...

THE KARMA OF THE NATIONS

—

LESSON 221

When the masses of humanity finally awake to the truth of the

inexorable law of Karma, the law of cause and effect . and that law is

made the basic principle of all forms of Government . there will be no

more making of war by one nation against another, or of revolutions

within their own borders : The certainty of reprisal would be so fixed

in the minds of the masses of humanity that they would not

countenance such action under any circumstances. If that portion of

the French people that instigated the French Revolution and carried

out its bloodthirsty programs could have known that for every head

that fell by their action into the basket of the guillotine the life of

another French man or woman would be sacrificed when the

corresponding point in the same cycle rolled around, as it did roll

around during the recent war with Germany, they would have

hesitated in precipitating such a revolution.

Likewise if the people of the Belgian race and nation could have

known that the wanton cruelty to and murder of the native Africans by

the soldiery and at the instigation of King Leopold may have been

primarily responsible for the fate that has overwhelmed the Belgians

of the present cycle they could have better understood what befell

them. We cannot prove this all to be true, but if the law of Karma is

inexorable it is not difficult to see the reasonableness of the belief, as

we can also see that in the squaring of karmic accounts the English

nation may have paid the debts contracted by the killing of numberless

non-combatant East Indians by the soldiery of another era. The

[TT 539] lives of many Americans may have been sacrificed in

payment for the lives of the American Indians taken by American

soldiers of an earlier date. The closing of the cycle during the recent

great war in which these karmic debts were made, may have created

the conditions which were taken advantage of by the Lords of Karma

to fulfill the Law.

It is very difficult to reconcile the belief of the Christian in the

forgiveness of sin by Christ with the action of karmic law, but the

difficulty will be overcome when man understands what the founder

of Christianity meant by the words "Forgiveness of sin." The Christ in

man may forgive the sin against the Spiritual Self, even while

punishment is inflicted by the Law upon the personality responsible

for the sin.

It appears to be an evident fact that so long as man believes that

forgiveness may be had for broken Law he will not make a very

strong effort to keep from breaking that Law. It is so natural for the

lower self to rebel against control by the Higher Self.

It is strange that any historian of wide experience can fait to see

the working out of the law of Karma in view of the innumerable

instances available in the history of any of the older nations wherein

the evil effect of the causes set up by humanity during post ages has

been so much in evidence. As far bock as sacred or profane history

can take us we may find that as day follows night every nations evil

cause set up by man has been followed by some act of forced

expiation. The interference of cyclic law may defer the expiation of

that act for a time but it is inevitable in the end. The extremes of life

when brought into conjunction invariably produce friction . heat,

energy. That energy of itself is impersonal and when mankind is wise

enough always to turn the energy set free by friction, usually resulting

from opposition, into constructive channels instead of destructive

channels, or letting it go to waste as is now so frequently the case, the

human race will have made a great advance. For instance, when the

qualities of Love and Hate coalesce in a human mind, as they often do

in spite of their opposition, there is produced a friction within the

mentality which may generate the power to render service to the

objects of Love or Hate hitherto unsuspected by the producer and

quite possibly a long karmic debt may be so paid.

With the karmic results of long post upheavals in government,

social and religious life which are made so noticeable at the present

time, and which the great war has made provision for, it is difficult to

see how a thinker can deny the existence of karmic law. The causes

bock of the not far to seek. [TT 540]

...

THE BETRAYAL OF THE CHRIST

—

From the Master C.

—

LESSON 222

"Ere the cock crows thrice one of you shall betray me", saith the

Christ, again today as yesterday.

"Is it I, Lord ? Shall I betray thee ?" cried one of the twelve rulers

over as many storehouses for the necessities of life, as he sat at the

right hand of the Lord, one of twelve chosen disciples around the

bounteous table the earth had provided, and gazed into the face of

Him by whom all things were made . the face of Him who sat at the

head of the table. "Shall I to whom thou hast given control of all the

corn and grain my subjects have sown and on which they depend for

life itself, shall I betray thee to the cross of suffering ? No, a thousand

times no, say I !"

"Is it I, Lord ?" spoke another, "Could I betray thee, I to whom

thou hast given control of all the gold and silver men have mined that

they might have a medium of exchange for the necessities of life ?

Could I in foul ingratitude betray thee . thee to whom silver and gold

are as dross in comparison with human life ? Rather let me perish than

do this thing."

"Is it I ?" cried out he who sat on the left of his Lord. "Shall I

yield thee up to torture, thou who hast given me power over the very

elementals of the earth, that power by means of which I may drive

them forth by my slaves, and take and store the iron and coal in which

those lesser lives had been confined, in order that I may compel the

crowded, cold and freezing souls who dispute my to my dictates or

die ? Ah, no, my Lord, I will block the those who fain would nail thee

to the cross.

"To be sure these willful souls would not so compel me if they

but knew thee for what thou art. We, my brother rulers and I, have

taken care that they should not know thee and knowing thee should

presume upon our rights. We alone now have the time, the opportunity

with which to seek thee out."

"Is it I ?" spoke up another, "I to whom thou hast given dominion

over the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air ? In order that

hungry men should not dispute my claim, lo, I have formed a cordon

around my fishermen and huntsmen and not a fish or fowl escapes

their hands without the payment of a heavy tithe to me. Not one of all

the rabble seeking thee shall even touch thy robe, for I in payment for

thy gifts will fend thee off from them. Not I, my Lord, not I shall play

thee false." [TT 541]

"Is it I, Lord, who shall betray thee ?" Up arose a crowned and

mitred head, one clothed in flowing robes, embroidered o'er with

cunning needlework, and spoke unto his Lord, saying : "Surely, thou

couldst never deem me such a traitor unto thee ; I, the earthly head of

all the Christian Church, could never yield thee up to cursing, ribald

mobs, thou who art the Son of God, thou whom I and all thy church

now worship with many prayers and ceremonies. Could I be faithless

unto thee ? Truly have I built me many houses for the honor of the

Church, but always do I turn my eyes in passing when poverty bestead

and sinful men and women crowd therein and reek and die in their

own filth. I will not look upon the brothels and the dens of vice these

sinners make of these . the houses I have built. I hold my hands

behind me for the gold they bring to me. I do not soil the eyes I seek

to lift unto thy face, with scenes like these. I could not betray thee if I

would, so free from sin am I in thy most holy sight "

Then up rose their Lord, the Christ, and said : "Oh fools, Oh blind

and Nard of heart ! Lo, even now there falls upon my ear the sound of

hard sped feet, the feet of those who come to bear me hence. Thou

hast betrayed me ! thou who sittest at my right hand, thou who sittest

upon my left, and thou, and thou, on either side, all ye who now do

bang your heads in shame. Ye have betrayed me o'er and o'er again.

Ye will betray me on the morrow as today. Betray me in that ye will

leave my little ones in whom I live to starve and freeze and die in

helpless misery, that ye may hold the power ye steal ; that ye may fill

your coffers with the gold ye filch from other men whom ye have

made your slaves by hunger, cold and want. In every one of these ye

have betrayed me o'er and o'er again, for I in them do suffer even as

they suffer on the cross of woeful want which ye have raised. Upon

the cross of human woe hath mankind nailed me, age by age, and

there I hang today, as yesterday, with pleading eyes and tongue

beseeching you to end my sorrow and my pain. Ay, ye have all

betrayed me, all ye who rob my little ones of that which God hath

freely given to all ; and first of all, are ye who rob yourselves ; all ye

who do betray a trust some other one hath placed in ye ; all ye who

fait to keep the vows ye made to God. All ye betray the Christ "

...

THE BASIC LAW

—

LESSON 223

Back of the modern idea of co-operation even from a materialistic

viewpoint is a basic law, a biological law, which is as old as the

universe. [TT 542]

As an illustration of the action of this law in one cycle of Time,

we see that, according to Biblical genealogical records, the human

race of the preceding age (a 5,000-year cycle) became consciously

subject to the action of that basic law with the incarnation of the Egos

of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel, and also became subject to the negative

aspect of the same law in an effort to thwart that law when Cain

undertook to nullify the first decree issued by the divine Law Giver .

the decree which demanded that man should live for the race and work

together in love, i. e., union, for its development. That decree was

disobeyed by the slaying of the fourth member of the four-fold body

by the third member of that same body. Since the passing of that first

racial era, some one or more of each subsequently formed human

combination of four creators of a race has endeavored to thwart the

perfect action of the law. From the standpoint of occultism this effort

to thwart the law is the result of the heresy of separateness.

However few or many were the units of a body and whatever the

primal object of its formation as a composite body, it has been

overtaken by a similar tendency to destroy one or more of its first four

units with the object which led to the slaying of Abel by Cain. If not

perpetrated in kind, the desire to be rid of some member of the

original body was fulfilled . in other words, the combination first

formed was broken up in order to further some selfish purpose.

To understand the basic impulse in man to form such a

combination of human beings for co-operative purposes, we must first

consider the subject from the standpoint of the formation of the group

soul, one differentiation of the universal higher manasic substance, the

composite soul, which has its origin on an interior plane, but which is

subject to the same above mentioned law.

That law is the divine code of Love, whatever the appellation

bestowed upon it by man. Scientifically, it is the law of attraction ; the

law which tends to draw together all men or objects of nature for the

accomplishment of like purposes. The possibility of a successful

formation of a co-operative body on the plane of gross matter, the

physical plane, depends first of all upon the perfect obedience of the

units of the group soul to the decrees of that divine code of love. If the

units of that substance do not conform to the law which they must

obey to enable the group soul to function perfectly, another divine

decree of the law comes into action, the decree of repulsion, and the

form of the corresponding body on the physical plane is broken up.

The basic law in action is first of all union, and whatever militates

against the uniting of the parts of a body is breaking that law.

[TT 543]

If the original purpose of the formation of a body be the gaining

of material advantages for purely selfish ends and the purpose be

attained despite disobedience to the decrees of the basic law, the

evolution of the units of the body will be greatly retarded. The first

decree of that basic law as issued to the units of the group soul on an

interior plane demands the acceptance of and obedience to the

principle of brotherhood. Therefore, to whatever degree the units of

the group soul first in form on the akashic plane adhere to that

principle of brotherhood, to that degree are they approaching

perfection along the particular fine they are building at the racial

period they have reached, and the less difficult they are making it for

the human race on the physical plane in that era if they succeed.

One of the most remarkable examples of the principle governing

co-operative bodies (brotherhoods) lies in the application of the law of

love by the ruling powers in the carrying out of the details of the

evolution of primordial life, for it is not in the human kingdom atone

that the first decree of the law of love comes into force. If there were a

sufficiently powerful microscope available for observing the first

manifestations of form in minutia as composite bodies, it would be

found that there were four distinct species of four units of the same

race who were obedient to that decree required to build up each

composite unit of the composite body. In each unit would be found

slightly differentiated constituents and characteristics to those to be

found in all other four-fold units of the came body. Mathematically

speaking, each unit is a square of a square of wider dimensions.

Each one of the four first formed units of such a body sets up a

corresponding line of action to that which occupies the time and

efforts of the remainder of the units of the four-fold body. It is of

interest to know that there is a perfect correspondence between the

ruling positions of the units of a group of the primary manifestations

of form and the four officials frequently posited at the four points of

the compass who build up and govern an organization for religious

purposes and even in some instances for business purposes. The same

law which directs the process of the formation of a group soul directs

the countless elemental lives of an interior plane into composite forms

of gross matter and directs all details of their formation by means of

manasic energy active in the first four of its units within the fourth

plane of manifestation counting from below. Formless, conditionless

spiritual life is thereby changed into concrete expressions of form

primarily within the akasha, the fifth plane. The substance of the three

highest of the seven planes of life is undifferentiated, so far as our

understanding of form is concerned. Man has become so familiarized

[TT 544] with the idea of and belief in the theory of single

expressions of life in form that he naturally rejects the idea of the

four-fold expression of the beginning of life as it unfolds from the

triad . "the three in one" . in composite four-fold forms.

It must not be understood that we are opposed to the ancient

belief in the three-fold manifestation of life, the triad, Spirit, Soul and

Body in one. Where there appears to be contradiction between the

latter and the four-fold manifestation of life in one form, it is due to

misunderstanding of the apparent division between spirit and matter,

the division frequently referred to as "the bridge" whereby "the three

fall into the four."

The triad, father, mot her, son, or in other words, spirit, mind, and

consciousness, become the father, mother, son and daughter within the

fourth plane. The daughter . individual self-consciousness . as

differentiated from universal consciousness, has begotten substance

within "the bridge" . the substance or energy of the fourth plane.

Mathematically speaking it is the square, the cross involved.

Formlessness has become form per se-the fourth plane, within which

occurs the generation of countless elementary forms of life . wherein

each Monad, a divine spark of the fire of the Absolute, unfolds or

clothes itself in matter of lesser vibration ; in other words, where the

Monad . life spark . becomes a four-fold material form, eventually

evolving four chief senses and organs, which are still further

differentiated as evolution proceeds, and the Ego has then become

conscious of three more planes or states of being.

I have only given a crude resume of the truths herein presented.

My main object in doing so is to give some impression of the causes

back of co-operative movements and of the law which atone can

render such movements of any lasting avail. It is only by consideration

of the methods by which man may attain to the knowledge of

brotherhood as taught by the divine Teachers of mankind that he will

be enabled consciously to become a creator in the highest sense of the

word, for he must then be able to direct the creation of different

degrees of living substance into forms possessing more power and

intelligence than similar forms now possess.

No unit of matter in manifestation on the physical plane is

complete in itself, although each unit has latently within it the power

of reproducing the latent energies which manifest later in the other

three units which, with the first, complete the four-fold body. This

truth is exemplified over and over again in the organs of the human

body, each organ being built up of myriads of conscious lesser lives.

...

DANGERS OF MEDIUMSHIP

—

LESSON 224

The materialist or the doubting investigator of occult science

probably will scout or ridicule the statement that great dangers lie in

the investigation of psychic phenomena and mediumship, while to

"one who knows" those dangers are appalling. But the latter is doubly

handicapped in endeavoring to point out those dangers to a new

investigator for he has first to prove that the state of matter in which

and by which any such phenomenon is objectified has a bona-fide

existence, or if this be admitted he has also to prove it to be altogether

a different thing from what it is supposed to be even by the average

undeveloped psychic or spiritualist, though it has been largely by the

efforts of some of the prominent spiritualists that the said phenomena

are coming into public notice in the west in recent days.

The believer in the return to earth of the disembodied human soul

at the command of a sensitive or medium cannot be convinced of the

fallacy of that belief until certain facts in the case are demonstrated

beyond possibility of mistake by means of occult science.

Mundane science has already done much to establish the

underlying truths of the ancient religions . not the errors and

superstitions with which those religions subsequently became

encrusted, but their fundamental basis, the truths as taught by Krishna,

Buddha, and Jesus. It has also proven that there is a necessity for a

hypothetical ether as a medium for conducting light and sound and

electrical phenomena, notably by means of photography and the

wireless telegraph and telephone, but it has not proved the pre-

existence or after existence of the soul of man.

Many scientists have also accepted the ancient belief in the One

Life or the One Substance from which all forms and states of matter

have been evolved or created, that is, set in motion and sustained from

a pivotal point, as it were, and so created by means of rates of mass

motion and vibration. Science has also proven the reality of the law of

cause and effect, the law of karma. Its step seemingly would be the

establishment of the truth of the reembodiment of a central nucleus or

soul, as it has already proven the fact of evolution . progression,

which is one aspect of reincarnation.

The hypothetical ether of science is in fact the lover aspect of the

aether of the ancients . the domain of the lover astral light and astral

body. Beyond the etheric is the akasha or higher astral, the plane or

state astral light is the plane [TT 546] of all newly disembodied souls

during the process of purification . an intermediate period between

physical death and "the second death" . the release of the soul from

bondage to matter.

The first sheath or model body of all forms is created, even as the

physical body, primarily in and out of Etheric states of matter, and this

model is called the astral double. The model is created before birth of

the physical body and disintegrated after death of the body.

As the light of the son can imprint and fix a picture on a

sensitized plate, so may the light of God, the light of the spiritual Sun,

imprint upon the ethero-astral substance every form, impulse, act, and

thought of the individual soul throughout its long fine of incarnations ;

and while the results of those thoughts and deeds which are good

remain a part of the soul after that second death, those of the opposite

pole, evil, will remain a part of the astral body until it disintegrates in

turn, after which its elements are reduced to chaos. And it is said to be

these astral shells or bodies which are drawn to and temporarily

galvanized into materialization by the medium who attracts them,

when the materialization is genuine, instead of being the beautiful

spiritual souls of the individuals who have gone from the physical and

the lower astral planes into devachanic existence. Every human being

has a lower side to his nature, and however it may be disguised, it is

this lower aspect of the self which may be drawn back to earth during

seances. Its appearance may have nothing to do with its real

character ; and when one thinks of the character of some of the human

beings who are thrown into that lower astral all unprepared, full of

revenge and of desire for sentient life at any cost, some of the dangers

of tampering with that degree of life may be more easily understood.

This lower astral double may even take the semblance of an

animal. These astral doubles or shells of evil minded men and women

may take the forms of vicious beasts. The supposed legend of the were

. wolf may have been founded on a psychic vision of such a beast.

Occasional psychics have seen the form of a beautiful animal

endowed with almost human intelligence which was clearly the

galvanized shell of some human being. The attraction between some

human beings and animals which has led to an undue attachment

between them may have printed the features of the animal upon the

astral shell of a recently defunct human body.

The purified, the good, do not remain on the astral plane for a

great length of time, and once having passed on to a higher plane the

average human soul can only be recalled at great danger to itself. The

perfected Soul ; a Master, can go to them, if need be, but it is

[TT 547] because such a perfected Soul has made the great

renunciation and has returned to the astral plane for the sake of

humanity, though possessing power and wisdom of a godlike nature.

Such an one would surely not require the assistance of a medium

openly to appear to mankind.

The empty astral shell might be comparable to the skin shed by a

snake, which, when filled out with gas, would seem to be a living

snake, but in reality would have no vitality of itself.

Occult science claims that when mundane science is able to

demonstrate the truth of reincarnation it will fend that the vehicle or

body of the soul is created by a finer degree of electrical energy than

are those forms of electricity which operate in gross matter, and that

the soul is, materially speaking, a composite structure of all the

sublimated powers and forces and substance that the persistent Ego

has used to build up in turn all the bodies of its fine of incarnations,

and that it is this soul that returns each time to sentient life for

experience at the expiration of its periodical eras of heavenly rest.

A gulf or barrier exists between the different planes of body, soul

and spirit. These barriers are the conditions which test the soul as to its

fitness to pass from one plane of life to another, and the human body

could no more contact those states and preserve physical like than it

could touch a highly electrified wire without being instantaneously

killed. These intermediate states or divisions, gulfs or walls of

protection, as they are sometimes termed, are only passed when the

Ego passes in and out of incarnation ; and aside from the dangers

before mentioned, both to the soul and to those who might presumably

contact it, there is another reason of infinite importance why it should

remain undisturbed after leaving the world of matter. A purified soul

cannot go backward and forward through the gulfs that separate the

different planes at will. If it returns to the astral or physical plane at

the call of a medium, it must remain there indefinitely until released

by some higher entity or until it regains the power to repass.

...

THE SEED OF LIFE

—

LESSON 225

The vagaries of the human intellect are truly phenomenal. The

extent to which the inhibition of a single brain cell may incite an

individual to acts of cruelty and injustice is [TT 548] of life.

Especially is this true if that cell is a part of the brain center which

governs the correlating functions of the mind. In considering the

results of a single event in the life of an individual which, to all

appearances, should have been controlled by the most simple laves of

nature, it is frequently found that the balance between two formerly

perfectly harmonized centers of force in a physical organ has been

mysteriously destroyed. The cause of the destruction of balance lies in

the overwhelming of the positive electrical pranic or life force by the

negative aspect of the same force, owing to the before mentioned

inhibition of some of the brain cells which control that organ and this

has been the result of concentrated selfish thought along a line of

mentality that is destructive to balance.

In no instances are the foregoing truths more evident than in the

attitude of the great majority of the human race toward the great Souls

who have come or have been divinely sent to earth for the

development of the race by means of raising the vibratory action of

the atomic substance of certain brain centers in the units of the race. It

is seldom that one, even among the brightest intellects of this age, is

capable of recognizing such a high Initiate or understanding the

motives and purposes which actuate him. He is always the incarnation

of an older soul than are the souls of the race he enters, and he is

possessed of finer and stronger powers of mind and body.

Among the offices he must undertake is, metaphorically speaking,

to fine the refuse . the wrong beliefs . of the age in which he

incarnates, and to lay the fines . inspire higher ideals . for the

humanity of the succeeding age. Wars and revolutions and increased

activity in all fields of material life may result from the fines he then

sets-the increase in the rates of vibration he establishes.

As a result of his labors the set opinions, creeds and dogmas of

the orthodox religions of the great majority of the races in which he

incarnates must undergo many changes. If he does not measure up to

the religious, ethical and social ideals of the general public, the age

old cry of "crucify or hang him, ostracize or imprison him" rises from

the numberless throats. The wrongly taught masses imagine that such

a man must be a model, a pattern, upon which each contemporary man

or woman, community or organization must be built. They do not

realize that he is of different nature in many respects from them. He is

an intermediary, a combination of the extreme of development in an

older race and the initial impulses of development for a new race.

No one but a great Soul could voluntarily take upon himself such

an incarnation of suffering as every Avatar has endured for the love

[TT 549] of humanity. He is a living sacrifice (in one sense the old is

always a sacrifice for the new), and not until the Avatar or Great Soul

. the Saviour of a racial period, has passed from the ken of the

humanity of that period and the evidences of the work he has done

begin to appear does his real life and nature become apparent save to

his personal disciples. To the orthodox priestly classes in authority at

the time, he is a devil, a sensualist, a collaborator with evil spirits, or

at the best an object of pity. They do not understand him, and but very

few among the masses of the people realize that an angel has passed

their way when he has left their sphere of action, or that he has opened

the way for an incoming host of souls who are to raise the vibratory

pulse of the world.

Something similar to a miracle' has occurred in the very substance

of his body as a result of his great renunciation and suffering. The

embryological life of some of the cells of his body has changed their

rate of vibration to a higher degree. The atomic substance of some

cell, organ, or feature of his very flesh has become as it were a group

of seed by means of which the atomic substance of similar cells in all

bodies of flesh will eventually be changed. You have only to consider

the changes which have occurred in the substance of some of the

lower forms of animal and plant life as a result of the labor of the

embryologist to understand somewhat of the rationale of the changes

which may occur even in the nature of human flesh by the action of

mental energy on physical substance, as a result of the efforts of the

Great Souls who come this way from a more interior plane of life. A

stronger link is formed by them between the races of man, and

between God and man.

These Great Souls can only incarnate on the physical plane when

the cyclic lave has opened a period which will allow for such changes

as have taken place in every age, even before man became the

intelligent, self-conscious being he is today. Yet as a ride man still

fails to recognize them, although they have been, as it were, the seed

of every advance in life, and will continue to be so until the God in

man as in nature is fully recognized by the human race.

The process by which the changes take place in the cells of the

bodies of the Avatars of each great root race is repeated in lesser

degree in the cases of the most highly developed units of each sub-

race. The mysteries of embryology cannot be solved by science until it

recognizes the fact that there is a central cell of generation in every

organic body, and a similar secondary central cell in every organ and

distinct division of such a body. As an illustration of the process by

[TT 550] which such changes occur take the actions and reactions of

mental and physical energy combined within the central generative

cells of the body of one of our ancestors. The impress of the ideal in

the mind of that ancestor is made on the atomic substance of one of

those central cells, and the atoms constituting the molecules of that

central cell become as it were a group of seed which are capable of

impregnating the atomic substance of all the other cells of the organ

involved. If the impress was made on one of the three main cells

instead of upon the central cell of a single organ, the atomic substance

of every organ of the body would be affected.

The body as a whole has three central cells which lie in the heart,

the bran, and the generative organs. The impress made on the atomic

substance of the heart center by the ideal in the mind of a human being

accelerates the vibration of the heart and affects the whole blond

stream as a result of the change in the rate of vibration. If made on the

central brain cell it affects the atomic substance of the cerebellum and

spine and the pineal and pituitary glands primarily. If made on the

central cell of the generative organs, the changes occur in the

embryonic form and features of the descendants of the individual

ancestor of the family or race who has made the impression. Some of

the emotional tendencies of the parents of a child will be transmitted

to the child as the result of the emotional action of the parents on the

central cell of the heart of the child. The atavistic tendencies . the

transmission of features and characteristics from ancestors to

descendants are evolved in the atomic substance of the central cells of

the generative organs of the ancestors, who have at some cyclic period

of their lives formed an ideal of a type of form and features which has

appealed to them. By means of manasic energy so generated the ideal

of that type has been transmitted and fixed in the atomic substance of

the central cells of the generative organs of their descendants, and the

form, features and characteristics of that type will appear in their

descendants, although it is possible for them to skip several

generations before appearing.

...

THE ETHERIC PLANES

—

LESSON 226

Within the last decade an exceptional amount of interest has been

aroused in the etheric phenomena of life, owing to the increased

development of the psychic senses of man in so many instances.

[TT 551] Scientific investigation along similar lines has added greatly

to such interest, especially in regard to the efforts which have been

made to reduce gross matter to the last analysis possible of

investigation by exoteric means. It is interesting to note that the

findings of science corroborate the statements of the old Masters in

respect to the constitution of matter and especially in regard to the

finer, the etheric states of Akasha which are imperceptible to the

physical senses. However, science has not yet demonstrated the truth

that the etheric states of substance are the temporary environments of

all forms of life previous to and immediately following the closing of

manifestation in physical form.

The soul of man is continuously striving to solve the mysteries of

life after the death of the physical body, and in some instances this has

led to belief in the philosophy of what is termed "Spiritualism", belief

in the visible and audible manifestation of discarnate souls to those in

incarnation on the physical pane. The advanced occultist does not

accept this teaching for what it is supposed by its advocates to prove.

While he does not deny the possibility of many forms of occult

phenomena, he can only accept the teachings of the Masters anent the

manifestation of the personal Ego within the seven-fold divisions of

matter, force and consciousness. According to the latter the soul . the

higher intelligence . does not return to earth in spiritualistic

manifestation, although it is possible for the astral or etheric body, the

vehicle of the soul, to appear under certain conditions after the soul

itself has left that body and is functioning in one of the higher etheric

planes.

The said occultist is not only conscious of the continuity of all

forms of life within the etheric planes but also of the various

modifications of Akasha which in part constitute the substance of the

fourfold etheric planes. I intend to confine this communication more

particularly to consideration of the lowest of these four states, for it is

more nearly related to the matter of the physical plane.

This state of etheric substance is known by different schools of

thought under various names, and this has led to much confusion in

the minds of students. According to both science and occultism this

etheric substance is more electrical and magnetic than is the matter of

the physical plane. It is the substance of the Protyle of the Crookes

School, the Alcahest of Paracelsus, the Fire of Zoroaster, the Lower

Astral Light of the occultist. It is the vehicle of the Dynaspheric Force

of other scientists. Finally, it is the homogeneous all-pervading form

of etheric light which permeates every atom of physical matter. It is

the basic substance of all such forms as may become visible to the

psychic senses in vision, trance, or sleep. [TT 552]

At the death of the physical body the confined or personal ether

concentrates and streams from the head, gradually assuming the form

of the physical body it is leaving. This subtle, rarefied, tenuous

substance in form is the vehicle of the departing soul, which remains

on the lowest one of the etheric planes until its period of purgation is

ended, when it automatically seeks a higher, a more ethereal or

spiritual plane, leaving its vehicle as a shell on the lower etheric plane

until it also has disintegrated as the physical body has previously

done. It is this shell revivified by the mediums or by some astral entity

that appears in spiritualistic seances.

The substance of the etheric plane may be, as it were, molded into

any desired form by concentrated individual thought force which has

been set in action by auto-suggestion, as may also be the case of one

using the magnetism of the ether for healing or other purposes. The

psychic may perceive the magnetic force in the form of light escaping

from the ends of the fingers of the operator in the course of magnetic

treatments.

As the air may be contaminated by the effluvia arising from

poisonous or noxious vapors, so an etheric magnetic current may be

contaminated by the evil, lecherous thoughts of man, eventuating in

illness or even in death of the individual to whom they are directed.

Evidences of such contamination are visible to the psychic in the

clouded shades of color assumed by the personal ether escaping from

the body of one who is indulging in selfish or other evil thoughts.

It is not so much the general phenomena of the etheric planes that

I am emphasizing at this time, for that is too far-reaching a subject to

particularize upon to any great degree in a short communication. It is

the personal ether, that portion of the etheric substance which

permeates the physical body and is possible of manipulation by the

will and mind of man. Man possesses the power to manipulate this

fiery electric emanation and is responsible to the higher law for its use

or misuse. Its selfish personal use is one form of black magic.

The word magnetism is so carelessly and ignorantly used that the

real nature and power of the substance which the word indicates is

unknown by the great majority of people. The substance of the

personal ether and the personal magnetism are the same in

appearance. It is continually emanating from the physical body in

definite waves, which are subject to direction by one person to the

body of another. As the air is necessary for the building and sustaining

of every molecule of a physical body, so the ether is requisite for the

building and sustaining of the astral body. [TT 553]

 PLATE IX.

SPECTRUM OF ETHER VIBRATIONS

[TT 554]

"Everything in nature is in a state of vibration, and

there is apparently no limit to the different kinds and

frequencies of these vibrations. Some of these

vibrations are directly perceptible to our sense

organs, others to instruments, and still others to

photography, fluorescence, etc."

"We are constrained to study natural phenomena

with humility, not knowing when some new

discovery wilt reveal to us hitherto unrecognized

vibrations.

"There is a conflict between atomics and energetics.

This conflict concerns itself with whether the atomic

hypothesis shah dominate the physical sciences or

whether matter is only a manifestation of electrical

energy.

"Our knowledge of the external world is derived

through sense organs by certain forms of energy. Le

Dantec observed, 'To find an impersonal method of

measurement is to found a science.'

"'Seeing is believing,'" hence the visualizing

tendency in human nature.

"The diagram of C. W. Robbins shown on page 553

(Plate IX) of etheric vibrations, shows a velocity in

the ether when unretarded of 309,000,000 meters, or

about 186,000 miles, per second.

"The list is divided into octaves, the vibration

frequency per second at any octave being twice that

of the preceding octave and one-half that of the

octave following. The numbering of the octaves is

essentially arbitrary.

"The vibration rates extend into infinity, and there is

no reason to believe there is any limit.

"In the chart the length of any wave multiplied by

the frequency per second equals 309,000,000 meters.

"Sight detects only a little less than one octave, and

these vibrations are limited to the visible spectrum

(red to violet), hence the fallacy of saying `Seeing is

believing."'

From Physico-Clinical Medicine.

Esoterically the word religion means to bind back to God. The

great desire of all units of a religious body is to reunite the soul and

spirit of man however the desire may be expressed. Man has created a

breach in consciousness between his higher and lower self which must

be overcome before he can attain to individual spiritual consciousness.

...

RELIGION

—

LESSON 227

Esoterically the word religion means to bind back to God. The

great desire of all units of a religious body is to reunite the soul and

spirit of man however the desire may be expressed. Man has created a

breach in consciousness between his higher and lower self which must

be overcome before he can attain to individual spiritual consciousness.

[TT 555]

By persistent disobedience to the Deific laws and principles upon

which all forms of religion are founded, man has made religion a thing

of little moment in comparison to what it might be if those laws

upheld.

In the orthodox religions this breach is believed to have been

caused by original sin, the sin of a single man and woman, Adam and

Eve, from whose sin the whole human race must suffer. In the

Wisdom, Religion it is taught that the so-called "sin" consists of

disobedience to the divine laws and principles by the whole human

race, therefore that individual man suffers from himself. The cause is

the same in both instances, i. e., disobedience to law. The first

mentioned is disobedience to the dictates of a personal God, the last

mentioned is disobedience to the dictates of the Higher Self . the

Universal God in man.

Unless the fundamental philosophical, ethical and moral

principles of the religion or system of philosophy with which the

individual man has identified himself have become the most vital

thing in his life, he is a failure, from the higher spiritual standpoint.

His success in material fields of life does not alter that fact. This is

true for the reason that the spirit of man should have control of the

mind and body, and he learns to control and use spiritual energy

through his obedience to the dictates of his Higher Self, his God, and

his devotion to those fundamental principles which are the basis of his

religion. To whatever degree he fails in this respect he deprives

himself of the power to function that energy in any field of endeavor.

Unless the philosophy of the religion of the Temple of the People

as accepted by the members of that body is made a living power in the

daily lives of those members, it will be impossible to carry out the

given directions for the upbuilding of the physical counterpart of the

ideal form of the Temple in the mind of God. Every duty neglected,

every refusal to carry out the directions of the Masters, who are in a

spiritual sense the Chief Priests of the Temple of Humanity, by any of

the component parts of that body causes them to rob themselves of the

spiritual energy which otherwise would come to them through that

particular channel, and thus the whole body must suffer from the

effects of their action or inaction. The channel . in this instance the

Temple of the People . becomes so much the less effective.

The above-mentioned basic principles or laws of spiritual, ethical

and moral life are identical in all forms of religion. In whatever form

of religion these laws are ignored or misinterpreted it is due to the

ambition, pride, selfishness or faithlessness of one or units of the

body. It is not the governing principles of the religion [TT 556] that

are at fault, for they are omnipotent, changeless and eternal. To

whatever degree they are ignored or disobeyed by man the power to

utilize the spiritual energy on which he is dependent for spiritual and

moral growth is lost. This is as truly a fact as is the fact that

interference with or the cutting off of a current of electrical energy

from the dynamo of an electrical engine on the physical plane will

deprive the engineer of the power to run the engine and therefore to

benefit from its use.

It is Jack of realization of this truth by man and therefore his

failure to benefit from the knowledge to be so gained that has left him

the feeble, impotent creature he has become during the present great

age in comparison with the strong, vitally alive man he might be. His

religion has been made a secondary or a third feature of his life,

instead of the one vital thing it ought to be.

There have been so many abuses of power in some orthodox

religious bodies, that the very word religion has become tabu to many,

even to some students of occultism who do not realize that occultism .

Theosophy . is religion in the highest sense of the word.

It has been said by those who know whereof they speak, that

spirit and matter can not meet. This is true from a universal aspect but

from the individual or particular aspect, spirit has built a bridge,

figuratively speaking, a bridge of mind substance over which the

energy awakened by spiritual action can pass to matter and therefore

to the soul and body of man. It is by means of this bridge of mind that

the soul passes into the realms of spirit . the consciousness of spirit.

The religious instinct in man is aroused by the soul's desire and

effort to pass back over this bridge . to regain its lost inheritance, its

conscious realization of union with God. It is the increased

development of this instinct by means of the basic principles of his

religion which makes the religious practices of man such a vital thing

in his life. A man's personal religion should be the school of his soul.

If all Templars could fully realize the truth of the statements I

have made herein and could see how their development was hindered

by indifference, or neglect of their duties and disobedience to

directions given them for their benefit they would make a stronger

effort to fulfill their obligations than is made by some of their number.

...

HERO WORSHIP

—

LESSON 228

There is a natural instinct or tendency toward hero worship in the

heart of every normal human being. [TT 557]

The principles of Desire and Will active in honor and glorify

some other man or there is a tendency to glorify one believed to the

masses of mankind.

The soul of man intuitively recognizes that there are beings of a

higher order of life than are the men and of the earth. The latter

believe that honor and love are due to those beings, from whom they

expect that and collectively will be benefited through and power.

Mans apostasy and recreancy, his times cruelty toward those he has

previously exalted is due to his innate recognition of the failure of the

whilom hero to reach heights to which he had aspired or was believed

to have attained. Disappointment and chagrin lead his former devotees

metaphorically or literally to slay him.

The soul of man is continuously urging him on to reach from one

height to another. It knows it can never be satisfied until it becomes

conscious of its unity with the Godhead.

The desire and will which have been the impelling force of the

soul of man on its upward journey will demand from that soul the

love, reverence and obedience due to God and to the great Spiritual

Beings who are his representatives, and man will gladly yield them

when he has been awakened to a sense of the actual relation existing

between God and man.

Every effort man makes to smother that primeval desire of the

soul prevents the fulfillment of that desire to a corresponding degree.

All life, spiritual and material, is dual in manifestation. Man as now

constituted stands at the neutral point or center between two poles or

aspects of life, spirit and matter.

The Absolute in manifestation as God represents the positive pole

or aspect. Primordial matter or energy represents the negative pole or

aspect. The interaction between the two aspects results in the creation

of a third aspect, the neutral center.

A spark of the Absolute, the Ego, seeks the negative aspect .

matter, and proceeds to build a self-conscious vehicle by means of

evolutionary law. This vehicle finally reaches the human state where it

becomes the seat of the soul . a divine emanation. It has reached the

neutral center where the manifest God by His descent into the matter

of this center awakens desire in the soul for cosmic or God

consciousness. Thereafter the chief object of the soul is self-conscious

union with God. [TT 558]

This is a very crude and condensed illustration of the cosmic

processes by which man has reached his present state. I have only

tried to express in few words a universal truth, i. e., the relation

between God and man . to illustrate what is believed to be the secret

of the inner urge towards what is commonly called hero worship, the

search of the human soul for God in every stage of ifs progress. Every

hero or little god raised to a pedestal by man is a step of the process by

which the final goal is attained.

It is at the central point of life as a whole as well as every division

of life that the cosmic forces act to give the most powerful vital

impulses toward the heights of life. This is equally true of the centers

of religion, philosophy, science and art or of any other organized

force, as it is true that the development of the physical body depends

upon the center of the heart.

...

RULING YOUR STAR

—

LESSON 229

The ushering in of every new birth cycle of man is at the close of

every sixth year, and the opening of the seventh gives opportunity for

spiritual and psychic advancement. At such periods the life fines cross

each other and there is set up in the mentality an incentive to take

some radical step in one direction or another which will determine the

trend of future efforts.

Having reached his majority one will act wisely if at such cyclic

periods he will quiet the modifications of his mind sufficiently to take

observations along the backward track of his life and seriously

consider the negative qualifies of his nature, for instance those

qualifies which have left a trail of broken promises, acts of selfishness

or cruelty. If he has been taught the identification of those negative

qualifies with those of like character in his ruling planet, he will

understand the necessity of gaining control of them in himself before

it will be possible to pas' from under the ruling power of his present

nativity to the cusp of his ambition, when the hour of his next birth

cycle strikes, and to remain there until the trine of Perception,

Determination and Action is completed. In other words, until he

perceives, acknowledges and sets about changing the lower red

vibrations of the negative aspects of the qualifies in question into the

vibrations of the positive or spiritual red aspects of those same

qualifies. [TT 559]

It is not easy for the average man to realize that no God, no

Master can raise him from the influence of one Ray of Light into that

of another until he has gained a controlling power over the inhibiting

forces of the Ray to which he belongs. Every successful effort he

makes not only tends to release himself, but also tends toward

releasing his guiding star from the came influences.

Truly it is said Man rules the Stars, for in his ascendancy over the

lower aspects of the qualifies which guide his action he will

eventually change his mental environment, and at last this will give

him rule over his own particular star when his fine of incarnation is

complete.

Even a snail cannot raise itself to a higher order of life until it has

overcome the inherent tendencies toward supineness and inertia. Then

how shall man change his mental or spiritual environment until he has

changed the inhibiting forces of his present environment and therefore

secured the means whereby to raise himself ?

...

A SUPREME BEING

—

LESSON 230

One of the mistakes many modern students of occultism fall into

is that of making distinction between the laws which control all life in

manifestation, dividing them into divine and human classes. All laves

governing the constitution, conservation, and dissociation of all

substance-matter, whatever be the plane of manifestation, are divine

laws.

The law which governs the turning of water into steam is as

divine as is the law which separates the soul and body of man. The

law which governs the action and reaction of the drug called quinine

upon the blond of a victim of malaria, is as divine as is the law which

governs the healing of other diseased conditions of body and mind by

mental or spiritual methods.

There are no human or mechanical laves in the higher acceptation

of the terms. By his powers of invention and mechanical skiff man is

able to take advantage of the divine laves to carry out his purposes.

Yet those very powers are powers of the divinity in man, and his

success in any field of life depends upon implicit obedience to the

divine laves which govern that field. Those laves are divine laves

because they were made [TT 560] by a self-created spiritual hierarchy

of beings far, far beyond the present power of the humanity of the

present age to recognize or understand . a hierarchy of beings who, in

combination, represent the Godhead. While they are not visible or

audible to man, their works . the action of the laves they have made

for the unfolding of life in essence into organized form-make their

existence a natural sequence.

As the works of this Divine Hierarchy are indicative of their

universal service on all planes and in all states of life, so the works of

man are indicative of his individual service for himself and other men

of his kind. To every human being has been given some particular

field of work, for training in and performance of which he is best

fitted by nature and desire. It matters not whether that work is to rule a

nation, to build a road, or to take up some profession or trade ; it is his

divinely appointed task. As a general thing, his restlessness, his

discontent, or tendency to crime is the result of his betrayal of his task,

his not raising his work to the highest point of service and efficiency

possible to him, thereby losing all interest in it. All that impedes his

efforts is by way of preparing and inciting him to raise the scale and

quality of his work, for perfection is the ultimate aim of the soul of

man.

In one sense the same is true of the Divine Builders of form. All

of spiritual evil which impedes the work of the latter in carrying out

the dictates of divine lave incites them to greater effort. Their work is

the ultimate perfection of the body and soul of mankind, the making

of and obedience to the laws of evolution under which the elementary

lives encased in gross matter attain to self-consciousness.

There is a tendency among many students of philosophy and

science in the present cycle to eliminate belief in the existence of a

Supreme Being, a Godhead, and to trust entirely to their interpretation

of the laves of evolution to account for the phenomena of life and

nature ; but even those laves clone give ample evidence of such an

existence to the open, unprejudiced mind. For example, the law of

demand and supply, the law of opposites . a divine law, furnish such

evidence.

The universal cry which rises from the heart of every human

being in its extremities of joy or sorrow for union with or recognition

by its God, whatever be the ideal of God he holds in mind, is a proof

of the existence of a Supreme Being who can and does answer that

cry. The fact that man is sometimes unable to interpret the answer to

his plea correctly is no proof to the contrary, for if the plea was not for

the benefit of the man or race to which he belonged the answer might

not be given in the form desired or might be long [TT 561] delayed.

Man cannot express a desire which is not possible of fulfillment on

some plane or in some period of life.

There is one central or creative cell or life spark at the heart of

every form of manifested life. In man that original cell has unfolded

on five planes of life. The intelligence guiding the action of that cell

has created from its constituents all the lesser cells which together

evolve an organic material form. It has created the form in the sense

that it has drawn to itself and organized all the unorganized primordial

substance required by that guiding intelligence for the manifestation

of the organized form. The same is true of the manifestation of form at

the beginning of life on the physical and ethereal or spiritual planes in

every great age.

Using his divinely inspired intuition man should be able to reach

a reasonable, logical deduction regarding the necessity for the

existence of a supreme intelligence, a creative Center or God, if he

accepts the statements of wise men as to the existence of a similar

center in all forms of material life. If the creative cell is a necessity

from a purely scientific and material point of view, how much more is

a spiritual creative cell, a Supreme Being, a necessity to the soul, the

immaterial or spiritual part of humanity, and especially to those souls

who know and feel acutely the relation between God and themselves .

the basic unity of God and the soul and spirit of man. God is in one

sense the central or creative cell of the manifested universe . the

Central Spiritual Sun.

We can think of the Absolute as of the power or energy which has

created unorganized primordial substance ; but it is only as individual

organized intelligence seizes upon unorganized life force . prana, and

brings it into material form that the intellect of man is satisfied of the

reasonableness of the philosophy which teaches the existence of a

Supreme Being at the point of differentiation between spirit and

matter, the point where homogeneous substance or energy becomes

heterogeneous matter.