COSMIC PICTURES

—

LESSON 141

Were your eyes opened to the astral records-the cosmic picture

gallery . at all times, you would fend but few among those records,

[TT 360] wrought by the action of natural regret, and even horror,

than those which outline the final results . the finished product . of

your acceptance of the cruel, false, or misleading tales which have

been brought to your ears by some self-interested or evil-minded

slanderer.

The poison which enters your magnetic sphere from the lips of

such an one works so subtly and quietly that you are not aware of its

presence, even when the act which it incites has been performed ; and

it does not enter your mind that you are passing on that poison to all

whom you contact with every wave of magnetic force radiated from

your bodies, even when no word escapes your lips.

The substance of that sphere is so receptive, sensitive,

impressionable and interpenetrating that any sound directed by will

disturbs its equilibrium and permits the force expelled by sound,

whether it be good or evil, to enter and fend emplacement. If that

force be evil it quickens the area affected and creates a condition

analogous to that created by the entrance of a poisonous thorn into the

body ; this condition reacts on the physical body if it be weak, and in

all cases it reacts on the Mayavic body in a similar manner. If the

force be good it does exactly the reverse, it quiets some over active

center and permits the entrance of a vital form of energy from a higher

state of substance, which impels toward growth.

When you think over some of the outer results of the cruel misuse

of the power expelled in words : the broken lives, the blasted

characters, suicides, wars, murders and other crimes in evidence on

the plane of gross matter, which may be observed in a single lifetime,

and then think of the accumulated after effects of the same as they go

on gathering force and volume in the passing centuries, and realize

that no act of man is finished, whether it be good or evil, till the close

of the age of manifestation he has entered upon, and know that every

act is registered in theastral light, you can gain some idea of the value

of the truths with which I opened this message.

However conscientious, no man ever repeated a tale exactly as he

heard it. No man ever related the details of an event exactly as it

occurred, for in every instance forgotten details are omitted, or shades

of expression occur which convey extravagant or contrary ideas to

those intended by the narrator, and all lead to false impressions in the

mind of the listener, and therefore to doubly false impressions when

again repeated.

When a selfish purpose is to be served, or an injury intended,

there is no end to the possible evil results.

The first lesson impressed upon the mind of a personal chela of an

Initiate is the necessity for cultivating habits of silence, and it is

[TT 361] by no means atone for the purpose of securing better

conditions for the development of the inner senses that this lesson is

so strenuously inculcated. It is primarily for the purpose of teaching

him to control not only his own speech, but that he should be able to

limit the speech of others, by refusing to admit to his magnetic sphere

the invidious forces let loose by sound and winged by evil thought,

thereby discouraging unnecessary speech.

One who lives in the silence learns to love his fellow men, and to

understand them so thoroughly that he will not willingly dwell upon

the transitory effect of any mistakes they have made, for the reason

that he knows the good of which they are capable is so much more

potent than the evil, that the latter may be easily counterbalanced

under the right training. He knows that the forces of suspicion, harsh

criticism and condemnation directed by himself, and absorbed by the

sensitive magnetic sphere of another will accentuate the evil ; and thus

make the struggle between good and evil so much the more difficult

for that other, and that he himself must suffer from the reaction of the

same forces he has generated and sent forth. So, it is first of all a

matter of self-protection that he should cultivate the habit of silence.

...

THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL

—

LESSON 142

Much is being said in these latter days, especially in theosophical

circles, in regard to the individualization of the soul . the breaking

away from the group soul of an individualized soul. If we have

seemed to take issue regarding this theory it is not in a spirit of

controversy but simply to call attention to one simple fact which can

be verified in all fields of life. Every true grouping of lives is a distinct

family, no matter how minute or how extensive. If any other exterior

life is added to any one of these natural groups, by circumstance or

condition it is an alien and must always remain such, no matter how

intimate its association with the original members of the group.

There are groups within groups, from the individualized groups of

a solar system to the divisions of an amoeba, but always the groups

are distinct, always do they have marked peculiarities. The cells which

when united form the heart of a human being could no more be

individualized in some other organ or part of an organ than a man

[TT 362] could change his identity by denying relationship to the

mother who bore him. Such a man may marry, beget children, and so

form a new family group, but that does not alter his relationship to his

own mother, therefore, cannot alter his identification with the original

i family group ; his marriage simply serves to form a lesser group in

another, a larger group, and as spiritual descent always comes through

the mother his children belong to the group soul to which his wife

belongs. The greater his intelligence the more has he absorbed the

infinite intelligence which was the heritage of the original group from

which he has descended through all the past ages, even from the time

of the first sevenfold division of the manifested cosmos. His identity

and therefore his individualization was established with the first

explosion of the seed of life which made room for the ensouling

monad.

Although every cell of every heart that beats in all the kingdoms

of nature contains potentially the form and essence of every other

organ and form in the universe, no one of these cells can change its

form and nature in one manvantara. In the course of time they will all

be brought into close contact with the cells of other organs, and beget

a third form of life. Those third forms will be the connecting fines

between the family of heart cells and the family cells of another organ

through which the racial impulses of each family will be transferred to

the other, and so help on the evolution of both.

When the different states of substance which will form the cells of

all the organs of sense and volition in all kingdoms of nature have

been brought into harmonious relation by interaction, then may they

be ensouled in a definite form, as has been dope in the prototypes of

all the forms of life in manifestation. These prototypes were

individualized entities, for with form always comes identity. However,

we think there is to be a distinction made between conscious and

unconscious individualization. Such difference of opinion as exists

between us and others on this subject is probably more in the seeming

than in reality. To our mind conscious individualization comes with

the dawning of intuition. If contact with other races of humanity plays

any part in it it must be a secondary part, and we fail to see how it

could in any way affect the relation of the individual soul to the group

soul of which it is a part. Permanent identification with the Infinite

can only be a realization of one's true relation to every other

emanation of the Infinite, and with such realization, a final loss of

what we now term personal identity in the identity of the all.

If we were able to trace back our lineage through each family

group of the great group soul of which we are parts, and could thus

trace our relationship to all the members of the one greater family

[TT 363] the Humanity of the present age . it would do much to

strengthen the ties between us, as well as to explain the antagonism

we sometimes feel toward others when there seems to be no outer

cause.

We speak of the Ego, the Monad, the Sons of Will and Yoga, and

all the other differentiations of the higher realms of thought and being,

but they may all be summed up in the two words Identity and

Intelligence . the I AM . of the Divine Soul, the knowledge that "I",

as an individual conscious intelligent being, am alive and am evolving

according to a definite Divine prototype . a greater "I AM." The

group soul itself must evolve as well as the atoms of the group. As any

one part of a group is developed the whole group is evolved to a

corresponding degree.

...

UNITY

—

LESSON 143

It is a well known fact that the higher, the more compact and

concentrated the molecules of matter, the nearer they approach the

point of unity and lose the power of differentiation" into individual

forms, the more rapidly will the characteristics of age and dissolution

develop. Whatever the physiological causes deduced from

investigation . and be it noted these causes as given out by the

authorities of different schools and in different ages periodically

change their character . the real cause lies outside the realm of

physical matter.

As all life is a unit, the nearer the approach to the original state of

cosmic ideation, in which differentiation is impossible, the more rapid

is the dissolution which permits of the release of the thought form

which has been held in bondage by the laws governing force and

substance, and the consequent recombining of the thought sparks

which constituted those thought forms into more concentrated forms.

You have probably watched the recombining of the separated particles

of quicksilver. The force of attraction which draws these particles

together in a single mass is the same force which draws together the

differentiated thought sparks the instant the separative force . the

force of disintegration resident in substance of lower vibration is

overcome. Therefore all the efforts of those dreamers who are

industriously seeking for the elixir of life on the physical plane where

nothing is stable, are bound to be fruitless. [TT 364]

The same spiritual force which originally gave form to thought,

and impelled that form to furnish a matrix for protoplasmic substance

to embody, is the real elixir of life as far as life in objective form is

concerned.

If very long life were desirable for man ; if his evolution did not

now demand far longer periods of rest and assimilation between lives

than continuous life in matter could possibly secure for him, man

would long since have found what he has been so long seeking . the

power to extend his life indefinitely. But as long as the life of man is

bound up in the gratification of his illusive senses and he is unable to

grasp the reality of individual consciousness in unity, his natural term

of life cannot much exceed that of the people of the present races of

the earth. Man lived to a great age in prehistoric times for the reason

that there was far more differentiation of substance and force,

mentally and physically, than at present. As the interests, purposes and

ideals of man approach each other and coalesce, the tides of religious,

social, industrial and political life run closer together. As families

grow smaller in number, keener of intellect, and less spiritual, an era

of dissolution sets in. Nature then selects from the best material at

hand the matrix of a new race, and the old one dies off or is destroyed

in some great catastrophe.

The fact that the deepest thinkers, the more intelligent

investigators in all fields of science are practically united now on the

great truth of the unity of all life, is one of the signs of the times.

Investigation into the field of physics is bringing to light many of the

long lost connecting links between the different orders of life, but so

long as consciousness and individuality are denied to the lesser forms

of life by the delvers into this science, and Soul escapes their

observation, they will continue to work almost blindly.

The fact of the possible transmutation of one substance into

another can no longer be denied by the said investigators, but the

conscious lives which effect such transmutation . the intermediate

lives . remain unthinkable to them.

The tremendous energy stored cap in and radiating from light in

terms of color can now be appreciated to some extent, but the

elementals in form, which live, change form, and die to live again in

every flash of color, are unrecognizable by the physical senses.

The true occultist not only knows all these wonderful facts, he is

able to use them to hic own advantage and to the advantage of the

world at large. But his labors at a tremendous disadvantage when

trying to prove or impart his knowledge to those who refuse to accept

it or are incapable of fitting themselves for its possession. When they

[TT 365] are told that sacrifice is the first key to the edge they begin

to seek for some personal cause for the suggestion in the mind of the

one who has given them the knowledge of that key. If they are told

that personal purity is a requisite they begin to search for some way of

minimizing the necessary degree or finding some method of

indulgence which will modify the severity of the demand and still

permit them to retain their standing. If they are shown their duty

toward those who are pointing the way, they lose no time in trying to

see how far they can go in an opposite direction without jeopardizing

their chances of success, or in finding some excuse of a personal

nature which will justify their recreancy. They cannot accept the

simple statements made to them, and act capon them. Yet, there never

has but one way to the attainment of spiritual power, and there never

will be but one way.

There are certain physiological changes essential ; there are

certain qualities, characteristics, mental and moral, which are equally

necessary ; there are certain spiritual qualifications utterly

indispensable ; all of which the disciple must gain by personal effort,

and they can only be gained by obedience to the laws which govern

each one of the aforesaid essentials.

...

ONLY ONE WILL

—

LESSON 144

At first thought you may feel inclined to refuse to accept the

dogmatic statement that there is no such quality or attribute as the

human will. But if the unity of all life is something more than a theory

or a hypothetical concept to you it is possible you will accept that

statement and apply it in your search for foundation stones capon

which to rest your structure of unified life.

There is but one will. It would be impossible for two or more

wills to exist or manifest in a universe of law and order ; one Will

would invariably clash with the other by virtue of the very nature of

the attribute of Will. Will is direction, first of all. The universe, as

well as every manifested atom of the same, moves in circular or rather

in spiral fines to accomplish the "cycle of necessity." Any fine of life

may end or begin, comparatively speaking, in a straight direction, but

it soon curve$ and the curve necessitates a circuitous route thereafter.

The degree of the arc of the circle depends capon the [TT 366]

directing power of Will and the degree of force put forth by the

specific, action of the Desire principle behind the Will.

The equilibrium of a universe could not be maintained if a

secondary and therefore a negative, an opposing Will could interfere

with the direction of the mass as given by the primal impulse. The

same power which precipitated and directed a fine of force must

determine the time, place and degree of curve. "Thus far and no

'farther", said the divine Creator in determining the course of the

waters of the universe, and the same Creator declared, "My line has

gone forth over all the earth" . note, MY line, not the fine of any other

entity. When the limit of a fine of life is reached, the same directing

force which sent it forth must carry it back to its starting point plus the

value of the experience gained on its travels. The experience has

determined the degree of curve for the next life line . the next

incarnation of the Ego.

So much for the philosophy of my statement that there is but one

Will. The Will which moves the atom of self-development is the same

Will which moves . directs . the man. Man of himself cannot create

the will to moue a hand or draw a breath ; but because of his

fundamental unity with Deity, he may direct and so may use the

divine creative Will of Deity, to whatever degree he has cultivated the

channel of that Will in himself and discovered and fallen in fine with

the primal purpose of Deity. Wherever he fails in any undertaking that

failure is due to the degree of difference or distance between his lower

. his material . self and his Ego, for the Ego is the Deity in him,

"unity in diversity." Therefore his success viii be according to the

extent of his recognition of Deity, and his submission to the directing

power which is curving the straight fine of his life in order to bring

back the auric sphere of energy . the envelope of the Ego . to its

original starting point, that it may be sent out with increased power for

a wider sweep . a greater life, in other words, a more useful life.

When the recognition of the above mentioned facts comes to man

and he realizes that he is using the very essence of Deity to

accomplish every act of viii, no matter how insignificant the act may

seem to be at the moment, if he is a normal human being the

magnitude, the divine beauty and holiness of his mission on earth will

fill him with awe and fix his purpose to work with instead of against

the law ad his being. His acts are performed as a result of higher

motives ; a set purpose dominates him ; his relationship to every living

thing is established ; and life furnishes far wider ideals for him to

work toward than those previously encountered and partially or

wholly realized. His previous egotistic concepts of his individual

importance viii gradually disappear as his consciousness of the

importance of every phase of life [TT 367] becomes more vivid. It

will no longer be I but WE in rehearsing deeds with which he has been

concerned.

The greater the opposition offered by nature or man to a divinely

inspired purpose, the stronger and more repeated will be his efforts

toward accomplishment of the purpose, consequently, the more

invincible his power of Will. In other words, the wider will be the

channel through which the deific Will may flow. The words "Thy viii

be done" do not mean to invite cowardly submission to circumstances

and conditions. They should voice the cry of the Soul for perception

of the nature of divine Will and for strength to use that Will aright.

Disuse of function results in disintegration and death in all fields of

life, and no exception is made in the case of the operation of Will. But

consciously to use that divine energy of Will in an effort to thwart

divine law or to crush, maim or destroy another soul or body for the

sake of carrying out some selfish purpose is the unforgivable sin .

unforgivable because the inevitable reaction caused by the negative

aspect of the power which has built his vehicle viii destroy the vehicle

through which it operates.

Strive with your whole heart, with mind emptied of every

previously absorbed ides, for the realization of all I have tried to

impart to you. Realize that self-responsibility really means

responsibility in varying degrees for every thing and person you

contact and that you can no more avoid that responsibility and live

truly than you can live on the physical plane without breath. With the

awakening of self-responsibility comes the widening of the channel of

Divine Will and the power to use the stream.

...

STIMULANTS AND NARCOTICS

—

LESSON 145

During one of my first interviews with the Guardian in Chief and

Official Head, I told them that they could enter into no form of

business life which would afford them more opportunity for direct

contact with those who, of all people, most required their service,

namely, those who were addicted to the excessive use of stimulants

and narcotics.

I wish particularly to bring to your mind the fact that the

prohibition of intoxicants and narcotics, enforced upon their disciples

by the Initiates of the White Lodge, is a vital necessity ; but the

[TT 368] main reasons for such prohibition have not been given to

any body of disciples belonging to lesser degrees of the Lodge until

now. This is due to the almost inevitable misconstruction placed upon

our endorsement of one fact, a fact which might injuriously modify

the minds of those who seek for license or indulgence and who, in all

too many instances in past ergs, have believed they found such license

in esoteric teaching of one particular kind.

It has always been a mystery to extremists why so many gifted

people of both sexes indulged in narcotics and intoxicants for the

purpose of doing their best and highest work ; and said extremists

could not reconcile that fact with the well known teachings of

prohibition given by the Initiates of the White Lodge, and with many

other religious, scientific and ethical teachings on this head. When I

tell you that the highest as well as the lowest planes of life are

contacted by those addicted to the use of the said narcotics and

stimulants and that much of the very highest teachings anent art and

religion ever given to the world were received under such stimulation,

you must be careful how you reject or erroneously criticise my words.

It is a well established fact that the pineal gland and pituitary

body are vehicles for the transmission of the highest spiritual forces.

Anything which will stimulate the molecules of those vehicles to a

more rapid vibratory action will open an interior plane to the psychic

senses, whether the primary cause is due to high spiritual aspiration

and love of humanity or to a strong impulse to escape from restrictions

of matter or the inescapable sorrow and anguish of body and mind

from which humanity suffers. Therefore that is the thing sought for

most diligently by the normal human being. If the answer to prayer,

consecration and endeavor does not come as quickly as seems

desirable, to the naturally sensitive, highly developed man with a

tightly strung nervous system, he is very apt to demand some other

method of obtaining his desire. In other instances environment,

association, etc., lead people into indulgence, which, unfortunately,

temporarily opens the door to some inner plane, in the vibratory action

of the pineal gland, and this increase, in turn, produces certain changes

in the organs of sense which lead to grosser forms of sensation.

But be it remembered, the fundamental purpose in all instances is

the same, i. e., higher . more rapid . vibration of the molecules of the

pineal gland and pituitary body. However, the final effects are

diametrically opposite. In the first instance, prayer, consecration and

good works lead to the normal development of the laid gland and body

and to a vibratory action which may be indefinitely maintained

[TT 369] and eventually lead to contact with higher and higher planes

of action, until finally the at-one-ment between mind and spirit is

realized ; while in the last mentioned instances, the said bodies are not

sufficiently developed, physically speaking, to stand the pressure of

those more rapid vibrations for any long period of time, and they

break down, leaving only the possibility of contacting the lowest

planes of being, until death ends the struggle on the physical plane. It

is this condition which is primarily responsible for delirium, for with

the breaking down of the physical envelopes of the said gland and

body, the mysterious nervous organism of the whole body deteriorates

and finally incapacitates all the organic structure. It is then subject to

the control of low elementals.

If it were fully understood and accepted that narcotics and

stimulants did, in reality, open the higher realms of wisdom and

knowledge to the hungering soul, even the knowledge that it was done

only temporarily and must inevitably lead to degeneration and decay

would not deter the weak minded or vicious man or woman from such

indulgence. Consequently, this deep mystery is held as one of the

secrets of occultism.

You have doubtless heard or read that in the performance of the

mistakenly believed "sacred" mysteries in past ages, and even in the

present age, the use of strong narcotics and stimulants was common.

The black magicians of past ages knew, and the present ones know

full well, what the final results must be to the victims of their avarice

and cunning ; but as their purpose was the destruction of the higher

attributes in man and the cultivation of the sensuous and lewd, they

kept such knowledge from their neophytes and urged them on to all

forms of indulgence and sensuality until finally nothing was or is left

to the White Brotherhood but to withdraw and permit the destruction

of all life on the planet, save the remnants left for the seed of a new

race.

Knowing these things, it surely cannot be difficult for you to

understand what a high, holy calling it is for any man to block the

efforts of the black brotherhood by healing the diseases engendered by

such means, before the destruction of those all important vehicles of

transmission, the pineal gland and pituitary body is complete, and the

soul irretrievably lost.

But the so-called prohibition movement of the present erg can do

naught but palliate the effects of the causes set up in the bodies and

souls of those whom it would save. In all too many instances, the

advocates of this measure only increase the danger, for they grouse the

natural spirit of rebellion against enforced [TT 370] that is striving to

free itself from bondage to matter rebels against all things which tend

to coerce it into further bondage, whether the nature of the bonds be

good or evil ; so enforced control tends to drive the victim into greater

indulgence just to prove his power to defy control by pressure. Such a

movement does not go deep enough. It works on the surface, while the

disease it tries to conquer is too deep seated for it to touch and heal,

save in such cases as those in which the higher aspirations have been

awakened and as a result the vibratory action decreased to some

degree.

The human will has then become subservient to the divine will,

but the real causes for such apparent effects are unknown and

unsuspected by the majority of workers in that field. They do not

realize that a point of decay in the molecules of the physical envelopes

of the aforementioned gland and body must be reached and seared

over by the action of one of the "sacred fires", if the victim of

indulgence is to be saved. This may be done by the fiery elementals

confined in some medicinal formula, or by a higher grade of

elementals subservient atone to the demands of the divine will, as is

the case in those instances where the cure . the searing . is

accomplished by the fires of high aspiration, prayer and effort. The

mystery involved, the lack of understanding and right teaching and the

inability of the masses to correlate the physical with the spiritual and

astral aspects and forms of life are responsible to a great degree for

man's inability to deal sanely with this very important phase of the

problem which confronts humanity at this time.

If such a movement became strong enough to carry out its

principles by force or by national control, there would inevitably

occur such a reaction as would sweep all accomplished reforms away,

and far worse conditions would result than those which now obtain. It

takes poor, self-indulgent, violent, unrestful human nature a long,

weary time to learn the deep truth that "true growth is slow growth." A

bud may open in a night, but -it has taken many nights and days for

the plant to reach the point of putting forth its bud, and even then the

bud may be blasted by any forced action. When it opens naturally, it is

due to the inherent desire of the whole plant to catch the fructifying

light of the sun that it may bring forth fruit. And a like desire must be

aroused in the masses of mankind to Save them from the effects of

evil in any form.

Another phase of the same problem is responsible for much of the

contradiction and antagonism aroused by any extremist who

endeavors to infect his personal experiences into a discussion of this

problem. Unfortunately it is a phase which must be ignored to a

[TT 371] great degree, for the same reason that renders it inexpedient

to discuss some phases of sex, i. e., misunderstanding.

The elements of time, bodily infirmities, genealogical karmic

effects, racial tendencies . all these must be taken into consideration,

and if so taken, will modify opinions and set up vibrations which may

change the present opinions and conditions while they in no wise

change the causes which primarily induced man to yield to his desire

and which will continue to do so.

The same effects may be produced by under stimulation that are

produced by over-stimulation, i. e., molecular disintegration and final

death of body, in those cases where genealogical and karmic effects

are manifesting and racial or family tendencies have been set up

which must be worked out before the soul is freed from their first

causes. You have doubtless witnessed cases where an entire and

sudden change has taken place in an inebriate which neither he nor

others can account for in any rational way. This effect is generally the

result of the release of full karmic indebtedness in one particular line,

and with the payment of the debt, the searing process referred to has

taken place as a result of some action by the Higher Self. If such an

one had been forced into an undesired reform of habit, he would

inevitably return to former ways as soon as the temporary restrictions

were removed. This is one of the instances where time enters as a

large factor.

In other instances, where not sufficient stimulant is chemically

provided for keeping the organs of the body in natural action, the

proportion required is constantly demanded by those organs, and if

supplied in any measure there is no particular desire for excess

manifested. Any change in the molecular construction of the pineal

and pituitary bodies is checked in such instances and if the one so

using stimulants does not die from other causes before a definite

period of his life cycle, there watt occur a change which watt do away

with need for stimulants.

Then, there are still other instances. I refer to those who have

fully developed those bodies of transmission in the brain beyond need

or beyond power of being affected injuriously. They can take a

stimulant or leave it atone, as they choose. They generally choose to

leave it atone, for the sake of others.

If you are able to see the points I have made in their entirety, you

watt be better able to form an unbiased judgment on the whole subject

of stimulation. It is the world old subject of extremes, and extremes in

either direction lead to disintegration and death. [TT 372]

...

SOUL MEMORY

—

LESSON 146

What words of mine could picture the hell into which a human

soul may be plunged at the moment of awakening to consciousness of

soul memory : the moment when the soul faces the recorded results of

its own past weaknesses, treachery and unfaithfulness in the guise of a

slain wife, husband, child or friend . yes ! even of a tribe or a nation

plunged into ignorance and despair, and awakens at the same time to

the knowledge that it will never be released from the anguish of those

memories until in the course of ages it has paid its debt to the

uttermost, and redeemed itself ? Redeemed itself not by undoing, for

no act of man tan be undone, but by overcoming every weakness and

evil characteristic that has been responsible for the crime, the woe and

suffering depicted on the rolling waves of soul memory.

The Mosaic law : an eye for an eye, a life for a life, was founded

on the universal law of karma. While from the average human

standpoint it is a cruel law, it is in fact a most merciful law, for by the

action of its decrees atone is redemption possible.

You have been caught in the waves of soul memory in the dying

hours of each one of your many lives as a human being, and have

acknowledged the justice of the punishment received or to follow in

the succeeding life, but as yet you have not retained the memory of the

records so made, for in the formation of new brain tells the memory of

those records has been temporarily submerged.

However, there will come a time  . a life . when, with the

development of a new sense, those records will stand forth clearly

revealed before your inner eye ; and it is the anguish that must

inevitably follow such experience that the Initiates of the White Lodge

would spare you, would you but make it possible.

The dying eyes of parent, child or friend, whom you have

unwittingly slain, have held many an accusation, all unnoted by you.

You have never intended to do murder, but by your unfaithfulness,

your treachery toward them or others dear to them, to your own

Higher Self, and to the White Lodge, you have ignorantly or willfully

set in action the laws of accusation and reprisal, and the impersonal

elemental forces-the instruments by which the decrees of Karmic law

are carried out, have struck at you or those people or things which

were dearest to you. If the latter were incapable of turning these forces

aside the natural results have followed. You have thus become closely

identified with the karma of those sufferers from your acts, whether

[TT 373] consciously or unconsciously performed, and must pay the

debts so contracted, in your present life or in your next one.

You often cry out at the seeming injustice of has fallen upon you,

in the loss of some dear one, when if some page of your soul memory

were open to your vision you would see that your loss was justified.

It is from the results of such karmic action for wrongs inflicted by

man against man that the whole world suffers today, and despite the

knowledge of that fact the average human being continues in the same

course of conduct. Warning, entreaty, punishment do not suffice to

present him from continuing to pile up such karma whenever and

wherever his personal desires or idiosyncrasies are concerned ; and

when such is the case with accepted disciples of the Lodge the karmic

blows fall thicker and faster, but it must not be forgotten, they are

blows of divine compassion.

The satisfaction derived from the gratification of personal will

and desire is infinitesimal by comparison with the remorse and sorrow

which will follow when soul memory has flashed a completed scene

of the results of such selfish gratification as I have mentioned.

The grandeur, the beauty, the holiness of Truth, of Compassion,

of Loyalty will be revealed to the seer in such an hour. Both sides of

the Warrior's shield become visible at once when the eye of the soul is

unsealed and the pictures imprinted upon that shield spring into view.

Until man tan learn to be true to his Higher Self, true to his plighted

words, true to the obligations he is under to the sacrificial victims bf

his past weaknesses and wrong doing, his cruelty and cowardice, he

tan make no great advance on the ladder of life, no matter what else he

may do on other lines to effect such advance, for the foundation stone

underneath that ladder is Loyalty and without Loyalty life has no

meaning.

When consciousness awakens to the futility of all else without

that one possession the disciple may take his first step up that ladder,

the ladder which leads to final at-one-ment, and so win the right to the

title of Warrior of Light.

...

THOUGHT TRANSFERENCE

—

LESSON 147

Thought transference . soundless inter-communication . between

two or more persons, is a well established fact. The power to so

[TT 374] transfer thought is believed to be attainable without

particular effort, by the majority of mankind. Many students of

Psychology have delved as deeply into the illusive regions of mind as

it was possible for them to go without the assistance of a Master mind

to guide them. They have sought for the fundamental causes of the

phenomena of thought transference and the methods for its

accomplishment, but while thus engaged have ignored the sources

through which clone they could have obtained the most essential

information. Even the purely physical aspects of the process have

largely escaped observation.

The power of direct thought transference is as much a matter of

self development as is that of any other function of the mentality, and

similar methods of accomplishment are requisite to those employed in

the attainment of any psychic power, namely : Concentration,

Self-restraint of the Sex nature, Silence, and continuous effort during

stated periods, and at definite times.

While it is generally conceded that in some mysterious way there

must be an attunement of or a union between the masculine and

feminine magnetic currents of force in the case of any two students

engaged in this study, the method of action and the requisite centres

for making connections have proven debatable points, and in some

instances such debates have been the harbingers of much subsequent

evil, or unwise action. In the production of any deliberate act of

thought transference between two people of opposite sexes there must

always be a sympathetic current . an equality . established between

them before attempting the act of transference.

It is not necessary for both parties to be in the same locality, but it

is necessary that a set time should be chosen and a similar degree of

concentration attained to by both, as well as that both should be in

harmonious surroundings in order that the requisite positive and

negative action should be set up within two special brain centres of

each person. These centres lie one at the base of the brain and the

other directly under the center of the skull.

As a result of the said action a magnetic field is created in the

spaces between the said two centres in each brain and a direct current

of force flashed within that field from a third brain centre which lies

just back of the centre of the forehead between the eyes.

The last mentioned brain centre is the vehicle of communication

between the etheric and the physical planes, and all thought currents

primarily traverse the etheric plane. When a definite thought takes is a

slight explosion of force [TT 375] within that last mentioned. centre

which gives the necessary impulse for the projection of the symbolic

form ; and the same action takes place in a similar centre of the brain

of the one who receives the symbolic representation if the necessary

conditions have been made.

As soon as the impulse arises to send or receive such an idealized

symbolic representation, the previously quiescent force stored up in

that centre is aroused, and, within the magnetic field referred to, there

is flashed a definite picture or image of the symbolic form, somewhat

as an image may be flashed on the surface of a mirror in passing.

From this magnetic field the first two mentioned brain centres seize

the details of the pictured image, and connect with other centres of the

brain and sympathetic nerves, by means of which the said details of

the symbolic form are worked out into expression, it may be into

words or into lesser thought images. It would depend upon the energy

set free in the explosion as to how the said details were expressed.

Where four persons are required to send or receive a symbolic

thought it is for the reason that only one of the requisite two centres of

each brain is fully developed, and the magnetic field must therefore be

created between more widely separated brain centres. Like

sympathetic vibrations must be established between the four persons

thus engaged to those established between two persons. A definite

time must be set, and a similar degree of concentration attained.

Such a symbolic thought form as I have mentioned may be caught

by many persons at the same time, who are in fact wide apart in space,

but the right conditions must have been previously established in any

case. Thought waves travel in wide spiral fines and may touch

wherever a magnetic field has been established.

It is due to misunderstanding of the fact that the masculine and

feminine currents of force are both necessary to the performance of

any psychic phenomenon that so much harsh criticism and

condemnation has been heaped on the heads of perfectly virtuous

students of occultism who have attempted to cultivate the power of

thought transference ; but when it is understood that there may even

be perfect action between the masculine and feminine forces in one

body, the supposed cause for such condemnation will disappear.

When a man and woman are in the same stage of development, and

are engaged in the practice of thought transference, all else being

equal, the power is increased and the results are apt to be more

satisfactory ; but two or more persons of one sex can often accomplish

much in that respect if they will make the requisite conditions.

[TT 376]

...

A LETTER FROM THE MASTER

—

LESSON 148

My Children :

Among your number there are a few disciples who might benefit

from a little advice I feel impelled to offer ; for like other

warmhearted, spiritually hungry souls they are in danger of being

exploited by those fiends in human guise-tools of black magicians,

who continually lie in wait for new victims of their avarice and

cunning.

I refer to those misnamed teachers of occultism, who claim to be

receiving directions from some high spiritual force, or directly from

the Initiates of the "Great White Lodge" and who pour forth volumes

of platitudes in flowery or abstruse language specially designed to

deceive new and untried disciples, until such time as they have

compromised or partially psychologized the latter, before their

motives become apparent. Unfortunately when that time arrives

previous warnings are of little avail.

Place an unscalable barrier between yourself and the person who

offers you RAPID spiritual development, or the possession of the

powers of practical occultism at the cost of little or no effort on your

own part, or who offers to teach you the secrets of such attainment for

a set price.

If you are familiar with the book of "The Golden Precepts", or

with any other reliable work on practical Occultism, you will have

seen that there are certain inviolable rules to be obeyed, certain

unalterable conditions to be fulfilled before it is even possible for you

to take the first step on the "Secret Path" . the Path of Power. If you

feel a strong attraction in that direction, I would advise that you read

and thoroughly digest such information as may be found in authentic

works on the subject, and then create a mental mirror in which, by the

aid of your Higher Self, your conscience, your knowledge of your

personal self, your dominant characteristics, you proceed to hold that

self before the mirror, and with an earnest petition for enlightenment,

question that mirror as to what are the probabilities of your being able

to live up to those rules and fulfil the conditions, and abide by the

answers.

Ask that mirrored form what is the extent of its will-power ? of its

power of endurance ? its ability for sacrifice, such sacrifice as is

demanded of the true Neophyte ? In nine hundred and ninety-nine

instances out of one thousand the answer will be : "I have neither

power nor ability commensurate with the demand." But then, beware

[TT 377] lest immediately there begins to form a series of desire .

pictures upon the surface of that mirror, expressions of intense

longing, memories of sacrifices previously made, such pictures as

generally obsess the mind that has been denied some indulgence.

Little by little the "lions in the path" will seem to disappear ; the

weaknesses of will and mind and physical limitations will seem of less

consequence, until finally naught remains but a picture of the lower

self in abject submission, the Higher Self triumphant. Such is the

power of the lower self if even temporarily divorced from that light of

the Higher Self. If the glamour of lower desire is permitted to blind

you to the warnings received, and to the dictates of conscience, a false

sensation of peace may follow and a desire to acquaint others with the

fact that at last you believe you are on the path to unlimited power ;

and then . why then you have become a fit subject for the exploiter

who is very apt to appear, and unless you have been so fortunate as to

have been under the protection of a true Initiate, there is sore

disappointment in store for you. All too many ignorant victims of such

exploiters have been forced into utter rejection of all truth, the

submersion of all hope and faith after awakening to the fact that they

have been purposely deceived by some false teacher aided by the

desires, of the lower mind.

Bear carefully in mind that not one of the rules given for your

guidance is unnecessary ; not one of the directions is superfluous ; not

one of the sacrifices demanded is useless. Remember that a perfectly

sound body and a sound mind are essentials for a practical Occultist,

without which it would be impossible to pass the requisite physical

tests ; and remembering all these things be content to travel the path of

the heart, the path of the child, until such time as you may have gained

the power to tread the harder path, if that power has not yet been

gained, accepting and being content with the guidance of "those who

know" until in their eyes, instead of yours atone, you are capable of

taking the next step in safety. The peace that will come to you as a

result of such submission will be a lasting peace however great the

warfare about you. You will be content to await recognition by others

instead of claiming it as a right. You will recognize your father's face,

your mother's hands, and will not more desire to wander in strange

places. Soul sight . Intuition will come, and with its coming will also

come the power of Discrimination.

My Child, hold up that mental mirror and make sure of your self,

your strength, your power to serve aright, ere you ignorantly put

yourself into the hands of one who may guide you into the great abyss

instead of to the mountain top. [TT 378]

If you should find that the heights are unattainable to you today,

remember that another day is coming. Yet also remember that the first

step must be taken by every human being, therefore must be taken by

you, and be not discouraged or dismayed if you stumble in the taking.

Remember that you, as a Templar, have demanded of the Great

White Lodge a chance to climb. Having made this demand your feet

have been placed on the first rung of the ladder ; hold fast, let nothing

rob you of your opportunity, so shall it be well with you.

...

SELF-EXAMINATION

—

LESSON 149

You who hunger for power, influence, possessions ; you who

believe that that hunger comes from the unselfish motive of the

greatest good for the greatest number ; who believe that your own

particular scheme of life is the only one that could bring order out of

the chaos in which the world, to your mind, now seems to be, but who

have not attained to the first requisite for the winning of power or to

the constructing of a scheme by which you could govern your own

personality : to you I say, make an honest self-examination and

thereby learn what are the hindrances to be overcome, not only in

yourself, but in others.

For a rigid self-examination will reveal the very qualities in

yourself that you are so anxious to set right in others. They mat' not be

so obvious in your own case, but they are there and only waiting the

pull of strong desire, or the necessary environment to come out with

equal power. Until you are willing and able to make this rigid self-

examination, recognize your limitations and acknowledge your own

liability to error, you will make no sufficiently strong effort to

overcome them, nor will you recognize the causes of your neighbor's

limitations, and help him to adjust himself.

One of the first discoveries you would make in such self-effort

would appear in the difficulty encountered in convincing others of

your clarity of purpose and motive, and your capacity to execute

righteous judgment in any given case. You would see that because of

the unwillingness of others to face themselves as they really are, their

[TT 379] viewpoints would be altogether different from yours,

therefore, they would be for the time being utterly incapable of

working in perfect harmony with you ; they could not see the

necessity for action as it presented itself to you, therefore your

premises would be all wrong to them.

As an example, you imagine that you love some cause or some

individual. By refusing to dig deep enough in your own minds to find

the incentive to such love, you permit a biased view of your duties and

obligations to that cause or person, as well as theirs to you, to change

that love into tolerance, indifference or even hatred. You would walk

over burning Goals to fulfill some imagined or real duty or selfish

desire which seemed of sufficient importance to you, while you would

plunge a metaphorical dagger into the heart of the beloved by

demands incapable of fulfillment, unreasoning protests, and

exhibitions of your own littleness, entirely ignorant of the standpoint

from which those others were compelled to view their actions.

Self-examination would have shown you this, and supplied the

incentive for change. You have to reach down to fundamentals of

human character, select from these fundamentals those you would

cultivate and those you would suppress, and then consciously set

about doing so, before you can rise above your present mental and

physical environment. You mat say you have that power. The trouble

is that you try to seize upon and change the effects of action already

committed instead of the original causes of such action. As a rule you

ignore the tremendous power of auto-suggestion. Once you have

recognized that your motives are questionable, as they are in most

cases, reach down into the desire back of the motive, and if that desire

be selfish, crude or ill formed, speak to it with all the concentrated

will power at your command, and say, "I do not desire this thing,

though my mind or body mat' desire it. It is not in accord with

universal law, therefore it is not my real desire."

If you do this often enough and with sufficient intensity you will

one day find that particular desire shriveling up, going out, and know

yourself free from it, with a higher desire in its place.

In self-examination, your discovered motive for doing or not

doing any definite thing will act as indicator and expose the desire

behind it. If the mental deposits left in your mind by dwelling upon

any desire become so active and persistent that you find it difficult to

rid yourself of them, stop resisting them . fill your mind so full of

other things that there is no room for them, and they must disappear.

[TT 380]

...

THE MEASURE OF A MAN

—

LESSON 150

Whether the student takes his observations from the standpoint of

God, Nature, or that of fortuitous circumstances it must be evident

even to the mind of a casuist that the power which shapes matter into

form has decreed that no form, whether it be form of man, mountain

or drop of water, shall retain that form beyond a certain predetermined

period of time. The lave of Periodicity . a tool used in the shaping of

form . is used as perfectly and relentlessly in determining the span of

life for an organization of human beings as it is for that of a man or an

amoeba. There is but one higher, one more important tool than this

one of Periodicity possible of being wielded by Divinity in the shape

of a universe, and that tool is the lave of service. He who is wise

enough and meek enough to perceive and profit by hic perception of

the method, purpose and results of the action of these two laves on the

lives of others may, if he will, mold the circumstances of hic own life

to fit into the new form he dimly perceives in the distance of his

imagination, the form that is being built by the aforementioned tools

of Divinity out of the substance the man himself has created day by

day, but which is built according to a plan the details of which are far

beyond hic present power of perception. If he can be content to go on

cheerfully and unselfishly creating the substance for the form without

pausing to measure the amount he has created, or to congratulate

himself on the success of hic efforts, or, worse still, to fall into a state

of despair over his seeming failure to create, he may one day learn that

he has unconsciously been used as an instrument in creating the

foothill upon the top of which he finds himself standing and gazing up

at the top of the great mountain range which lies just beyond. But it is

when he has reached the top of his first foothill that comes hic first

hour of real trial. Then must he learn that unless he has gained the

power of balance which will enable him to stand erect and unafraid,

his only support the never failing staff of humility, he must inevitably

be richocheted to a state of oblivion, or to some other indeterminate

state of illusion.

When the star of a man's life is in the ascendant, when he has

reached the top of the first foothill, the measure of that man is taken

by the powers that rule and direct hic evolution. It avili depend

entirely upon the vision he has caught of the surrounding plain and the

location of the hill he must next climb whether he is ever going to be

able to reach a still higher altitude of knowledge and power in hic

present life cycle. That is, it will depend upon hic discovery of the

[TT 381] field whereupon hic best services can be rendered for

humanity as a whole, and upon his ability to maintain the throne of

Divinity within hic own heart, as to whether greater opportunity will

be presented to him.

The measure of the pledged and accepted disciple of the Great

White Lodge is being very rapidly and accurately taken in these days

of separation. Figuratively speaking, the height, depth and weight of

each one is being determined by the measure of development he has

reached, especially the development of the powers of Perception,

Stability, and Service. The rapidity of the descent of first one and then

another would be a pitiable spectacle to a casual observer unable to

see that though the motor power of selfishness had hurled its victim

from the top of hic little foothill to the plain beneath, the plain was hic

natural habitat, and would continue to be such until he could develop

sufficient purpose and stability to retain hic foothold on the hill.

Aside from selfishness, indolence and instability, there is no other

quality so conducive to a fall as is that of excessive egotism. No other

form is so rapidly disintegrated as is the form built up by means of

exaggerated egotism and self-righteousness.

Mankind is long in learning that the measure of a man is taken by

Deity, and by the Servants of Deity transmitted to the consciousness

of every other man who has succeeded in reaching the top of a single

foothill of life. Only those still fixed on the plain below, the plane of

their own desires and passions, can be deceived by the egotist, and

they can only be so deceived because they are enwrapped in a similar

web of ingratitude, disobedience and selfishness to that which made

the egotist what he is, the prisoner of himself.