is the heart and mind.

The guidance to which the adherents of many esoteric schools so often respond is not that of the Hierarchy but that of the astral reflection of the Hierarchy; they respond therefore to an illusory, distorted, man-made presentation of a great spiritual fact.  They could, if they so chose, respond to the reality.

[486]

Apart from the ordinary occult and esoteric schools found in the world today, there are groups of people as well as solitary individuals who are practicing various forms of meditation and of yoga.  This is true both of Eastern and Western aspirants.  Some of these people are working with real knowledge, and, therefore, quite safely; others are profoundly ignorant not only of techniques and methods but also as to the results to be expected from their efforts.  Results there must inevitably be, and the major result is to turn the consciousness inward, to develop the spirit of introspection, and to orient the man or woman to the inner subjective worlds and to the subtler planes of being—usually to the astral realm and seldom to the truly spiritual world of souls.  The mind nature is seldom invoked and the processes pursued usually render the brain cells negative and quiescent whilst the mind remains inactive and often unawakened.  The only area of consciousness which remains therefore visible is that of the astral.  The world of physical and tangible values is shut out; the mental world is equally shut out.  I would ask you to ponder on this statement.

The Oxford Group Movement has also laid much stress on the need for guidance, yet seems to have developed no real understanding of the subject or to have given any real attention to the inclusive investigation of the alternative possibilities to the voice of God.  Mystics of all kinds, with a natural pre-disposition to the introspective, negative life are today hearing voices, receiving guidance and obeying impulses which they claim come from God.  Groups everywhere are occupied with the task of orienting people to the spiritual life or with the task of ascertaining the Plan of God or of cooperating with it in some way or another.  Some of these groups are working intelligently and are sometimes correct [487] in their surmises and endeavours, but the bulk of them are incorrect as they are largely astral in nature.

The result of all this is twofold.  One is the development of a spirit of great hopefulness among the spiritual workers of the world as they note how rapidly humanity is turning towards the world of right meaning, of true spiritual values and of esoteric phenomena.  They realise that in spite of errors and mistakes, the whole trend of the racial consciousness today is "inwards towards the Centre of spiritual life and peace."  The other result or recognition is that during this process of re-adjustment to the finer values, periods of real danger transpire and that unless there is some immediate understanding of the psychological conditions and possibilities and that unless the mentality of the race is evoked on the side of understanding and common sense, we shall have to pass through a cycle of profound, psychological, and racial disturbance before the end of this century.  Two factors today are, for instance, having a deep psychological effect upon humanity:

1. The suspense, fear and apprehension in every country are most adversely affecting the mass of the people, stimulating them astrally and—at the same time—lowering their physical vitality.

2. The impact of the higher spiritual forces upon the more intelligently inclined and mystically motivated people is producing serious and widespread trouble, breaking down protective etheric barriers, and throwing the doors wide open on to the astral plane.  Such are some of the dangers of spiritual stimulation.

Therefore, it is of real value to us to study the sources from which much of this so-called "guidance" can come.  For the sake of clarity and impressiveness, I propose to list these sources very briefly and without any prolonged comment. [488] This will give the earnest and intelligent investigator the opportunity to realise that the whole theme is vaster and far more important than has been surmised and may lead to a more careful analysis of the "types of guidance" and an understanding of the possible directing agencies to which the poor and ignorant neophyte may fall a victim.

1. Guidance or instruction coming from the man or woman upon the physical plane to whom the guided person is, usually unconsciously, looking for help.  This is largely a brain relationship, electrical in nature, established by conscious physical plane contacts, and is greatly helped by the fact that the neophyte knows pretty well, exactly what his instructor would say in any given circumstance.

2. The introverted attitude of the neophyte or mystic brings to the surface all his subconscious "wish life."  This, as he is mystically inclined and probably aspires normally towards goodness and the life of the spirit, takes the form of certain adolescent tendencies towards religious activity and practices.  These, however, he interprets in terms of definite extraneous guidance, and formulates them to himself in such a way that they become to him the Voice of God.

3. The recovery of old spiritual aspirations and tendencies, coming from a previous life or lives.  These are deeply hidden in his nature but can be brought to the surface through group stimulation.  He thus recovers spiritual attitudes and desires which, in this life, have not hitherto made their appearance.  They appear to him as utterly new and phenomenal, and he regards them as divine injunctions coming from God.  They have, however, always been present (though latent) in his own nature [489] and are the result of the age-old trend or tendency towards divinity which is inherent in every member of the human family.  It is the prodigal son speaking to himself and saying:  "I will arise and go"—a point which Christ makes beautifully and abundantly clear in the parable.

4. The "guidance" registered can also be simply a sensitivity to the voices and injunctions and well-meaning intentions of good people on the path of return to incarnation.  The spiritual dilemma of the race today is causing the rapid return of many advanced souls to life on the physical plane.  As they hover on the borderland of outer living, awaiting their time to be re-born, they are oft contacted subjectively and unconsciously by human beings in incarnation, particularly at night when the consciousness is out of the physical body.  What they say and teach (frequently good, usually indifferent in quality and sometimes quite ignorant) is remembered in the waking hours of consciousness and interpreted by the neophyte as the voice of God, giving guidance.

5. The guidance can also be of an astral, emotional nature, and is the result of the contacts made by the aspirant (firm in his aspiration but weak in his mental polarisation) upon the astral plane.  These cover such a wide range of possibilities that it is not possible for me to enlarge upon them here.  They are all coloured by glamour, and many well-meaning leaders of groups and organisations get their inspiration from these sources.  There is, in them, no true lasting divine guidance.  They may be quite harmless, sweet, kindly and well-intentioned; they may feed the emotional nature, develop hysteria or aspiration; they may develop the ambitious tendencies of their victim and lead him down the byways [490] of illusion.  But they are not the voice of God, or of any Member in the Hierarchy, nor are they divine in nature, any more than the voice of any ordinary teacher upon the physical plane is necessarily divine.

6. The guidance recorded may also be the result of the man tuning in telepathically upon the mind or the minds of others.  This frequently happens with the more intelligent types and with those who are mentally focussed.  It is a form of direct, but unconscious, telepathy.  The guidance, therefore, comes from other minds or from the focussed group mind of some band of workers with which the man may have a realised or an unrealised affinity.  The guidance thus given can be consciously or unconsciously imparted, and can be, in quality, good, bad, or indifferent.

7. The mental world as well as the astral world is full of thought forms and these can be contacted by man and be interpreted by him as conveying guidance.  These thought forms can be used by the Guides of the race at times in order to help and guide humanity.  They can also be used by undesirable entities and forces.  They can, therefore, be most useful, but when interpreted by any man as embodying divine guidance and as constituting an infallible leading (thus demanding and evoking blind and unquestioning acceptance) they become a menace to the free activity of the soul and are of no true value.

8. Guidance can come, therefore, from all kinds and types of incarnate or discarnate men, ranging in character from very good to very bad.  They can include the help proffered by real initiates and adepts through their working disciples and aspirants to the mental and astral activities of ordinary intelligent men and women, including [491] the emotionally and selfishly oriented person.  It should be remembered that no true initiate or disciple ever seeks to control any person nor will he indicate to him in the form of a positive command, any action which he should take.  But many people tune in on teaching being given by trained minds to disciples, or record telepathically the powerful thought forms, created by world thinkers or Members of the Hierarchy.  Hence the many misinterpretations and the so-called recorded guidances.  Men appropriate to themselves sometimes that which is intended for a group or a hint given by a Master to a disciple.

9. Guidance also comes from a man's own powerful, integrated personality and he will frequently fail to recognise it for what it is.  The ambition, desire, or prideful purposings of a personality may work down from the mental body and be impressed upon the brain, and yet the man, in that brain consciousness, may regard them as coming from some extraneous outer source.  Yet all the time, the physical man is responding to the injunctions and impulses of his own personality.  This often happens to three types of people:

a. Those whose egos or personalities are upon the sixth ray.

b. Those who have laid themselves open to the glamours of the astral plane through over stimulation of the solar plexus.

c. Those who are susceptible, for some reason or another, to the receding Piscean energy.

10. Guidance can come, as you well know, from a man's own soul when through meditation, discipline and service, he has established contact, and there is consequently a [492] direct channel of communication from soul to brain, via the mind.  This, when clear and direct, is true divine guidance, coming from the inner divinity.  It can, however, be distorted and misinterpreted if the mind is not developed, the character is not purified and the man is not free from undue personality control.  The mind must make right application of the imparted truth or guidance Where there is true and right apprehension of the inner divine voice, then—and only then—do you have infallible guidance, and the voice of the inner God can then speak with clarity to its instrument, man upon the physical plane.

11. Once this latter form of guidance has been established, stabilised, fostered, developed and understood, other forms of spiritual guidance then become possible.  The reason for this is that they will pass through or be submitted to the standard of values which the factor of the soul itself constitutes.  The awareness of the soul is a part of all awarenesses.  The recognition of this soul awareness is a gradual and progressive happening where the man upon the physical plane is concerned.  The brain cells must be gradually awakened and the correct interpretative response developed.  As, for instance, a man becomes aware of the Plan of God, he may regard that Plan as being imparted to him by a Master or by some Member of the Hierarchy; he may regard the knowledge as coming to him through his own immediate contact with a thought form of the Plan.  If he achieves and interprets this knowledge in a truly right way, he is perforce simply achieving recognition of that which his own soul inevitably knows, because his soul is an aspect of the Universal soul and an integral part of the planetary Hierarchy.

[493]

There are other sources of guidance, of inspiration and of revelation but, for the psychological purposes of our present study, the above will suffice.

We will now touch upon the subject of dreams, which is assuming such importance in the minds of certain prominent psychologists and in certain schools of psychology.  It is not my intention to criticise or attack their theories in any way.  They have arrived at a most important and indicative fact—the fact of the interior, inner subjective life of humanity, which is based on ancient memories, on present teachings, and on contacts of various kinds.  A true understanding of the dream-life of humanity would establish three facts:

1. The fact of reincarnation.

2. The fact of there being some activity during sleep or unconsciousness.

3. The fact of the soul, of that which persists and has continuity.

These three facts provide a definite line of approach to the problems which we are considering and they would, if analysed, substantiate the position of the esotericists.

The origin of the word "dream" is in itself debateable and nothing really sure and proved is known.  Yet what is inferred and suggested is of itself of real significance.  In a great standard authority, Webster's Dictionary, two origins of the word are given.  One traces the word back to a Sanskrit root, meaning "to harm or to hurt"; the other traces it back to an old Anglo-Saxon root, signifying "joy or bliss."  Is there not a chance, that both derivations have in them a measure of truth, and that in their mutual tracing back to some most ancient origin and root we should discover a real meaning?  In any case two thoughts emerge from an understanding study of these derivations.

[494]

The first is that dreams were originally regarded as undesirable, probably because they revealed or indicated, in the majority of cases, the astral life of the dreamer.  In Atlantean times, when man was basically astral in his consciousness, his outer physical consciousness was largely controlled by his dreams.  In those days, the guidance of the daily life, of the religious life, and of the psychological life (such as it was) was founded on a lost science of dreams, and it is this lost science (little as he may like the idea) which the modern psychologist is rapidly recovering and seeking to interpret.  Most of the people (though necessarily not all of them) who find themselves needing the care and instruction of the psychologist are Atlantean in consciousness, and it is this fact which has predisposed the psychologist unconsciously to lay the present emphasis upon dreams and their interpretation.

May I point out again that the true psychology will only appear and right techniques be used when psychologists ascertain (as a first and needed measure) the rays, the astrological implications and the type of consciousness (Aryan or Atlantean) of the patient.

However, as time elapsed, the dreams of the more intelligent minds became of an increasingly forward-looking, idealistic nature; these, as they came to the surface and were remembered and recorded, began to control the brain of man so that the Anglo-Saxon emphasis on joy and bliss eventually became descriptive of many so-called dreams.  We have then the emergence of the utopias, the fantasies, the idealistic presentations of future beauty and joy which distinguishes the thought life of the advanced human being, and which find their expression in such presented (and as yet unfulfilled) hopes as Plato's Republic, Milton's Paradise Regained and the best Utopian, idealistic creative productions [495] of our Western poets and writers.  Thus Occident and Orient together present a theory of dreams—of a lower astral or higher intuitional nature—which are a complete picture of the wish life of the race.  These range all the way from the dirty ideas and the bestial filth, drawn forth at times from their patients by psychologists (thus revealing a wish life and an astral consciousness of a very low order), up to the idealistic schemes and the carefully thought-out paradises and cosmic orders of the higher types of aspirants.  All, however, come into the realm of Dreams.  This is true, whether such dreams are tied up with frustrated sex or unfulfilled idealism; they are all indicative of an urge, a powerful urge, either to selfish satisfaction or group betterment and group welfare.

These dreams can embody in themselves ancient astral illusions and glamours, potent and strong because of ancient origin and racial desire, or they can embody the sensitive response of advanced humanity to systems and regimes of existence which are hovering on the borderland of manifestation, awaiting future precipitation and expression.

This will indicate to you how vast is this subject, for it includes not only the past astral habits of the race, ready—when given certain pathological conditions or fostered by fretting frustrations—to assert themselves, but they also include the ability of the spiritually-minded aspirant in the world today to touch the intended plans for the race and thus see them as desirable possibilities.

Having thus indicated the scope of our theme, I would like to point out that I seek only, in the limited space at my disposal, to do two things:

1. Touch briefly upon the conditions which foster dreams.

2. Indicate the sources from which dreams can come and what produces them.

[496]

I do not expect to have these theories accepted by the average psychologist, but there may be somewhere those minds which will be open enough to accept some of the suggestions and thus benefit themselves and certainly benefit their patients.

The major cause of a distressing dream life is, in every case, a frustration or an inability of the soul to impose its wishes and designs upon its instrument, the man.  These frustrations fall into three categories:

1. Sex frustration.  This type of frustration leads in many cases, especially in the average person, to an over-emphasis of the fact of sex, to an uncontrolled sex thought-life, to sexual jealousies (oft unrecognised) and to physical underdevelopment.

2. Frustrated ambition.  This dams back the resources of the life, produces constant inner fret, leads to envy, hatred, bitterness, intense dislike of the successful, and causes abnormalities of many kinds.

3. Frustrated love.  This would perhaps be included under sex frustration by the average psychologist, but it is not so viewed by the esotericist.  There can be full sexual satisfaction or else complete freedom from its grip and yet the out-going magnetic love nature of the subject may meet only with frustration and lack of response.

Where these three types of frustration exist, you will frequently have a vivid, unwholesome dream life, physical liabilities of many kinds and a steadily deepening unhappiness.

You will note that all these frustrations are, as might be expected, simply expressions of frustrated desire, and it is in this particular field (tied up as it is with the Atlantean consciousness) [497] that the work of the modern psychologist primarily and necessarily lies.  In an effort to bring the patient to an understanding of his difficulty and in line with that which constitutes the way of least resistance, the psychologist endeavours to relieve the situation by teaching him to evoke and bring to the surface of his consciousness forgotten episodes and his dream life.  Two important facts are sometimes forgotten and hence constitute a fruitful source of the frequent failure to bring relief.  First, the patient as he descends into the depths of his dream life, will bring to the surface not only those things which are undesirable in his unrecognised "wish-life" but also those which were present in previous lives.  He is penetrating into a very ancient astral past.  Not only is this the case, but also—through the open door of his own astral life—he can tap or tune in on the astral life of the race.  He then succeeds in producing the emergence of racial evil which may have absolutely no personal relation to him at all.  This is definitely a dangerous thing to do, for it may prove stronger than the man's present capacity to handle.

Secondly, in his desire to be freed from the things in himself which are producing trouble, in his desire to please the psychologist (which is encouraged by certain of them under the method of "transference") and in his desire to produce what he believes the psychologist wants him to produce, he will frequently draw upon his personal imagination, upon the collective imagination or, telepathically, tune in on the imagination of the one who is seeking to treat and help him.  He, therefore, produces something which is basically untrue and misleading.  These two points warrant careful attention and the patient must be safeguarded from himself, from the environing racial thought life, and also from the psychologist whose aid he is seeking.  A difficult thing to do, is it not?

[498]

I would like, at this point, to make what I feel to be a needed and suggestive interpolation.  There are three main ways in which the person who seeks psychological aid can be helped and this is true of all types and cases.  There is, first of all, the method with which we have been dealing.  This method delves into the patients past; it seeks to unearth the basic determining conditions which lie hidden in the happenings of childhood or infancy.  These discovered events, it is held, gave a wrong direction or twist to the desire nature or to the thought life; they initiated predisposing germ-complexes, and therefore constitute the source of all the trouble.  This method (even if the psychologist does not realise it) can carry over into past lives, and thus open doors which it might be well to leave shut until they can be more safely opened.

The second method which is sometimes combined with the previous one is to fill the present moment with constructive creative occupation and so drive out the undesirable elements in the life through the dynamic expulsive power of new and paramount, engrossing interests.  I would like to point out that this method could be more safely applied if the subjective dream life and the hidden difficulties were left untreated—temporarily at least.  This method is (for the average ordinary person who is pure Atlantean in consciousness but is just beginning to develop mental activity) usually a sound and safe way to work, provided the psychologist can gain the understanding cooperation of the person concerned.

The third method, which has the sanction of the Hierarchy and which is the one its members employ in Their work, is to bring in consciously the power of the soul.  This power then pours through the personality life, vehicles and consciousness, and thus cleanses and purifies all aspects of the [499] lower nature.  It will be apparent to you, however, that this method is of use only to those who have reached the point in their unfoldment (and there are many such today) where the mind can be reached and trained, and where the soul can consequently impress the brain, via the mind.

If these three methods are studied, you can arrive at an understanding as to the three systems which psychologists could elaborate and develop in order to handle the three types of modern consciousness—the Lemurian, which is the lowest found upon our planet at this time; the Atlantean, which is the commonest found today, and the Aryan, which is developing and unfolding with great rapidity.  At present, psychologists are using the lowest type of aid for all groups and states of consciousness.  This does not seem wise, does it?

The question now arises as to the source of dreams.  Again, as in those cases we considered in connection with the sources of guidance, I shall simply enumerate such origins and leave the student of psychology to make adequate application of the information, when faced with a dream problem.  These sources are about ten in number and could be enumerated as follows:

1. Dreams based upon brain activity.  In these cases, the subject is sleeping too lightly.  He never really leaves his body and the thread of consciousness is not completely withdrawn as it is in deep sleep or in unconsciousness.  He remains, therefore, closely identified with his body, and because of the partial withdrawal of the thread of consciousness, his condition is more like a dazed, benumbed self-recognition than real sleep.  This condition may persist throughout the entire night or period of sleep, but it is usually found present only in the first two hours of sleep and for about one hour prior to returning to full waking consciousness.  The problems, worries, pleasures, concerns, etc., etc. of the waking [500] hours are still agitating the brain cells, but the recognition and interpretation of these vague or agitated impressions is uncertain and of a confused nature.  No importance whatever need be attached to this type of dream.  They indicate physical nervousness and poor sleeping capacity but have no deep psychological significance or spiritual meaning.  These dreams are the most common at this time, owing to the prevalence of the Atlantean consciousness and the stress under which people live today.  It is easy to attach undue importance to the wild and stupid or fumbled vagaries of a restless brain, yet the sole trouble is that the man is not sleeping soundly enough.

The effort to make people dream and to train them to recover their dream life when they are naturally sound sleepers, and drop easily into deep and dreamless sleep is not good.  The evocation of the dream life, as brought about through the methods of certain schools of psychology, should only be brought about forcibly (if one may use this word in that connection) through the determination of the will during the later stages upon the Path.  To do so earlier produces frequently a kind of continuity of consciousness which adds the complexities of the astral plane to those of daily living upon the physical plane; few people are competent to handle the two and, when there is persistence in the endeavor to evoke the dream life, the brain cells get no rest and forms of sleeplessness are apt to supervene.  Nature wills that all forms of life should "sleep" at times.

We now come to two forms of dreams which are related to the astral or emotional nature and which are of great frequency.

2. Dreams of remembrance.  These are dreams which are a recovery of the sights and sounds encountered in the hours of sleep upon the astral plane.  It is on this plane that the [501] man is usually found when the thread of consciousness is separated from the body.  In this case, the man is either participating in certain activities, or he is in the position of the onlooker who sees actual sights, performances, people, etc., etc., just as any person can see them as he walks down a street in any large city or as he looks out of a window in any environment.  These sights and sounds will often be dependent upon the wish-life and the predilections of the subject, upon his likes and dislikes and his desires and recognised attractions.  He will seek for and often find those he loves; he will sometimes search for and find those he seeks to damage, and find occasion to hurt those he hates; he will favour himself by participating in the fulfillment of what he desires, which is always imaginatively possible upon the astral plane.  Such desires may range all the way from desire for sexual gratification to the longing of the spiritually-minded aspirant to see the Master, the Christ or the Buddha.  Thought forms, created by the similar wishes of the multitude, will be found to meet his desire and—on returning to his body in the morning—he brings with him the recollection of that satisfaction in the form of a dream.  These dreams, related to astral satisfactions, are all of them in the nature of glamour or illusion; they are self-evoked and self-related; they indicate however real experience, even if only astral in accomplishment and can be of value to the interested psychologist in so far as they indicate the character trends of the patient.  One difficulty can, however, be found.  These thought forms (to which the man has responded and in which he has found an imaginative satisfaction) embody the expression of the wish-life of the race and exist, therefore, upon the astral plane for all to see.  Many people do see and contact them and can identify themselves with them upon returning to waking consciousness.  In fact, however, they [502] have really done no more than register these thought forms in the same manner as one can register the contents of a shop window when passing by.  A shocked horror can, for instance, induce a person to relate, quite innocently, a dream which is, in reality, no more than the registering of a sight or experience which was witnessed in the hours of sleep but with which the man has no real connection whatever.  This experience he relates with dismay and disgust; most feelingly he tells the experience to the psychologist, and frequently receives an interpretation which reveals to him the depths of evil to which his unrealised desires apparently bear witness.  His unexpressed longings are "brought to the surface" by the psychologist.  He is told that these longings, when faced, will then leave him, and that the ghost of his mental and psychological disorder will then be laid.  Unless the psychologist is of real enlightenment, the subject of his care is then saddled with an experience which was never his but which he simply witnessed.  I give this as an example of great frequency and of much damaging value.  Until psychologists recognise the actuality of the life of humanity when separated at night from the physical body, such errors will be of increasing occurrence.  The implications are obvious.

3. Dreams which are recollections of true activity.  These dreams are registrations of true activities.  They are not simply witnessed, registered and related by the subject.  As soon as a person has reached

a. A state of real integration of the astral body and the vital or etheric body, plus the physical body, then these three aspects function harmoniously.

b. A capacity to pursue ordered activity at night or in the hours of sleep.  Then the man can impress the physical brain with a knowledge of those activities [503] and on returning to waking consciousness put it to actual use by the physical body.

The man's dreams will then be, in reality nothing more nor less than the relation of the continuance of the days activities, as they have been carried forward on the astral plane.  They will be simply the record, registered on the physical brain, of his doings and emotions, his purposes and intentions, and his recognised experiences.  They are as real and as true as any of those which have been recorded by the brain, during waking hours.  They are, nevertheless, only partial records in the majority of cases, and mixed in nature, for the glamours, illusions and the perceptions of the doings of others (as recorded in the second category of dreams above) will still have some effect.  This condition of mixed recording, of erroneous identifications, etc., leads to much difficulty.  The psychologist has to make allowance for:

a. The age or soul experience of the patient.  He has to determine whether the related dream is an illusory participation, a perceived or registered activity, or a real and true happening in the experience of the man during the hours of sleep.

b. The ability of the subject to bring through correctly the related experience.  This ability is dependent upon the pre-establishing of continuity of consciousness, so that at the moment of return, the brain of the man concerned is easily impressed by the experience of the true man when out of the body.

c. The freedom of the patient from the desire to make an impression upon the psychologist, his innate truthfulness, his control of the imagination, and his power of verbal expression.

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Where advanced aspirants and disciples are concerned, we have a somewhat different situation.  The demonstrated integration has involved the mind nature and is involving the soul likewise.  The activity, registered, recorded and related, is that of a server upon the astral plane.  The activities which interest a world server are, therefore, quite different in nature to those earlier experienced and related.  They will be concerned with deeds which are related to other people, to the fulfillment of duties involving other people, to the teaching of groups rather than individuals, etc.  These differences, when carefully studied, will be recognised by the psychologist of the future (who will necessarily be also an esotericist) as most revealing because they will indicate in an interesting manner, the spiritual status and hierarchical relationship of the patient.

4. Dreams which are of a mental nature.  These have their origin upon the mental plane and presuppose a consciousness which is, at least, becoming more sensitive mentally.  At any rate, they are not recorded in the waking brain consciousness until there is some measure of mind control.  I might add at this point that one of the major difficulties with which a psychologist is confronted, as he attempts to interpret the dream life of his patient, is based not only on his inability esoterically to "place" his patient as to ray type, evolutionary status, astrological indications and inherent characteristics, but also he is confronted with the inability of the patient to relate his dream correctly.  What is presented to the psychologist is a confused and imaginative description of brain reactions, astral phenomena, and (where there is a measure of intellectual poise) some mental phenomena also.  But there is no capacity to differentiate.  This confusion is due to lack of alignment, and of true mental relation between the mind and the brain.  [505] It becomes, therefore, oft a case of the "blind leading the blind".

Dreams which are of mental origin are fundamentally of three kinds:

a. Those dreams which are based on contact with the world of thought forms.  This comprises a vast realm of ancient thought forms, of modern thought forms, and those thought forms also which are nebulous and emerging.  They are of purely human origin and are definitely a part of the Great Illusion.  They constitute, in the bulk of cases, man's effort at the interpretation of life and its meaning down the ages.  They merge with the soul of glamour which is astral in nature.  It will be obvious to you that these thought forms comprise all possible themes.  They do not embody the wish-life of the race, but are concerned with men's thoughts about the ideas and ideals which—down the ages—have controlled human life and which, therefore, form the basis of all history.

b. Those dreams which are geometrical in nature, and in which the subject becomes aware of those basic patterns, forms and symbols which are the blue prints of the archetypes determining the evolutionary process, and which produce eventually the materialising of God's Plan.  They are also the great symbols of man's unfolding consciousness.  For instance, the recognition of the point, the line, the triangle, the square, the Cross, the pentagon and similar symbols are simply the recognition of a connection with, and a founding upon, certain lines of force which have, to date, determined the evolutionary [506] process.  There are seven such forms, evolved and recognised in every race and, for our present purposes, there are, therefore, twenty-one basic symbols which, in geometrical form, embody the concepts which determine the Lemurian, Atlantean and Aryan civilisations.  It is interesting to realise that there are fourteen more to come.  The symbols which are already evolved are deeply ingrained in the human consciousness, and lead, for instance, to the constant use of the cross in its many diverse forms.  Two symbols are at this time taking form as the basis of the coming civilisation.  These are the lotus and the flaming torch.  Hence the frequent appearance of these two in the life of meditation and the dream life of the world aspirants.

c. Those dreams which are symbolic presentations of teaching received in the hours of sleep by aspirants and disciples in the Hall of Learning on the highest level of the astral plane, and in the Hall of Wisdom on the mental plane.  In the first Hall is the best that the race has already learnt through its Atlantean experience and in the world of glamour.  Through these, wise choice can be developed.  The Hall of Wisdom embodies the teaching which the two coming races will develop and unfold, and thus trains the disciple and the initiate.

I cannot do more than thus indicate the nature of these three basic mental experiences which find their way into the dream life of the man on the physical plane.  These are given expression by him in the form of related dreams, creative work, and the expression of the ideals which are building the human consciousness.

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5. Dreams which are records of work done.  This activity the aspirant carries on at night and when absent from the body, and it is carried on

a. In the borderland between the astral plane and the physical plane.

b. In the so-called "summerland" wherein the entire wish-life of the race is centred and all racial desire takes form.

c. In the world of glamour which is part of the astral plane which embodies the ancient past, which fertilises the desire life of the present, and which indicates the nature of the desire life of the immediate future.

These phases and spheres of activity are very real in nature.  Aspirants who succeed in functioning with any measure of consciousness on the astral plane are all occupied, at some level or another, with some form of constructive activity or work.  This activity, selfishly performed (for many aspirants are selfish) or unselfishly carried forward, constitutes much of the material of many of the so-called dreams, as related by the average intelligent citizen.  They warrant no more attention or mysteriously applied interpretation or symbolic elucidation than do the current activities and events of daily life as carried on in waking consciousness upon the physical plane.  They are of three kinds:

a. The activity of the patient himself when freed, in sleep, from the physical body.

b. His observation of the activities of others.  These he is apt to appropriate unwillingly and quite erroneously to himself because of the ego-centric tendency of the average human mind.

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c. Instruction which is given to him by those responsible for his unfoldment and training.

This category of dreams is becoming increasingly prevalent as the alignment of the astral body and the physical body is perfected and continuity of consciousness is slowly developed.  The activity involves religious activity, sexual living in its many phases (for not all of them are physical, though all of them are related to the problem of the polar opposites and the essential duality of manifestation) political activity, creative and artistic activity and the many other forms of human expression.  They are as varied and as diverse as those in which humanity indulges on the physical plane; they are the source of much confusion in the mind of the psychologist and need most careful consideration and analysis.

6. Telepathic dreams.  These dreams are simply the record upon the physical brain consciousness of real events which are telepathically communicated from one person to another.  Some friend or relation undergoes some experience.  He seeks to communicate it to his friend or—at the moment of crisis—he thinks powerfully of his friend.  This registers on the friends mind but is often only recovered in the hours of sleep and is brought through in the morning as a man's own personal experience.  Many of the dreams related by people are records of the experiences of other people of which a man becomes aware and which he is appropriating to himself in all sincerity.

We come now to a group of dreams which are a part of the experience of those people who have made a definite soul contact and are in process of establishing a close link with the world of souls.  The "things of the kingdom of God" are opening up before them and the phenomena, the happenings, the ideas, and the life and knowledge of the soul realm are [509] being registered with increasing accuracy in the mind.  From the mind, they are being transferred to or imprinted upon the brain cells.  We have therefore:

7. Dreams which are dramatisations by the soul.  This type of dream is a symbolic performance by the soul for the purpose of giving instruction, warning or command to its instrument, man, on the physical plane.  These dramatic or symbolic dreams are becoming increasingly numerous in the case of aspirants and disciples, particularly in the early stages of soul contact.  They can express themselves in the hours of sleep and also during the meditation period or process.  Only the man himself, from his knowledge of himself, can rightly interpret this class of dreams.  It will be apparent to you also that the ray type of the soul and of the personality will largely determine the type of symbolism or the nature of the dramatisation employed.  This must be determined, therefore, by the psychologist before interpretation can be intelligently given and prove useful.

8. Dreams concerned with group work.  In this type of dream, the soul trains or fits its vehicle, the lower man, for group activity.  This type of dream is also the higher correspondence of the dreams dealt with under our fifth heading.  The group work involved is not this time carried on in the three worlds of human expression but in the world of soul life and soul experience.  Soul knowledges and purposes are involved; work in a Master's group may be registered and regarded as a dream in spite of its reality and basically phenomenal occurrence.  The realities of the kingdom of God may for a time seep through into the brain consciousness in the form of dreams.  Much of the experiences recorded in the mystical writings during the past few centuries in the Occident, are in this category.  This is a point worth careful consideration.

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9. Dreams which are records of instruction.  This type of dream embodies the teaching given by a Master to His accepted disciple.  With these I shall not deal.  When a man can receive these instructions consciously, either at night when absent from the body or in meditation, he has to learn to direct them correctly from mind to brain and to interpret them accurately.  They are communicated by the Master to the man's soul.  The soul then impresses them on the mind, which has been held steady in the light, and then the mind, in its turns formulates them into thought forms which are then thrown down into the quiescent waiting brain.  According to the mental development and educational advantages of the disciple so will be his response and his correct use of the communicated teaching.