...

THE AETHERIC AND THE ETHERIC SCREENS

—

LESSON 171

Modern literature presents many phases of varied forms of

investigation, but none more interesting than are the results of

investigation in the field of Mind. All the necessary distinctions

between the Principle of Manas, the Divine Mind, and the human

mind, as well as [TT 424] the diversified operations of the Principle

of Manas as exemplified in the instincts of animals, plants and all

forms of crystallization, are seldom referred to save in philosophical

works of a certain character not easily secured. Yet without these

distinctions and differentiations the student soon finds himself at sea

admist much wreckage of theory. While there is but one mind in

essence, that one Mind is identified with the Trinity, Desire, Will and

Motion . the three in one. Only when this Trinity is differentiated in

form on the fourth plane, or state of life, does distinction as

individuality appear and it then operates in an Aetheric medium in and

through which the Soul of the Universe and of Man develops. With

differentiation of form and number, there also appears differentiation

of Mind into two aspects commonly termed Higher and Lower Manas.

Some of the more distinguished savants in the fields of scientific

research have reached certain deductions, as a result of long continued

experimentation, which will be of great advantage to many who are

not so well equipped for investigation ; but they have not gone deep

enough into the mysteries of Mind to satisfy the true student of

Occultism.

Various theories and partial truths founded on the results of such

research have been used to create quite a furore in the world, owing to

their application to the rapidly increasing physical and mental

ailments of humanity. Especially is this true in the case of those

diseases which have developed as a result of nerve and brain tension

and exhaustion of vital force for these are more or less amenable to

treatment by Suggestion.

Among the above mentioned partial truths are those which may

be combined under the names of Christian Science, Mental Healing,

Psycho-therapy, and Psycho-analysis. The last mentioned system of

healing pertains to a field where investigation has been blocked for

many centuries owing to two aspects of that field of which little is

known save by the advanced Occultist. I refer to the Laws of

Symbolism and Correspondence. Psycho-Analysis pertains to that

phase of the Manasic field which comes under the head of Dreams and

the diagnosis of disease by means of the dreams of the sufferer.

While it is partially true that the unfulfilled desires and ambitions

of man may be relegated to the field of the subconsciousness, to be

recalled to the outer consciousness in the form of disease, the average

man is incapable of diagnosing the disease and of understanding the

primal cause which lies back of the desire and ambition, and in a field

of which he knows nothing. The Skandas, or qualities, brought over

from past embodiments are the primary causes of the range of those

[TT 425] desires and ambitions which are powerful enough to make a

lasting impression on the Astral Screen . the etheric counterpart of the

physical body . and the particular quality which has given rise to the

desire or ambition must be killed out or transmuted before dreams of

the character noted can be permanently overcome and the process of

healing be completed. While I cannot deny the efficacy of the

treatment of some forms of disease by the method referred to, the

whole subject is of minor importance in comparison with another

character of dream life which more nearly concerns the higher

development of the Soul, the permanent body of the Ego, which man

is developing throughout his whole fine of Incarnations.

It is necessary to make a distinction between the Aetheric

medium, or screen ; and the Etheric or Astral Screen . body, or

confusion confounded would be the result to the mind of the average

thinker. This distinction is far more than a difference, for the

development of the soul is largely accomplished by the character of

the pictures . the results of action . thrown upon that Aetheric Screen.

If the character of the picture thrown upon the Etheric Screen . the

Astral body, which is also the seat of the subconscious mind of man .

is of such a nature as to react on the physical organs of man and

produce inharmonious action within the cells of the said organs, it will

produce disease.

From one point of view, the Etheric Screen is the negative aspect

of the positive Aetheric Screen. The latter only records the pictures of

those acts which have resulted from concentrated definite thoughts

and ideas, while the, former records the pictures formed by the

drifting desires and wishes in the mind of the physical man : in other

words, the memory of the thoughts and wishes which make but

temporary impressions on the brain cells of man. The results of action

determined by will and moulded into resultant form by the action of

Aetheric energy may or may not come back to the outer consciousness

as incitements to subsequent action, either in the form of dream, or

vision, or as intuition. In any event they are the milestones which

mark the path of the development of the soul and to relegate these to

the domain of the physical body is to place them in a wrong category

and into one which might prove disastrous to many people.

To one who has had the advantage of dream or vision in the

higher orders or degrees of Universal Life and who has, therefore,

contacted forms of life and of living far beyond anything possible of

conception by the lower mind, the ides of connecting them with

anything like gross matter, or the transitional phases of material life, is

abhorrent to a marked degree. The tune is not as we count time, when

a prepared humanity will be able to grasp [TT 426] these great

Cosmic Realities and take advantage of the knowledge so gained ; but,

as previously intimated, they must be interpreted by symbolism and

correspondence to the average mind since they lie outside the domain

of gross matter.

By using the word, pictures, in referring to the impressions made

on either one of the before mentioned Screens, we may convey an

erroneous idea, yet it is difficult to convey a lucid idea of those

impressions in a few words.

If you can imagine all the scenes of a moving picture drama rolled

up into a composite picture and finally assuming the form of a star or

other symbolic figure, and knew that all the scenes of that drama were

the results of some one act or series of acts, you might gain some

concept of the phenomena that spiritual sight would reveal to the Seer.

Yet this illustration is very incomplete for the aforementioned symbol

might not be apparent to any save the Ego of the actor in such a

drama. It is all but impossible to clothe a spiritual reality in the words

of any language. Such realities can only be grasped by the Intuition

and even then, only in part while the Intuition must express itself in

common terms.

...

VIBRATORY CHANGES

—

LESSON 172

In every city, every settlement of all the nations given over to the

white race, as well as in~ those of many other races, are daily and

almost hourly being voiced some of the explicit statements of the

Nazarene. These statements are accepted as divine truths upon the

fulfillment of which countless numbers of believers base all their

hopes of future salvation ; yet while they are literally pounded upon

the ear . drums and into the mentality of the listeners by the clergy,

used as a basis of prayer to an Almighty God, used as texts to adorn

the walls of their houses of worship, and in many other ways, in the

majority of instances their real significance is lost, or they are as chaff

before the wind when it comes to applying them to purposes like to

those which originally called them forth. To no one of these many

statements should more intelligent observation and more ready

acceptance be given than to the following, "Go thy 'way, thy sirs are

forgiven", spoken to the woman who begged the healing powers of the

Matter. If those words were fully [TT 427] stood and accepted at their

true value there would be neither prison nor lazarette in the whole

world, for there would be no need for such : Sickness would be

recognized as sin, sin as sickness. The man or woman who had broken

the law, the child trapped by its heredity, would be treated as an

invalid and receive every advantage that science could bestow to the

end that they be healed, and consequently from the esoteric point of

view, forgiven. The inconsistency of treating as criminals those in

need of medical attention, and by those who profess to be guided by

the statements of the Master, is largely due to ignorance of the action

of the finer forces of nature.

The breaking of natures laws, whether they are consciously or

unconsciously broken, by nation or individual, displaces substance

which is moving in some one mode of motion and throws it out of

equilibrium. The substance so displaced is within the auric sphere of

the one who is responsible for the action. Instead of moving in the

direction and consequently in the mass mode of motion which natural

law has imparted to it that substance is halted, as it were, and turned in

another direction, and as a result it must adjust itself to the new

vibration, and in the adjustment the physical atoms, molecules and

cells which are the outer expressions of the interior force or substance

which has been displaced, are thrown out of balance and must suffer

until adjustment is made on the plane on which the disturbance was

created. If the laws of mentality have been broken the adjustment must

first be made on the mental plane.

If you send a man to prison for some so-called crime, which is in

part the result of some disturbance in his mental sphere, and by so

doing add enormously to the disturbance already created, you are

simply enlarging his field of operations, whereas if you were able to

diagnose his case correctly by means of interior observation and by

the character of the crime committed and so learn what method or

means to use in healing the area affected by strengthening the man's

power of resistance, and so hastening the adjustment to be made

within the disturbed area, you would soon have a normal man.

A study of the crystallization of matter will give some idea of the

various forms interior substance is thrown into. There is perfect

correspondence between the two. If you can imagine a halting in the

process of the crystallization of a cube whereby one side of the cube

was contracted, thus changing entirely the form of that which by

natural law should have been a cube, possibly you may also imagine

the disturbed condition of all adjoining cubes. If the substance of some

organ of a human body had been originally crystallized into cubes and

such a change as I have mentioned had subsequently occurred,

[TT 428] an abnormal condition would obtain in the part or organ

built of that substance and disease would inevitably develop in that

organ.

The cause of such a change might be back in the heredity of the

individual, or even be the effect of the action of the skandas in their

transmission from one incarnation to another.

But be that as it may, nothing but a change in the vibration which

has produced the change in crystallization could heal the disease in the

said organ. Such a change in vibration may come either as a result of

mental suggestion or medical treatment ; that would depend upon the

organ affected and therefore upon the formation of the crystallized

substance . the basic substance of the cells.

...

SEX

—

LESSON 173

Volumes have been written on the subject of Sex. The light of the

highest intellects of all ages has been turned on the subject. The mind

of every normal human being still wrestles with it and yet it remains a

mystery to the uninitiated, and must remain so until passion has been

divorced from Compassion-Love. Passion is the shadow of

compassion and when the shadow flies away the pure white Light of

Compassion shines forth as a Sun. As all shadows are deceptive this

great shade of passion is no exception. It has veiled the eyes of angels

and man and will continue to do so until its nature is recognized and

the veil is withdrawn.

Man's ignorance of the seven-fold division of Matter, Force and

Consciousness and the nature of those divisions constitutes the veil.

What are commonly termed the physical senses do not function

primarily on the plane of gross matter, although their organs of

excitation are clearly physical. The five or seven senses of man are but

one sense on a more interior division or plane.

Just as the sense of taste and smell are intimately related, the

sense of touch-feeling-and the sexual sense are similarly related. The

stimulation of one sense arouses activity in all and consequently if the

psychic senses in an individual have been awakened the consciousness

is very apt to turn inward to that plane of the one sense and psychic

sight and hearing may then respond to the sense functioning on the

physical plane. Herein lies the great danger to the spiritually

unenlightened man, for unless he is sensuousness of the sights and

sounds of that interior plane as they are thrown into form and sound

by the energy set free by excitation on the physical plane, the beauty

and delight of these sights and sounds would deceive him into

believing he was contacting still higher planes of being where life is

real, and which are only open to man when the senses are all under

control and the now atrophied organ through which the one sense may

act is again developed ; or the horrible, licentious and vicious images

and gross sounds he may vision or hear would deceive him into

believing he had entered a veritable Hades. For when undirected

physical or mental energy is set free by man it may throw the

substance of that first interior plane into either class of images.

The last mentioned phenomenon occurs when the mental balance

has been disturbed by disease, or when over-indulgence in sense

gratification has led to satiety.

The great aim and ambition of enlightened man is Mastery and

the word itself should indicate the process and result. An enlightened

man does not aim at mere mastery over worldly conditions. Such

mastery is far more easily gained than is the mastery over the finer

forces of nature and the absolute control of his lower self. So long as

man can be controlled by his senses it is utterly impossible for him to

arouse into new activity that now atrophied centre of the brain which

is essential to the control of the higher creative forces.

If a unit of the human race is content to take his evolution with

the other units of that race, so far as the functions of sex are

concerned, he will only be subject to the sex . karma of that race. If

he perverts those functions in some abnormal manner he adds

immeasurably to his share of that Karma.

If man, deliberately and willfully, in full consciousness of the

difficulties in the way, sets out to gain liberation and then falls back

into sensuality he must necessarily block his way for ages, for by so

doing he has veiled his intuition anew and will be no longer able to

distinguish between the false and the true. He has paved the way for

the deceptive elementals of the Eighth Sphere who will blind him to

the character of the experiences he passes through until such time as

satiety has partially opened his eyes, when he then realizes the

bondage in which he has placed himself.

Satiety always follows upon the heels of over-indulgence, and this

alone should teach man the materiality of all sense indulgence, for true

spiritual experience never satiates. Ecstacy of sense and ecstacy of

soul are possible realizations of the two poles of the great Mystery .

Love. The esctasy of sense is the fulfillment of passion ; the [TT 430]

ecstasy of the soul is the fruit of compassion. One must disappear in

the face of the other meet. One is differentiation, the other

completeness.

Those who dare to degrade the ideal of Divine Love by

prostituting it to low sense gratification come close to committing the

unforgivable sin, and those who teach the ignorant that true

enlightenment may come by such methods are creating heavy karma.

It is passing strange that any student of life who has had all the

advantages that study of the Secret Doctrine and other like

philosophies may give, those teachings which contain all available

data concerning the primal causes for the failure and destruction of

other civilizations, can fail to perceive that it is only by a return to a

state of purity that man can regain his lost estate. Such a student must

know that sex . abuse, or some aspect of licentiousness built the

bridge whereby the angels of light entered the abode of demons-the

gross physical plane . and that they must recross that bridge by

turning the creative forces in an opposite direction if they would

further the. development of the human race and thus regain their

spiritual supremacy ; and the humanity of the present age and that host

of angels are one and the same.

When man reaches the point of development where the functions

of sex will be employed for procreation primarily and not atone for

mere sensual enjoyment, and the waiting souls long seeking

incarnation can be given bodies without endangering the lives of the

women who bear those bodies and who therefore can banish the fear

and anxiety which now mark countless bodies with the sign of

degeneration and decay, the human race will have made a great stride

upward.

...

PEACE ON EARTH

—

LESSON 174

While it is. perfectly natural that the ides of Peace on Earth should

gain more adherents as time passes and the influences of a Messianic

Cycle become stronger, perfect peace between nations for an

indefinite period, cannot obtain until all the substance matter of this

plane has been raised to a higher vibration and that cannot be for

many millenniums to come.

When you. take into consideration the fact that the very cells of

the physical body mat' be antagonistic to each other ; that there

[TT 431] is continual warfare between the elemental forces in

operation on the physical plane, and realize that all this is primarily

due to the action of the Laws of Attraction and Repulsion and the

resultant friction created in the many grades of matter which form this

planet, it is evident that some tremendous change must take place in

the very constitution of matter before it will be possible for Peace to

reign upon the earth, or Man must evolve to such a degree as to be

capable of controlling the forces of nature and thus be capable of

reducing the friction.

When one considers the slaughter of human beings now taking

place in this Twentieth Century, and the release of the diabolical

forces resulting from malice, hatred, and revenge, there would seem to

be but little hope for any radical change in the near future.

While all matter and force are governed by Cyclic Law to such a

degree as to make it impossible for any great change in the

constitution of matter to take place out of the cycle for such a change,

one of the great hindrances to a more rapid change is the ignorance of

the masses as to how such changes occur, and this is why no more

effort is made to effect such changes.

Man has created and is creating his own environment in a much

more specific way than is generally understood. He is responsible, for

all the pestilence, famine and plague which devastate the earth. He has

given color to Nature and determined the atmospheric conditions of

his world. In other words, he has made his world what it is by the

exercise of the all-powerful energies of Will, Desire and Mind, and he

atone can change it. Until he can recognize this fact and turn his

image-making power, fortified by Will, to work in the right direction,

the forces of degeneration and decay will continue to hold him in their

power, and the War God continue to hold sway in the world. As it

now is, all his energies are turned toward working in the gross matter

of his little world, which, by its very nature, is evanescent and

fleeting, as well as provocative of conditions which make war

between man and man inevitable.

If Peace was declared today by the various nations now at war, it

could last but a short time. The elemental forces evoked by such

slaughter as has already taken place do not die out with the slain. They

have been called into action and must expend the energy with which

they are charged. In a Messianic Cycle, their action is overruled by the

Karmic Lords to a greater degree than in other cycles. A definite

purpose is to be served, namely, the purification of the earth, so far as

it is possible to purify it at that particular time, thus raising the

vibratory pulse of the earth. This occurs as a result of [TT 432] the

suffering, the aspiration and repentance of the masses of humanity,

thus making possible the advent of such a Great Soul as is He the

Earth. fall upon the earth upon that advent. Such Peace as may come

can only be relative and temporary, for, as before stated, all the gross

matter of the planet must be changed, raised in vibration to the highest

power before permanent Peace can reign.

It is written that there was war in Heaven between the Angels of

God, and Michael and his Angels were cast out. Those angels

reincarnated in man. What can this mean but that there was

antagonism between the Great Creative Forces of the Universe, caused

by friction . the result of the action of the Laws of Attraction and

Repulsion ? This clearly shows that the action of said Laws is not only

responsible for the warring conditions in nature and man on the

physical plane, but that similar conditions obtain through the three

higher states of matter, at definite periods of evolution.

But this should not discourage the Aspirant for Peace, for every

effort serves its purpose in some degree. The longer a Cycle of Peace

lasts, the stronger are the forces which will eventually bring about the

desired permanent results.

...

THE HIGHER LOVE

—

LESSON 175

Ah ! you husbands and wives of this restless, psychic-mad

century, this era wherein all things are rapidly disintegrating and

reforming, when there can be no stability, no balance, no point of

equilibrium in religious, social, political or family life unless it be

created and maintained by stern endurance, divine patience and above

all by clinging as to a life . fine to a sense of duty, for the sake of the

undeveloped and the unborn children who must suffer unspeakably if

their parents yield to the action of the disruptive forces now sweeping

through every phase and differentiated condition of the earth sphere !

Who is to speak with sufficient power ? Where are words to be found

so pregnant with pleading and authority as to compel your attention

and sink deep enough into your souls to arouse the latent strength and

purpose so necessary for your own salvation and that of the race to

which you belong. [TT 433]

Modern methods of education have left the majority of you men

with an absorbing ambition for some one purpose which will end in

one of two ways . exhausted vitality, shattered nerves with all the

concomitant effects in the way of impatience, selfish indulgence and

indifference, or in the phlegmatic, self satisfied, stupid condition of

herbaceous animals ; these methods have left even more of the women

restless, physically unfit for the marital relations, psychically

sensitive, intensely idealistic, impractical, full of longings for the

realization of ideals, and as a rule both men and women ignorant of, or

selfishly indifferent to each other's crying need of help and

sustenance, understanding and sympathy.

No third person can aid in establishing harmony between the man

and woman who have reached such a stage of dissatisfaction ; for they

would not accept the offices of such an one, their own self-esteem or

their idealistic illusions would have thrown such a glamour over their

mentality it would seem to degrade them to listen to and profit by the

experience of another. Therefore they are thrown back upon their own

soul's integrity for the power to stand still when the waves of

discontent, disappointment, ungratified passion and longing race over

their personalities, unless they have been wise enough to cherish with

never ceasing cure and thoughtfulness the spark of true love which

united them in the beginning of their married life . to look upon that

love as a priceless jewel which could be injured by rough handling by

either one, and which requires a setting of little mutual attentions,

constant reminders of its existence and fragile nature, frequent

cleansings with the pure water of spiritual communings.

Ah ! ye men and women, what else in all the wide universe save

the unselfish, devoted love of wife or husband can give you strength

to face the terrible reality that to live as mortal is to suffer

continuously ; to suffer in joy as to suffer in pain-constant,

unremitting suffering. Not even in sleep, the twin of death, to find

entire surcease, save in such hours of utter negation as are those which

literally blot out life, for the time being ; for such is the law of mortal

life, and no man may successfully appeal from its judgments. Not

until man has triumphed over mortal life by means of the flame fanned

into burning from that one spark which is transferred to the hearts of

man and woman from the Heart of God, in the hour of union, can final

release from suffering be given for love atone can fulfill the law, love

founded on mutual respect, and grounded in mutual forbearance.

It is passing strange that so many among the masses of mankind

fait to see that it is never by the exercise of force, or broken law that

the new life . currents are set in motion. [TT 434]

All unwittingly, too often both men and women yield to the

absorbing cares and duties of daily life, and are either too tired or

indifferent, or take too much for granted, and treat each other as they

are prone to treat those of their own sex, forgetful of the fact that the

establishment of the marital relationship between a man and woman

has brought to fruition a germ in the soul of each which is dormant in

the usual single man and woman . a co-relation which transcends the

physical plane and operates on the plane of soul, and therefore must

be taken into consideration if the angel Harmony is to appear and be

permanently established in the home life.

The man must recognize these facts and not permit material

conditions and circumstances to kill out in him the feminine qualities

which would enable him to understand the nature of the woman he has

married, and so be capable of giving her of the nourishment her soul

craves from him, in order to live and grow.

The woman must recognize the fact, that it is equally necessary

for her to cultivate the masculine qualities of the soul, and so be able

to comprehend the character of the struggle for material supremacy

which is implanted in the masculine aspect of life ; otherwise it will be

impossible for her to understand the effect of that struggle on the finer

parts of the nature of the man she has married, and so help him to

balance the two sides of his nature so far as she is able.

Nine-tenths of the grave differences which arise between normal

married people come from utter ignorance of the nature of the

fundamental differences in the masculine and feminine sexes. When

but little effort is made toward dispelling such ignorance there seems

but small hope of reaching a common basis of understanding, except

in those instances where true marriage has taken place.

The woman agonizes over or cries out for constant exhibitions of

the finer qualities of her ideal man, the qualities which she has had

good reason to believe were a part of the nature of the man she was

marrying. The man cries out or smothers the cry for an understanding

on the part of the woman of the causes back of his inability to respond

to the demands made on those finer parts of his nature at such times as

are those when his energies are turned in the direction of some-to him

. necessary material struggle.

If the woman's happiness depends alone upon and of interest in

her pursuits, and the man's happiness depends upon an intelligent

understanding of big limitations and difficulties, there is no possible

hope for, a termination of their marital woes. Both parties must be

brought to the consideration and adoption of a code of mutual

forbearance, and a mutual [TT 435] respect for the rights and

privileges of the other before a common ground of understanding can

be formed.

Of course you will understand, I am not now considering those

sad cases where one or both have lost all regard and respect for the

laws of God and man, and the life of one has become a hell because of

the acts of the other, and both are therefore drifting on to the rocks of

life. I am only pointing out some of the causes which have wrecked so

many lives that might have been passed in circumstances which would

have paid up some bad karma and enabled those so situated to find the

complementary parts of themselves in another life cycle with much

more ease than would have been possible with a mass of more

recently made evil karma.

As long as either man or woman is wedded to the idea that

personal happiness on the physical plane is the end and aim of life,

instead of the fulfillment of duty, all chance of happiness will fly

away like a bird on the wing ; while the fulfillment of duty will at

least bring peace to the soul and a possible recognition of the reality of

the ideal toward which they are striving, but which may not yet exist

on this plane.

...

MOTION AND VIBRATION

—

LESSON 176

In these latter days when the devotees of what are commonly

termed the exact sciences have reached their maximum point of

investigation in those fields which supply visible and tangible

substance for their operations there is arising another class of

investigators who, while they are perfectly willing to accept the

findings of earlier scientists so far as they appeal to reason and to the

five senses, are unwilling to rest there. The sixth sense now in process

of evolution has already given unmistakable, evidence of one or more

fields of investigation hitherto only suspected, or accepted as mere

hypothesis.

The discovery of several elements previously unknown to

humanity as a whole (but long known to the Initiates of the Great

White Lodge under other terms than those which have been accepted

by the latter day scientist) has been the means of unlocking several

doors leading to the solution of some of life's mysteries, and

investigation in those particular fields has led to the final acceptance

of the statements of the said Initiates by some of the last mentioned

class of investigators ; among the last-mentioned are devotees of the

ancient alchemists. [TT 436]

The newer fields touch very closely the finer forces of nature

before which the man of five senses, only, finds himself at bay.

Intuition and co-ordination, two of the qualities of the sixth sense,

may leap over the bars set up by the five lower senses and seize upon

some point of demarcation between spirit and matter ; but only the

seventh sense, the synthetic sense, can pass that point on the upward

arc and enter the spiritual realms. And it is because the higher degrees

of said Initiates have evolved that synthetic sense that they are able to

give utterance to statements of absolute truth and verity regarding the

spiritual realms. When one of these great Masters of men and things

states unequivocally that all manifest life, all life in form, is the result

of motion and vibration it naturally follows that those who can accept

that statement desire to know somewhat of the nature of that which is

set in motion and vibration and the fundamental cause of the same.

The average occultist will tell you to go to the Secret Doctrine or

some similar work for such knowledge, but while that knowledge is

indispensable at one stage of your effort, I tell you to first use

whatever rudiments of the sixth sense you have already evolved to

seek for the keynote of that motion which binds you inseparably to

conscious Deity ; that note is the Christos . the Christ . who sounds

that note in your soul lest you become lost in a maze of perplexing

mental generalities from which there is no exit.

But first consider the statement that that which is set in motion

and vibration is the robe of the Christos . the Christ-in-you, in me, in

every living thing and creature, yet Who reigns supreme over all

things, the Christ Who weaves a robe for Himself out of that vital

force the ancients termed the Akasha . the Archaeus. In the first

chapter of St. John you will find a verification of the first of the above

statements : "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with

God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with

God. All things were made by Him ; and without Him was not any

thing made that was made." The Word . the first . born Son of God,

the Absolute . is the Christos. That which we feebly express by the

words, "the noumenon of electricity", that great mystery of science, is

the Word (in occult philosophy, Fohat), the Christos, the power and

potency of all the energy and force in manifestation ; and when that

which is motion, per se, starts into vibration, the point of demarcation

between spirit and matter has been reached. The Christos then

commences to build a form for its manifestation, the form of the

Heavenly Man, the pattern for humanity-and builds it by means of

vibration ; and the form of the Heavenly Man is the seat of vibration .

the Central Sun. [TT 437]

Every form and grade of matter is created by some one mode or

rate of vibration, and each responds to a definite note or key, both

from above and below. A Master of one of the high degrees of life

holds within himself the power to change the course of any vibrating

wave within a definite circle or sphere of operations. He has within

himself the tuning fork, to use a figurative term, by which he can find

the key to the vibration of sound, light, heat and electricity. That

tuning fork would correspond somewhat to the sender and receiver of

a wireless instrument, although the latter is limited far beyond that of

the human tuning fork when it is perfected. If a wireless instrument

were complete an operator could change the direction of heat waves

by interfering with vibration within a definite area. He could bond the

waves from a transverse to a straight or horizontal direction, and so

freeze solid every living thing within that area. He could do the same

to the light waves, and no ray of light could penetrate the darkness of

that area. He could change the course of electrical waves, and no

sound could penetrate that radius. He could increase the power, and all

live creatures therein would be instantly electrocuted ; and were he

possessed of the power to change the course or stop the vibration of

all four of these life destroying and building energies . sons of Fohat

. he could blot out all manifestation of life as far as life on the

physical plane is concerned within a certain area of the earth, and he

could do all this by manipulating i few keys tuned to the keys of the

vibratory waves of ether and air.

When man once comes to a realization of these great truths his

"likeness to God" becomes evident to his consciousness.

Even now he is unconsciously using the power of the before

mentioned human tuning . fork within the area of his own aura to

some degree.. Every conscious act of good or ill intent is changing the

course of some vibratory wave and so creating, changing or

disintegrating some form of substance within that auric sphere . the

akashic robe of the Christ . the Christ who will be the informing

consciousness of the Nirmanakaya body when the Ego, the real you,

wins that body through its long travail. Think for a moment what such

a destiny for man must mean, when in your hours of despondency, of

disgust and discouragement you view the evidences of evil in yourself

and others and forget the evidences of power to reverse that evil.

If even the faintest approach to realization comes over you in

those moments you will never again say life is not worth living.

Note. . Intuition, Co-ordination, Imagination, Compassion,

Volition, Apperception, are the qualities of the sixth sense. [TT 438]

PLATE III.

Showing visible intervals in music obtained by the oscillations of

a double pendulum into which is fitted a glass funnel filled with fine

sand. The relative lengths of the two pendulums can be altered.

If the shorter curve is one-fourth the length of the longer one, the

former will execute twice the number of vibrations that the latter will

in the same period of tune. This is in accordance with the law that the

times of the vibrations of any two pendulums vary inversely as the

square roots of their lengths. But the bob cannot moue in two

directions at the same time. It will, consequently, moue along a path

intermediate between the two straight fines just spoken of, and the

resultant due to the combination of the two vibrations is a parabola .

A (Plate III). The rates of vibration of the two pendulums in the case

just considered are as 1 : 2. But this ratio also expresses the interval of

the octave. The figure A, therefore, is the curve that corresponds to

this interval.

If we change the position of the ring so as to alter the relative

lengths of the two pendulums, and start the bob as before, we shall

obtain an entirely different figure from the one just exhibited. Making

the lengths of the two pendulums as 4 : 9, the sand from the funnel

will describe figure B. But the square roots of 4 and 9 are 2 and 3

respectively. While, therefore, the longer pendulum makes two

vibrations, the shorter one executes three. But the ratio 2 : 3 expresses

the interval of the fifth, and hence figure B may be considered as the

visible expression of this interval.

Making the relative lengths of the two pendulums 9 and 16 . the

square roots of which are 3 and 4 . we obtain figure C, corresponding

to the interval of the fourth. Similarly, if we make the lengths of the

[TT 439] pendulums as 16 : 25, we shall obtain figure D. The square

roots of 16 and 25 are respectively 4 and 5. But these ratios express

the vibration ratio of the major third. Figure D, consequently,

corresponds to this interval. In the same manner, by changing the

relative lengths of the pendulums, we could obtain figures

corresponding to all the intervals in music. We should find that the

figures expressing the intervals become more complex as the numbers

representing the intervals become larger.

From, "Sound and Music."

PLATE IV.

The visible expression of the sonorous vibrations composing the

musical interval of a perfect Fifth.

PLATE IV.

Visible expression of the sonorous vibrations composing the

musical interval of a perfect Fourth. [TT 440]

PLATE VI.

Showing a tracing obtained by making changes in the relative

length of a compound pendulum used to obtain the musical intervals.

The above tracings are obtained by means of a compound

pendulum the relative lengths of which ran be altered and the tracings

are on a plate of glass blackened by camphor smoke resting on the

condenser of a vertical lantern. The process is described as follows in

"Sound and Music." The pendulums are so adjusted that one of them

vibrates twice while the other executes three vibrations. If then they be

both made to oscillate simultaneously they should cause the tracing

point to describe a curve corresponding to the musical interval of a

Fifth. The pendulums are started and instantly there flashes out on the

screen where all was darkness before a beautiful bright curve, which

becomes more and more complicated. Finally the tracing point has

returned to its starting point and the curve delineating the interval of a

Fifth is complete.

From "Sound and Music." [TT 441]

Flame Images produced by vibrations of sound on flame.

PLATE VII.

The flame image corresponding to the fundamental note is shown

in I in the above plate. 3 is the flame image of the Twelfth, and shows

that it executes just three times as many vibrations as its fundamental.

Both flames combined give 1 : 3 which shows the components of the

sound under analysis as well as if each partial were examined

separately.

From "Sound and Music."

PLATE VIII.

In Plate VIII is shown the very remarkable image that

characterizes the peculiar sound of the letter r. [TT 442]

...

THE MULTITUDE

—

LESSON 177

In all quarters of the world today there are arising both true and

false prophets. Unfortunately, among these prophets are many who are

unintentionally voicing misleading prophecies, while others are

unintentionally voicing truths. Old systems of philosophy are being

torn to shreds and indiscriminately used in establishing new systems.

New systems are founded on the false aspects of older systems, while

the multitude, the unenlightened masses, confused by many theories

of loud voiced demagogues who exploit them are led into many

by-ways of thought. Many are repudiating former beliefs and are

wandering like shepherdless sheep into the morasses of irreligion ; and

in all the world of men there seems to be no one individual possessed

of and instigated by pure love of humanity, who is able to arrest their

attention and compel them to listen to the truth which God is now

uttering in no uncertain tones in all lands and among all people . the

truth that the present age is an age of transition, and old conditions are

passing to make way for new. Therefore it is an age for silent

watching. Heaven and earth are touching each other in travail, to bring

to birth a new race, and a new religion and science in one. The new

race will have the advantage of the knowledge of the seven-fold

division of matter, force and consciousness, and many other long lost

truths. It can not be so easily deceived by false teachers as are the

masses of the present race. As the evolution of the race proceeds the

psychic and spiritual senses of man will develop and the phenomena

of psychic sight and hearing, and of dream and trance will no longer

be subjects of mere curiosity or unbelief, and can no longer be so

easily used by the unprincipled to lead their victims into immorality as

is now all too often the case, by the teaching of some modified form

of phallic worship, and thus arousing the creative centres to an

unnatural degree ; ignoring the fact that while such forms of worship

may have been permitted on the downward arc of some earlier cycle,

when a race was dying out, it would be an entirely different matter on

the upward arc of a cycle which was bringing a new and a higher race

into manifestation.

He who would truly benefit his kind should endeavor to realize

somewhat of the divine plan-"the plan in the mind of God"-and work

toward the materialization of that plan. But however great and pure his

purpose he must recognize the fact that in the carrying out of his

purpose he might interfere as to time, place or position with some

feature of the Divine plan, if some detail were fulfilled at once, and so

[TT 443] be prepared to see all his preparations, his labor and efforts

swept aside for the time being, and to do it without losing his

equilibrium, secure in the knowledge that all that is divine in his

purpose will surely be made manifest at the right time and place, and

that he will be the gainer in the end, for no effort for good is lost or

wasted.

For those who watch and guide the evolutionary forces into

channels prepared for them there is no sadder sight than that which all

too often meets their eye when those prepared channels-disciples of

the Masters of the White Brotherhood . in their eagerness for more

rapid advance are drawn by the wiles of pure mercenaries into some

by-path, and who as a result of specious promises of power and

influence to be gained at little cost to themselves, willfully embark on

some questionable adventure, forgetful of the action of those

irrevocable laws which are the fundamental principles of all true

development . the moral and spiritual laws of growth . whether it be

national or individual growth. Their natural karmic guides and leaders

may be obliged xo stand by and see them take the plunge which will

throw them into the hands of the black brotherhood, unable to stay

them for the reason that they have been given all requisite knowledge

of the law of cause and effect, and have accepted their karmic

responsibility for that knowledge. They are free to choose and must

abide by their choice, for no man, no Master has the right to forcibly

restrain them. Warning, entreaty, command or example is useless

when ambition has seized the reins of raging desire in a man.

The necessity for qualifying the word ambition is evident where

the word is used to indicate a thirst for personal power and influence.

Without the quality commonly termed ambition man would be an

impotent, useless creature ; but that quality is possible of modification,

and it is modified by motive . in other words by the use to which he

proposes to put the fruits of ambition, and by the methods he proposes

to accomplish his purpose. While the world waits for that one who can

sway the multitude, millions go down into darkness . mayhap because

you, or you, or you of those I now address have not risen to the point

it was possible for you to reach, but have been stayed at a point where

the personal self has overridden the selfless you which had started

aright on the path of at-one-ment, possibly to be overtaken and cast

down at some stage of the journey ; for that one of whom I speak must

be a link between two great divisions of life . the multitude and the

Masters. It can not be either the Voice of the multitude or of the

Masters. That one leader of humanity must stand, as it were, on a

single point, with a hand clasping each division ; and that point is the

crux of the whole situation, for the average accepted disciple who has

reached that point generally passes quickly over into an entirely

[TT 444] new field, and he who can not pass it falls back into his

former position. It is the point of the greatest renunciation . the great

sacrifice . on which the Christs of all time have stood at some period

in their long line of effort toward attainment. It is the point of your

great Ideal, and for him who reaches it the reward now waits.

...

IMAGINATION VERSUS FANCY

—

LESSON 178

From the viewpoint of a true Initiate, the most pitiable object, the

saddest travesty of a human being, is the man without a God. By the

term "a God" I mean the highest ideal of God it is possible for man to

image and fix in his mentality. The characterless ideal conceived by

man at one period of life may differ greatly from an ideal conceived at

another period ; but however feeble by comparison his first ideal of

God may be to that conceived at some later period, it is in fact one

feature or aspect of God, and therefore is as truly God as is the later

formed ideal. The difference between the two lies in an increase of

wisdom and in the character of the attributes one is able to image in

the later period, of that which must ever be an increasingly great ideal,

when all is told.

No tongue can tell the sad effects of the misuse and

misinterpretation of the word "imagination", and accordingly of the

misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of the attribute to which it

is applied. Imagination and fancy have been so generally and

inextricably confused in general conversation it is seldom one takes

the trouble to segregate the quality or attribute to which the word has

been applied and endeavor to learn exactly what interpretation vas

intended by the speaker or writer, yet the difference is all but

measureless, for imagination is an attribute of the Divine Soul, and

fancy is a quality of the lower mentality. To imagine an object or an

attribute is to create the form of that object on an inner plane, and that

object or attribute must as surely become objectified to the human

senses in due time as day will follow night. To paraphrase Paul's

interpretation of the word, Faith, we might say, imagination is the

substance of things hoped for. Imagination is so swfit in action it

would appear that there is hardly time to picture all the details of a

perfect form, in the instantaneous flash by which the mind seizes a

replica of the object imagined. Even sunlight performs the

phenomenon in photography. [TT 445]

Only God can create an image God, only God can see God, and

the image . making power of man could not create an imaginary form

of God if that God had exercised no power in the creation. just so far

as one center of the screen of man's mentality is evolved to the point

where it can receive and record an image of God, is there a true

picture, or true ideal of God in that man's mentality. What a

desecration then must it be when man persistently applies the term

imagination to the fleeting, evanescent fluctuations of the lover mind,

and what a deprivation for the man who has been taught that all his

imagining of Godlike qualities and the forms which convey his ideals

of superhuman greatness are but fancies without any permanent value.

As he has had no other way of creating his ideal of God than by means

of imagination, such a man is without a God. The only center of the

soul by which he can cognize God is allowed to atrophy or so

deteriorate as to be no longer capable of responding to the divine

impulse which in the early years of his life vas subject to his will. The

killing out of the imagination in a child by ridicule or punishment is a

crime against nature. You may say, how image the Absolute which is

without form if I am incapable of accepting any lesser idea of God ?

In reply I say I am not referring to the Absolute in introducing the

word "God." To avoid all unnecessary differentiation of substance and

form, strive to realize that with the first reflection or manifestation of

the Absolute, as the principles of Atma-Buddhi-Manas, creation by

Kriyashakti . Divine Will, began. In simple terms, the Absolute

created or reflected an image of God . a synthesis of the afore-

mentioned principles, and all creations which followed, as the ages

came and passed, were but differentiations and combinations of those

first three principles. The principle of form, commonly termed

geometry, vas one of those differentiations ; but form is relative,

consequently the Godhead is not confined to any one form but is

present in all forms. The all-inclusive form of a sphere generally

enters the mind, in endeavoring to image that Godhead. The

imagination can hardly go astray in picturing any high ideal, for as

before intimated, the character of the ideal depends upon the

development of that center of the human brain through which the

power of image making is preeminently active.

There is no irreverence, no lack of spiritual discernment, in

imaging God as a being formed on similar fines to those of a human

being, for a perfectly formed human being is the highest possible ideal

form. One of the objections, voiced by many thinkers, to limiting the

Absolute by the idea of a God in form, comes from the belief that

owing to the manifestation of the pairs of opposites in all form, a

perfectly good God could not exist in form, as evil must be coexistent

with good, but to my mind that objection is immaterial, for even in the

case of a [TT 446] normally good man the power to work evil is his if

he so wills. In fact it is his power of choice which renders him either a

good or an evil man, as the case may be.

I would not have you think I am insisting on any one form as a

pattern to build an imaginary God upon, but I am insistent upon the

necessity for keeping alive that center of the brain through which

imagination works, and you cannot do this if you refuse or neglect to

image some ideal of the Godhead therewith, any more than you could

mould an image of clay without the clay, for the attribute o£

imagination is purely an attribute of the Godhead, without which no

possible form could come into manifestation in matter.

A deep underlying truth was unconsciously uttered by a

materialist who satirically gave to man the privilege of making his

own God ; for if you have a high ideal to which you have applied the

name of God you have indeed created a form by imagination, which is

your God so far as you love or worship the attributes with which you

have endowed that ideal form, for it is the character and nature of

those attributes which have called forth your love and devotion, and

those attributes belong to the Godhead.

...

FIRE

—

LESSON 179

The pillar of fire which led the Hebrews by night, the flaming

bush by means of which Jehovah communicated with Moses, the

tongues of flame which enveloped the disciples of Jesus, and

countless other experiences wherein the energy of the fourth plane of

manifestation has penetrated gross matter and become objectified to

astral vision were not the illusions of over excited brains as has been

claimed by those whose psychic senses are still sealed ; they were

direct messages from God to man. Such vision will become more and

more evident as the days pass and the meaning of the fiery baptism the

world is undergoing at this time (1916) becomes clearer. The use, or

rather, the misuse of the fiery forces now being liberated in warfare

would not have been possible even a single decade ago. The karmic

agents of the Law could not have permitted the invention and use of

the means for their exploitation to any such degree as is now possible.

The energy which manifests as fire on the physical plane is set in

action on the fourth plane, and its manifestation is controlled to a large

extent [TT 447] by the Karmic Lords. The partial or complete

destruction of life on the physical plane takes place alternately by fire

and water, and in a fiery cycle the means for manifesting the action of

the elementals in their fiery phenomena are far more easily obtained

than in a water cycle. What is termed spiritual fire, the first veil of

spiritual energy, does not consume gross matter. To the inner eye of

the psychic it appears to be intense white light. To use a common

expression, light must explode on the astral plane, thus freeing the

atomic souls which give substance to the light of the material plane,

before it becomes the fire of the plane of gross matter.

It does not occur to those who use the expression, "the light of the

mind", as a mere figure of speech, Chat they are expressing reality,

and that the first veil of Higher Manas . Akasha, is actually spiritual

fire, light or energy per se.

Transmutation is accomplished by the action of spiritual fire, and

by a process akin to explosion. After the lowest point in a manvantara

is reached more rapid vibration is set up in the substance in`

manifestation. And instead of the action of the positive aspects of

expansion and expulsion we have the action of the positive aspect of

cohesion and concentration in excess of the negative aspects. There is

a drawing together and cohering of the atoms of matter, and at the

close of the manvantara the atomic substance has rebecome the unit it

was in the beginning. We use the words explosion and expansion in a

relative sense ; the word unfolding would more perfectly express the

process of evolution, as the word infolding would better express the

process of involution.

It must be understood that this process is in fact the process by

which the regeneration and resurrection of the soul of man takes place.

The fire . spiritual light . accomplishes this by means of the two

opposites of nature, pain and joy. It is well to remember that this fire

or light is not an illusion. It does to the nature of man, just what

objective fire does to matter ; it either purifies or consumes.

...

THE GREAT MYSTERY

—

LESSON 180

The greatest mystery you will be called upon to solve while in a

form of flesh, the mystery in which are involved all the secrets of the

manifested universe, and which only your own higher consciousness

can approach with any certainty of solution, is the mystery of the

[TT 448] square . the solid. When man is asked to believe that is a

solid, and to believe this despite his and grades of and of the vast

inter-spaces between the heavenly bodies, he is excusable if he smiles

pityingly at what he deems the credulity of one who could accept and

teach so evidently untenable a proposition. Despite countless

instructions and analogies explanatory of the sevenfold differentiation

of matter, force and consciousness man must become somewhat more

than man before the three higher of the seven states or planes-the

tetrad . are conceivable by him.

The best way for one to obtain a synthetic idea of any abstract

truth is to take a representative form and examine its minutiae. In this

instance we will take the physical body as an illustration, accepting

the occultist's view of it as a sphere of which the aura is the In the

book of Revelation you may read that eventually there are to be

144,000 of the saved. . In one of your private instructions you are told

there are 144,000 degrees and orders of the Great White Lodge. You

may find the same number used in scientific and religious literature to

establish some point in connection with differentiation of matter or in

prophecy. Whether aware of it or not, the writers or teachers of

Science and Religion are expressing one aspect of the same great

truth, the truth that there are 144,000 aspects of Deity in

manifestation.

The same enumeration may be applied to the differentiations of

every cell, organ, body or part of a body in the visible universe . the

various aspects of one solid body, the body of Deity.

Can you realize that your blood, your heart, brain and every other

organ and part of your body, and all other bodies are literally

composed of 144,000 distinct and separate elemental creations ? The

interstices between these elemental forms are occupied by the same

number of lesser forms of life which form another state of matter ; and

still another state of matter is formed of yet more minute forms of life

which fill the interstices between these lesser forms, and which are

sometimes termed etheric or inter-etheric states of matter.

What you do not yet know is that you will sometime have to so

identify your consciousness with the elemental lives now developing

in your own body as to enable you to know their purpose, function and

composition, and finally to direct their evolution according to the

dictates of the Divine Will within you.

In its nature the substance of your aura is identical with that of the

aura of every planet and sun. The elementals o£ your heart are

identical with the elementals which form the heart of the earth and of

the sun. There is a corresponding center in the earth to every [TT 449]

organ and part of your body, and every such center is a group of

elemental lives of the same nature as are those which form the organs

and parts of your body. If you tan follow and accept the above

statements, especially in their relation to the square . the four states of

matter . you will doubtless arrive at the conclusion that the filling of

all the spaces between different grades and forms of substance finally

necessitates a state of solid, the basic substance of which is spiritual

energy. When this energy fails to arouse action within its substance

the latter is not dead as we count death ; it remains in a quiescent state

until set in motion again by Divine Will at the beginning of another

Kalpa . a great age. From the occultist's point of view, the

aforementioned square-the four lower of the seven states of matter,

force and consciousness, the solid universe . is Manas . Mind in

manifestation as form, number and dimension throughout a Kalpa ;

quiescent throughout a cosmic pralaya, a very long period of rest. The

spiritual energy which moves to action is the principle of Manas, the

third principle of the higher triad. The differentiated mind in man as in

his present state of evolution cannot conceive of the three higher states

or principles as spirit apart from all form, but with the complete

identification with the Higher Self he may perceive his individual ego

as a reflection or radiation of those three higher principles in

combination, or in common terms, as his individual spirit.

It is only by some understanding of the minutiae of life that it is

possible for man to gain any satisfactory ides of the greatness of life.

Not until he has gained accurate knowledge of the nature and

formation of the blond which courses through his veins and arteries

tan he learn anything of consequence in relation to the life principle.

Not until he has learned somewhat of the magnetic aura which

surrounds and penetrates his physical body tan he form any

satisfactory concept of the etheric or astral planes or states of matter.

Humanity tan only learn by experience, and only by individual

experience in and with every state of matter as it is manifested in the

organs and parts of his physical body tan any man perfect himself in

the cosmic science of matter. This being true, do you not think it

worth your while to strive to learn something of the nature, function

and general characteristics of each organ and part of your own bodies,

especially in view of the fact that you . the real you . have before you

the task of consciously guiding the evolution of the elemental lives

which comprise those organs and parts on one of the sub-planes of this

physical plane, and that your duties in that respect will be comparable

to those which devolve on you now as heads of families ? Would it

not be worth your while to try to relate those elemental lives to those

which form [TT 450] like organs and parts of the bodies of your

fellowmen and so learn somewhat of one of the states of the universal

solid, and of the mathematical and geometrical laws which are active

in differentiating that solid ?

You will have become a part of the 144,000 of the saved when all

the substance within your auric sphere has been raised to its highest

possible rate of vibration ; when you . the real you . shall have

become a sun-a radiating center of life.

The present theory of the atomic constitution of matter enables

the thinker to postulate a universe which comes close to being a solid,

for he can people the apparent spaces between visible forms with

atoms. But this does not satisfy him. He can go still further and people

the inter-atomic spaces with ions of electrical force, but finds he

cannot stop there. Eventually he reaches the conclusion that there

must be a state of indivisible substance and this indivisible substance

we claim to be the solid universe . spirit in manifestation first as mind

and secondly as matter.

To return to the 144,000 of the saved. The personal ego is

perpetually clothing and unclothing itself in number, form and

dimensions of the substance of the aforementioned square-the four

states of matter, one state of which is comprised of the infinitesimal

lives, which science unconsciously combines under the term, "the

elements", for want of generic terms. It is the substance of the square,

the four states of matter, the robes of spirit which will constitute the

144,000 of the saved at the end of the age. In other words, it is matter

redeemed, raised to the highest possible rate of vibration.

That there may be a blind in the above number as given may not

occur to those who are not occult mathematicians. Strictly speaking,

the naughts of any given number count for nothing in occult

mathematics. In this instance we have only to consider 144. One and 4

are 5, the number of the manifested universe as a whole . the solid.

The second number 4 is the number of the square, or matter in

differentiation. Five and 4 are 9. Here we have three triads indicating

the trinities, or body, soul and spirit in each of the three universal

states of number, form and dimension. He who sees behind the blind

perceives the redemption . the saving, or rather the return of all matter

in manifestation to its original state of purity at the close of a Kalpa or

great age. However, as and its [TT 451]