OUR NATURAL BIRTHRIGHT

LESSON 41

Power, Love, justice and Mercy, commonly termed attributes of God, are, in their last analysis, reflections of, and forces emanating from, the Triune Godhead ; and man has the right to demand and seize upon these and all other forces emanating from the same source, [TT 93] and use them for his own development. But that right exists by virtue of his relationship to every other man, and, unless his desire for individual development be subservient to his desire for the same development for all men, it becomes mere selfishness, and his right to demand and seize upon such forces then becomes at least questionable. Whether we consider God as a personality, a Jehovah, or a great ruling evolutionary power, He or It is the Father-Mother, the Creator and Preserver of every manifested atom.

The Law of Correspondences is one of the most exact laws of universal life. Every atom of force, substance and matter contains, either potentially or actively, the power to produce to some degree all that has been or may be produced by every other atom. Any fortuitous concourse of atoms, as well as any occurring event on any one plane of existence, will actively manifest a similar concourse of atoms or events not only on every other plane, but in every division of force, substance and matter on each plane which is in synchronous vibration with the dominant chord of those atoms or events.

In teaching the action of the Law of Correspondences, the more simple the illustration can be made, the better for the pupils ; for, by forcing the mind into unfamiliar channels of thought, such as abstract metaphysics, in an endeavor to show the action of the law, the mind of the western man becomes confused, and unable to discern the correspondence between such and the familiar signs and sounds of natural phenomena, while it would be readily understood by the mind of an eastern mystic, to whom the action of the law, as well as the substance in operation, would be perfectly familiar. In this field of research, as in all other fields, we behold the action of the positive and negative poles of life, and by keeping these in mind, a better understanding of the subject under consideration is attainable.

In endeavoring to show the right of Man to all things, as well as the probable care for His off spring by what we know as God, by means Of the action of Divine will on the evolutionary forces of life, perhaps we can do so in no more intelligible manner than by considering the probable action of a normal father and mother toward their children ; for here we find one of the most perfect correspondences to the action of the Godhead in and with His or Its creatures. Such a father and mother as have been mentioned, will never think of their possessions as belonging solely to themselves ; all that they are, all that they have, is at the disposal of their children, if those children will make a proper Use of it ; all just demands are complied with, as a matter of course.

It would never occur to such parents to deny their children the right [TT 94] to food, shelter, clothing and education, until such time as those children were perfectly capable of providing for themselves ; and even then, the Love which brought them into life and sustained them, the Love that is the. fulfillment of all law, would envelop them eternally ; for Love cannot die. A parent would have just cause for reproving a child for willfully suffering from hunger, if he had been called in some other, direction, and it was possible for the child to reach the receptacle of a loaf of bread, or if the parent had hidden himself from view for the purpose of observing how the child would proceed to cut the loaf, or whether it would take a little nibble, and throw the rest away, instead of giving it to some hungry child. The child would be perfectly justified in taking the bread under either of such circumstances, or at least so much of it as would satisfy its hunger, but it would have no right to take, either carelessly or intentionally, more than it required, when, by so doing, it might deprive some other child of its rightful share, or might injure itself through gluttony, in which case, the righteous punishment which would be inflicted by its parents or the suffering induced by overeating, would in the end be the most merciful action of the law, for the experience gained would be of value.

A child of God, the living result of the action of evolutionary forces in the form of man, whose soul is hungry for any particular power or force which pertains Io or is a part of God, has a perfect right to that power or force, if it has won the ability to grasp and hold it, even while its Father's face is seemingly turned away. But, to win the ability to do this is his first task ; and, in order to win such ability, he has first of all to do what the human child would do, if its parent were within hearing when it was hungry ; namely, ask for, demand, concentrate on or pray for the ability to seize upon the requisite power or force.

There are many forms of demand . prayer . but there is no more efficient form than that of perfect obedience to known laws, and by means of self-sacrifice cultivating the inherent will which dominates the personality of every man, and uniting that personal will to the engine of God's omnipotent will. It seems a trivial thing to you when you reduce some other man to a state bordering on frenzy, by taking advantage of his ignorance or weakness to enrich yourself, or merely for the purpose of amusement, gratification or revenge. The incident quickly passes out of your mind ; you are not cognizant of the interior effects of your action ; you are not able to see that you have changed the auric color-vibrations both of yourself and your antagonist. It might be only a short time thereafter when you would begin to experience a great hunger and [TT 95] dissatisfaction of soul ; you would begin to search for something to satisfy that hunger, and perhaps find fault with the teacher who is striving to point out the path of power and development to you, either utterly ignoring or ignorant of the fact that the changed color-vibration of your aura has brought your interior self into what is to it a foreign vibration, and one which will not harmonize with the dominant colors of your normal state, nor with the manifesting colors of the Ray which is in one sense your Father-Mother.

I mention the effect of this one possible act, only to illustrate the probable effect of disobedience to the law of brotherhood, and to emphasize the necessity for obedience to all known laws, by the Chela who would win the ability to grasp and hold the powers and forces which rule the universe and which are his by right. Whether a Master be of the right or left hand path, he has won whatever power he possesses by means of obedience to the laws I have noted. That the latter mentioned Master has fallen from a much greater height than you have yet attained, and still possesses some measure of the power he won in earlier ages, is no argument against the truth of my statements.

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CHELASHIP VERSUS MEDIUMSHIP

LESSON 42

Students of the Secret Science are very early taught the origin, existence and functions of the three Nadis or tubes which traverse the spinal cord in man, having their source in the Medulla Oblongata. The central tube is termed the Sushumna, and those on the left and right, respectively, the Ida and Pingala. Physical science is unable to determine the use of these tubes even when its votaries are convinced of their existence, which is not always the case. A transverse slice of the spinal cord will plainly show the central tube, and on either side of it may sometimes be distinguished a shadowy chain, but to the average investigator these tubes would not appear to have any particular function to perform, as such cannot be discovered by dissection or observation ; nevertheless they exert a tremendous influence on the exterior as well as the interior bodies of man, as they are vehicles for the transmission of some of the Potential finer forces of Nature.

It is through these tubes that are [TT 96] transmitted those forms of energy which enable the Yogi, the entranced Medium, the hypnotized and mesmerized subject, to remain in a condition of Samadhi or trance, for days and sometimes years, without material nourishment ; in other words, they convey the energy which acts as nourishment to the Astral body, and the energy, in turn, is transferred to certain centres of the physical body, thereby sustaining it until it awakens to normal consciousness ; and as the latter is built upon and within the Astral, the necessity for such vehicles is apparent.

The particular form of energy mentioned above is, as it were, the spiritual essence of a certain concentrated material nourishment. It manifests to eyes capable of observation as a definite color : this homogeneous color is diversified in the Sushumna, and, by the lowering of its vibrations as a result of contact with matter of a lower degree, soon manifests four other colors, and the latter may be increased or modified by the body's close proximity to different articles of the same or its complementary color ; and the increased vibration of such a color adds to the strength and potency of the energy thus manifesting in the Sushumna. The Ida and Pingala act more as distributing centres than as original conveyers of energy, for they take up the energy as it rushes through the lowest chakra of the spinal cord, and distribute it to certain centres of the physical body, where it is used up in the creation of certain blood corpuscles, which in turn are intimately connected with the Astral body.

As an illustration of the use of a definite color as an aid to the development of some one principle, I will call your attention to the fact that the shade of yellow which corresponds to the Christ-principle, is constantly worn on the heads of the Initiates of one degree of the White Lodge, for the purpose of more rapidly developing the Kryashakti, or Higher Will-Power, which is one aspect of the Christ-principle ; but a Chela can gain no advantage from the use of that color unless the motive which prompted its use be in sympathetic vibration with the higher astral counterpart of the color ; in other words, unless the act of will which prompted its use partake of the character of the Christ-principle, which is, above all else, selflessness.

There is a great deal of controversy at the present time among a particular class of investigators relative to the condition commonly termed trance. It is vigorously disputed that there is any appreciable difference between the state of unconsciousness to physical things, of the Yogi or Chela of the Lodge . those disciples who are under the immediate direction of an Initiate, when in a state of self induced trance or Samadhi . and the condition of a so-called spiritual medium, who is under the control of the denizens of the lower Astral [TT 97] plane.

The difference between the two conditions would be apparent to a good clairvoyant or an advanced chela at a single glance. In the Sushumna of the Yogi or Chela there would be seen four of the prismatic colors in a state of rapid vibration ; the colors would mingle and intermingle so rapidly, it would be difficult to distinguish any particular color for any definite length of time. In a like tube in the body of a medium, the same colors might be distinguished, but they would appear very dull and sluggish, and the outlines of each color distinct from the others. The entranced medium is at the mercy of any extraneous Astral influence, and has not the ability to protect himself to any appreciable extent, owing to the temporarily paralyzed condition of his own will. His Astral body drifts powerlessly about in a half conscious condition.

Occasionally it drifts into the immediate vicinity of more highly developed entities, that have passed out of incarnation, but who are still earth-bound, either because they are under the ban of some broken Cyclic law, or because they have not gained sufficient power over their lower principles to use them instead of being used by them. Such an entity may be capable of giving what seems to be a high order of teaching, but it has no more power of verifying its own theories and deductions than it had when on the physical plane amidst men and women in a similar stage of development, so that its impressions and statements cannot be perfectly reliable. To the medium, they would seem to come from some high Spiritual source, and no intentional deception on others would be practiced. Naturally, we are only considering that class of mediums, the members of which are incapable of conscious fraud. It seems difficult to make some people realize that the passing of the Soul from one plane to another will not ' in some miraculous way, change the general characteristics of the Soul, and even make an Angel out of a former demon.

The truth is, the Soul passes into the Astral plane in very nearly the same stage of development it had reached when it left the Physical plane. The mind of an enthusiastic Medium only too often drifts into a stage of dissipation when surrounded by the elementals and lower human vampires which feed upon its substance and eventually leave it a mental and moral wreck. But what is of infinite importance to the medium is the fact that when entranced, the higher mentality' or Spiritual soul is temporarily incapacitated for action upon the lower principles, for the Antaskarana, Or bridge between the two, is semi-paralyzed when the Astral body " unnaturally forced to project its essence without long years of Preparation and adequate protection. [TT 98]

The Yogi or has earned the power to control his body to such a de of time and space is lost to him in entrancement. His movements are only limited by his own will and desire. It is not alone by the manifesting colors in the Sushumna that the clairvoyant can distinguish the difference between the conditions of a Yogi or Chela, and a medium, while either is entranced. The colors belonging to the lower quarternary, red, green, orange, and red-violet, assume a very vivid hue in the Aura of the medium, while in the Aura of the Yogi or Chela can only be seen a golden glow with occasional flashes of ultra violet, all together in a state of rapid vibration.

The task of unifying the two aspects of the Divine WILL is given to the Chela immediately upon his acceptance by the Master who is to guide his unfoldment, and is fully accomplished during a certain Initiation in which he acquires a Fire (or permanent) body. I do not intend to imply that such a body cannot be earned without association with an Initiate on the physical plane, but I do state most emphatically, that such a body cannot be earned without implicit obedience to the laws by which the accepted Chela conquers the Dweller on the Threshold, or, in other words, destroys the before-mentioned bridge between his higher Astral and the higher principles of his lower Astral bodies.

One of the advantages to be gained from Chelaship is a more rapid evolution. No scientist would despise the assistance of a greater scientist when striving to demonstrate a truth, and no human being is in a position to despise or reject the assistance or directions of an Initiate ; for sooner or later, on the Astral, if not on the Physical plane of life, he must come under the direction of a more highly developed being, before it is possible for him to recognize and kill out the insidiously deceptive foes which lurk about the higher levels, as well as the lower steps, of the path of life. Some of the dangers that confront the medium, the hypnotized and mesmerized subjects, are analogous to the dangers encountered by the prematurely born child ; neither medium nor child is prepared to meet the hostile forces which attack it when suddenly thrown unprotected into a strange environment. Both would require such assistance as is analogous to the power won by the young bird in breaking its way out of the shell that has protected it while in a state of gestation : the power which is only won by means of a fierce struggle with adverse conditions. The Initiate or Master but holds the light, and points out the quagmires on one side and the beasts of prey on the other, of the path of life ; the disciple must cross the quagmire and destroy the beasts himself, by means of the knowledge and power he [TT 99] has gained in breaking through the shell which held him while in a state of gestation ; or, in other words, while living in the world of men and things.

One of the greatest of all the mistakes which the orthodox religious enthusiast is liable to, is the mistake of imagining that the laws which control the visible universe are abrogated when a supposed point of demarcation between the now visible and invisible realms is reached ; when in reality there is no line of demarcation.

The same laws are operative on all the planes of manifestation ; the apparent difference is due to the changes which occur in the states of substance or matter of which those planes consist ; although an erroneous concept is frequently given by the Occultist, who finds it impossible to give the right one because of the inability of the student to comprehend the laws of vibration which bring into manifestation those different states of matter ; hence the expression, "the laws of (such and such) a plane are changed", when attempting to teach somewhat of the lives of those who inhabit those planes. Before closing, I wish again to call your attention to the reality of the effects of color both on Astral and physical bodies, and advise you to observe and note well the effect of different colors on your minds and bodies, and endeavor to understand all that I have transmitted to you in the past on the same subject.

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IDEATION

LESSON 43

In one sense of the word, it is deplorable that some of the brightest Minds of the present age seem incapable of perceiving the absurdities they advance in support of their theories regarding the imagination Of Man, or are unwilling to admit the truth through fear of the unfavorable criticisms of their more material co-workers, and so stifle or ridicule the principle by means of which they have attained to any measure of success in scientific research.

Without the principle of Ideation, that is, Imagination, the seemingly modern as well as marvelous discoveries in the field of biochemical investigation would have been impossible, for all must admit that before the human brain can formulate and successfully execute an experiment of any nature, there must invariably occur the idealized or imagined [TT 100] model which will subsequently be used to build the materialized form upon or rather within. When an act of the Imagination has created the idealized form of a state of matter, so much finer than any state now under the observation of man, that effort of the Imagination awakens the will to manifest that state to others, and by the power or energy resident in that will there is awakened, or drawn out from the inner spheres of potential Ether, a degree of that force which can be manifested in several ways, in a similar mariner to those adopted to manifest electricity.

A galvanometer may be used to manifest finer grades of matter than can be perceived by the vision of man, but that fact does not nullify the statements of true prophets to the effect that man will sometime evolve the necessary organs to perceive that particular grade of matter and other grades still finer.

As an argument against the possible manifestation of spiritualized or astral bodies, it has been contended that there could be no truth in such manifestations, for the reason that even if the physical eye could not see those bodies, their presence or substance would affect to some degree the latter mentioned instrument. The gulf that exists between electricity and the instrument which brings it under observation by man, though impassable to the man of the present age, is not nearly so great as the gulf that exists between the latter and those finer forms of the same force that exist on the inner planes, and in order to understand the true nature and functions of electricity, man must evolve an instrument of the same nature.

In order to perceive spirit, man must evolve a spiritual eye. We can not know a thing or a state of matter until we have become that thing or state of matter ; we could know nothing of the physical plane unless we had, now or once, possessed a physical instrument or body. A large class of investigators refuse to recognize and accept the aid they might secure, by the right use of the Imagination, to further their search for that ignis fatuus, the source of life. By their attitude of contempt for what they deem "abstractions"' they throw into their own minds the potent force of suggestion.

A suggestion of the uselessness of effort in such a direction inhibits them from using that principle of Imagination advantageously. Modern science has determined, what the secret sciences have long since demonstrated, that all life is the result of fermentation, and, also that the little lives which produce the same are reversible in action, i. e., that the polarity of the little electric bodies, the Sparks of occult science, is changeable, but it has not yet determined that such action is subject to Will and Mind, and also to a great degree to the right kind and degree of electricity as applicable to some of the modern [TT 101] inventions.

To cure a disease, it must be first correctly diagnosea, and in order to apply the correct current or kind of electricity to a diseased organ, the nature of the sparks composing that organ, their present position and their power of resistance must be determined, and it is at this point the power of Imagination acts upon or with a material medium to obtain that diagnosis, for the Will and Mind in concentration use the Imagination to secure the knowledge required.

The vesture or bodies of the Sparks or ferments are said to be created by the action of the forty-nine fires on the combination of oxygen and Hydrogen we term Water, while it is held in suspension, as it were in the air, before being precipitated ; in which condition it corresponds to a condition of gestation. The ferments have within themselves, and are subject to, the power of attraction and repulsion, the power of reproduction and dissolution, and are the real "missing links" in the chain of evolution constructed by modern science, only missing to those who will not permit the power of Imagination to prefigure the probable results of investigation by faith, one result of which would be the ability to determine the manner of disease operating in an organ of the body, by the position assumed by the ferments of that organ, and the kind and degree of electricity to be used in changing that position by changing their polarity.

Investigators who have but recently observed the difference in character and position of such ferments have not had time to observe their action in disease, and therefore would hardly be expected to admit that they would not be able to perform any function of the body without the aid of its resident ferments ; they could not even breathe without the aid of that class which line the throat and lungs ; but neither would they admit that the sore throat they may be suffering from is the final result of perverted thought, either by themselves or others about them, the result of which has been to change the former position of the throat ferments, thus producing abnormal conditions and consequent disease.

As "like breeds like", the germs that reproduce their kind . by fissure or division, multiply almost indefinitely the original germ brought into existence by an Elemental which ensouls all that one class of germs as an Elemental of a higher class ensouls a swarm of bees, or race of other minute creations. The starchy products which more than all else are the material bases of the chemical action of fermentation in the body, furnish a clue to the method by which the reversed action of the ferments is accomplished. Such products are formed of dead, or rather of inactive [TT 102] germs of life, but they remain inactive only so long as they are isolated from other germs. Once brought into action with another class of active germs, they spring into life again in other forms, somewhat as a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, leaving a refuse which returns to protoplasmic substance ; but such inactive germs frequently prove the Nemesis of mankind as far as punishment for certain sins of the body is concerned 7. In fact the Starches are great in potentialities. I am well aware that I lay you open to criticism for even publishing some of the foregoing statements, and while it is difficult to put into language some of the deeper metaphysical truths which appear to trench upon the ground of chemical or meta-chemical investigation, I will endeavor to explain how it is that Imagination may determine the position of ferments. In a case of disease, there first appears an image in the mind, of the good or evil results of a certain ... ? [check original]

Medical science now teaches that the residue of the starches is what clogs up the blood and produces clots which are sometimes the cause of paralysis and kindred diseases. line of conduct, for instance, the gratification of the palate by the use of some form of food or drink which is in reality injurious to the body ; at once the power of thought seizes upon that image and imparts life-motion to its previously inactive atoms, and a battle ensues between them and the abnormal germs introduced into the stomach, which results in a changed position of all the germs, and a diseased condition of the stomach results ; the germs feed upon the substance of the organ, reproduce their kind in great numbers and destroy or incapacitate the organ. In order to heal a diseased organ by the same power-a combination of Imagination, Will and Mind . make an image of a healthy organ in the mind, find the antithesis of the evil thought which produced the disease, and direct the force of that thought to the diseased organ.

If your power of concentration is strong enough, you can change those wrong vibrations and reverse the position of those ferments by will power ; if not, some mechanical means or chemical means of imparting the new vibration may bring about the desired end. It is the power of reversing the position of the ferments, resident in all drugs and medicines, that gives them their healing properties. The power of invariably determining the position of the ferments belongs to the Occultist, in other words, to the one who has become as a little child, that he may learn of those who alone are able to teach the laws underlying the mysteries of life. [TT 103]

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WINDOWS OF THE SOUL

LESSON 44

The Christian religion recognizes nothing above or beyond the personal God. Its votaries assume that believers in the Absolute, the Trinity of Life and the personified natural forces, are heathen. On the other hand, many students of the great Mysteries refuse to see in the personal God of the Christians a representation of the first individualized manifestation of the Absolute ; consequently, both parties to the great controversy go on year after year, misunderstanding each other, imputing all evil to each other, instead of striving to find the common ground for the faith that is in them both, and this sad condition of things is apparent in all controversy between different branches of the great bodies regarding minor points of their belief such as states of consciousness after release from the physical plane, the power and ability of different Orders and grades of Beings, etc.

If the time given up to all this controversy were spent in investigation instigated by sincere desire for truth, each would soon find that the other had the same basis for belief as himself, and that the real points of difference were so minute as to be unworthy of serious consideration. Much of the difficulty arises from inability to comprehend the common consciousness of God and man, and its operation in and through Matter. Could the Holy Lotus of the Far East, the Water Lily of the West, speak in human tones, it could tell many tales of the three kingdoms, Earth, Air and Water, which it inhabits simultaneously . tales of little creeping things, tales of swiftly moving denizens of water, of strangely plumaged birds and queer insects, that the eye of man seldom rests upon.

If the impersonal Soul in the heart of man could make that heart understand its language, it could tell still more wonderful tales of Air, Ether and Akasha, as well as of Fire, Water and Earth ; for, as the Lotus dwells habitually in three kingdoms, so the Soul dwells in six kingdoms or planes of consciousness at one and the same time. Its memory of higher planes may become inhibited for the time, if it be earth-bound, as are nearly all the present races of the earth, but this bondage may be broken. In the majority of instances, however, the casement of flesh must be shattered, the silver cord that holds it back be cut, ere it can escape, and throw off the mantle of forgetfulness cast about it on its entrance into human conditions on earth.

Death is still pictured as a skeleton horror to most of the human race, instead of as the bright angel of release it really is. Ignorance holds that [TT 104] race in bondage to the fear of death, as it has always held it to the fear of any unknown or untried phenomena. The roots of the Lotus, buried in slime and mud, have no consciousness of the exquisite flower waving gracefully in the air above them, but the Soul or consciousness of the flower has full knowledge of roots and stalk, as well as flower, and knows also that a rough hand may tear them from the soil beneath, and leave the whole plant a dead thing on the face of the waters ; but the Soul of Man, as a brooding bird, nestles in or over each of the bodies it has built, and through which it looks into all the kingdoms of life, and, when one of its bodies decays and wastes away, it has only to build another, or remain in those already built on inner planes, for it has only lost temporarily the use of one window looking out on the particular plane on which that body functioned.

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THE SEVEN RAYS OF EVOLUTION

LESSON 45

With all the advantages attainable by the earnest -student through study of the Slokas of the book of Dzyan, which constitutes, in part, the Wisdom Religion, and the commentaries prepared by H. P. Blavatsky at the instigation and with the assistance of the Initiates, no mere mental effort can solve the mysteries which lie hidden between the lines and even between the letters of the archaic truths pertaining to Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis, as given to the world at large for the first time in the three volumes of The Secret Doctrine.

An unbiased seeker after truth would find it difficult to ignore or contemptuously criticize the truths under consideration, if even a tithe of the profound wisdom contained in them had entered his consciousness. Notwithstanding the fulness of the commentaries, unless the Intuition were developed to a supernormal degree, thus permitting the student to apply the laws governing analogy and correspondence, the Slokas above mentioned would continue to be unsolved mysteries, though in truth they contain a complete history of Nature and man since the beginning of the evolution of life in our solar system.

Coincidently with the birth of a new race, after the destruction of the continent of Lemuria, arose the necessity for a specialized group of seven human beings who could be prepared and instructed, and finally overshadowed by the seven Lords of Karma, when the [TT 105]  development of such Chelas should have reached a certain degree, thus insuring proper vehicles for the transmission of necessary evolutionary forces, as well as for the receipt of important secret instruction. Each one of the seven great Lords mentioned literally controls one of those forces, and if a suitable vehicle has been evolved, capable of receiving and distributing that force, the evolution of the world is helped onward to just that degree.

The failure of the Lodge to secure seven such Points of contact on the physical plane, at the beginning of very important cycles, has made it impossible to distribute and equilibrate those forces, as was necessary for the more rapid development of mankind and consequently some one force has been manifested in excess, while others have failed to manifest at all, or so slightly as to leave no impression on the lives of the masses of humanity.

But one of the saddest effects of the failure of any one of such a group of human [TT 106] beings, "Chelas", as I have referred to, particularly when the failure was due to Pride or Ambition, is a loss of the power to recognize their own condition ; consequently no effort is made to eradicate the fault ; and often, unconsciously it may be, such Chelas become victims of the Black Brotherhood . transmitters of the opposing forces. The fact that the Chelas had previously earned and been given such great opportunities, makes them all the more valuable to our Brothers of the Shadow, who are always on the watch to gain control of such Chelas.

The humanity of this age cannot rise to a much greater height until such a group of perfectly devoted instruments can be secured, and every failure of the Initiates of the White Lodge to secure and hold such a group, retards the growth of all with whom they are connected. If all realized how they were trifling with the laws of their growth when by support or encouragement they were aiding or abetting a Chela belonging to the selected group of Seven in being untrue to his Order or any member thereof, they would fly from the temptation as from a wild beast.

There exists in the minds of all men a natural desire to know somewhat of their origin and nature, and while heredity may furnish a few clues as far as their physical bodies and lower minds are concerned, it is totally inadequate to furnish reliable data as to their spiritual life and higher mentality, or their final destination. I could not number the appeals that have been made to me for light upon these questions, and in reply to these questions I purpose to endeavor to give a little glimmer of that light ; I can do no more, because, if the intuition of an individual is awakened to such an extent as to permit of perfect understanding and interpretation of a full explanation there would be no need of such explanation ; the requisite knowledge would be his at command.

All Matter and Substance is septenary, and each of its states is graduated in seven degrees of density, and each state reflects the qualities and potencies of some one of the seven major divisions or Rays of the Infinite. If must be fully understood that there is no higher or lower, no graduated scale of place or position in the manifestations (vehicles) of these great powers we term Rays, in order to distinguish them from lesser entities, but who are so far beyond finite conception it is almost useless to refer to them as entities. They are equal in power, though each controls a separate degree or division of that power, a different grade of substance and force. The three higher of the seven minor divisions or states noted above, are the planes or states of individual perfection.

It is not until the heavenly pilgrim [TT 107] has reached the fourth state in its descent into matter that if becomes subject to the law of Karma and limitation. The three times seven (21) spiritual entities or powers which comprise the three higher states of substance multiply indefinitely in the fourth state, where the individual forms, created of the highest grade of substance, form the vehicles for the incarnating Ego's first manifestations in form, and these two-fold entities are the individual souls which subsequently inform the physical bodies of mankind.

While there is a certain correspondence between the birth of the soul and the birth of a physical body, there is, nevertheless, a vast difference, as the vehicle of the Ego's first manifestation in form is the result of creation by Will and Imagination, and in Occultism these creations are called "The Sons of Will and Yoga", instead of Souls. The Souls thus created during the descending arc of a great cycle or Kalpa, persist in incarnation and excarnation during that age, consisting of many million years, at the close of which all substance and matter is indrawn, and the Ego returns to its "Father's bosom" where if remains in Nirvanic rest or Pralaya until awakened to take upon itself another line of incarnations in another great age. The Soul is the seat of our greatest woe or bliss in Physical, Astral and Spiritual life ; the fact that it is possible to lose one's soul while yet living on the physical plane would seem to contradict the foregoing statement, but in such a case all pain and pleasure are derived from the action of the lower mind or the Senses.

The fact that if is possible to separate the soul from the body by long-continued evil is seldom referred to by the Initiates of the White Lodge, for, by dwelling upon such a possibility, a weak-minded person might bring about, by the power of suggestion, the first stages of such a calamity. Many soulless persons enter your lives in the common walks of life, but you are not yet capable of distinguishing them from others. When separated from a living body, the Soul returns to the fourth plane, where it remains until the cycle rolls around again when it can commence another line of incarnations ; and, in the disintegration of the Physical and Astral bodies, the three lower principles gradually return to protoplasmic matter, to be worked up later into other forms of life. If is believed by many, that even in such cases, the action of the law of Karma still persists, and the disintegrated matter, with the attached Skandas, is drawn together in lower forms of mineral, plant and animal life, and gradually evolves.

Until the Soul can again incarnate, and so have another opportunity of winning its crown of perfection. If there is one truth more important than another to be learned in the consideration of the foregoing statements, it is the irrefutable [TT 108] fact of the brotherhood of man, and the importance of maintaining brotherly relations with all men. You cannot injure another, no matter what the provocation, without laying a stone in your own pathway. You cannot assist another without clearing away some obstruction to your own development.

If I have succeeded in enlightening you to any extent by showing one cause for your delayed development, through the difficulties in the way of securing the seven initial points of contact, by means of which the evolutionary waves of the Ocean of Life may swell and touch the shore of power toward which your longing eyes are turned, and inciting all who are in line for position in one such group of disciples to turn their backs on their great enemies and go forward to victory ; if I have thrown any light on the perplexing problems of Evolution which haunt the minds of men, I have done all that was possible in such a short dissertation ; for the world could not contain the volumes which might be written on that one subject.

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LOVES APOTHEOSIS

LESSON 46

To my sorrow, though not to my despair, I see here and there a Temple child sinking into the slough of despondency, letting go of the rudder of the ship of life, staggering on under the weight of the heavy burden he has all unwittingly assumed, a burden too heavy for any one human being to carry, and all because he has temporarily lost the ability to function the Deific energy which alone would enable him to aspire to reach those divine and perfect conceptions which are the heritage of every child of the living God . conceptions within which are embodied the powers that swing the suns in space, the power that moves the spider to build its delicate habitation.

With the first awakening of the human Soul to a knowledge of its divinity, to a knowledge of the character of the substance of and within which its expression in form has been moulded, there are also awakened the Karmic results of its previous lives in the line of sensuous gratification, and it is overcome with horror and disgust, which temporarily dashes it into a whirlpool of fear ; fear that it has sinned too deeply for possible atonement, fear of its powerlessness to crush the demons pressing close about it.

Finally, in desperation, it determines to create an ideal, and to build toward that ideal by a method of [TT 109] elimination. It selects the most obvious fault in its category, and sets itself vigorously at work to eradicate it. It may succeed in temporarily crushing that fault out, or rather back into the depths of its auric body, but ere that difficult task is completed, it awakes to the consciousness that some other form of the same fault, or one equally abhorrent, is taking its place. It then begins to realize that there is a more deeply rooted cause for its failure than it has hitherto comprehended ; something is wrong at the very heart of its being ; the substance in which it is embodied, of which it is formed, does not seem to vibrate in unison with the heart of the great Over-Soul.

Discouraged at its powerlessness to crush its tormentors, it determines to try another method, that seemingly will be infallible, and so endeavors to conquer those elementary forces by raising them to a higher vibration. Where, mayhap, lust of power and place now manifest, it proceeds by the power of Will to awaken a corresponding desire for holy things. It devotes all its surplus energy to the advancement of some religious or humanitarian purpose. For a time, it believes it has found the peace of fulfillment, but some day it suddenly awakens to the fact that it has only transferred the original thirst for power and place to another phase of the same lustful desire, and now that hydra-headed monster holds it firmly in its grewsome clutches.

Then comes a period of utter despondency and despair. With weighted steps and bowed head, it plods along through the dreary wastes which spread out on all sides of it. It sees no end to its labor, knows no hope. But one day it contacts some other Soul, which has sunk still deeper in some of the morasses of evil, and its God-given power of sympathy responds to the call made upon it ; its lethargy, hopelessness, and despair drop from its consciousness as might a filthy cloak from the shoulders of a man ; it reaches out a helping hand to that suffering brother, and with the giving of that help there springs up into its consciousness, direct from the Christ-star Eros, a ray of the light that has lightened the Universe . Unselfish Love ; the love that casteth out all fear ; the love that incites to kindly action ; the love that begets peace, joy, happiness, even in the stress and turmoil of physical life ; the love that goes straight to the heart of things, and returns laden with blessings for all who will open their hearts for their entrance.

The proof of the awakening of love in the human Soul is the awakening of an overwhelming desire to give itself and all it possesses for the best good of all. It is only as we are enabled to give ourselves to Love that we can find life in abundance. But alas ! the self-deceived but seek amiss. They start out on their search for the Fountain of Wisdom, the waters of which are the sprayings of Love, with man [TT 110] made ideas, not only of what Love consists, but where it is to be found, and find naught but the vaporings of lust, which soon pall on their senses and finally leave them ten-fold more heart hungry than they were in the beginning of their search.

Often, oh, so often, have you heard the words, "Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of God." I herewith plead with you to strive with all your might to form some right concept of all that is involved in that sentence, all that it means to you individually.

First, perfect faith, unselfish love, and trust. It is only when a child has been influenced by its elders to do so, that it chooses the opposite pavement to that upon which the so-styled sinner is walking. Love reduces all men to a level. It takes nothing, it gives all. With the dawn of that mighty force in our hearts, it begins to speak through our eyes in no uncertain tones ; it draws to us by the might of intuition the wisdom and power we could attain in no other way ; it casts the filthy rags of self righteousness in which we have clothed ourselves into the flames that ascend from the heart of the great Temple of Life, and reclothes us in a spotless robe, woven from the threads which lie curled in the drops of sweat wrung from our tortures, as we stand in the midst of the central flame, where sooner or later every disciple of the Great White Lodge must stand until purified.

Ah, my children, nothing else counts in the sum of our existence save Love. "If ye love not your brother whom ye have seen" . the brother who has cheated you in business as well as the brother who has succored you, the sister who has betrayed your trust as well as the sister who has been your inspiration, your brethren who now walk on the shady side of the path of life . not always by choice, but frequently because they have been pushed from the sunny side by you and others like you : if ye cannot love these who need your love above all others, "how can ye love God whom ye have not seen", the God in whom these now despised ones "live and being" ?

So long as you can turn your faces in anger or disgust from the meanest thing that lives, so long as you can persuade or tempt another human being to do likewise, just so long will the bars of that gate which now shuts you off from your inheritance remain in place, and you still continue to grope around in the outer darkness. The words, "Judge not, that ye be not judged", were spoken to you just as surely as they were spoken to those other fragments of divinity, who, standing in the light of the Spiritual Sun, were striving to disperse the dense clouds which yet surrounded them ; but that light had been focused so strongly upon the screen of their lives, that their [TT 111] power of righteous judgment was held in abeyance by the fires thus kindled. But it is not so with you ; while you have long stood in the rays of that Sun, its light has entered your consciousness, and given you the power of self-restraint ; the power to withhold judgment and give love, where a weak or erring brother stands in need of it.

Come back to me, my children, who have wandered far away into the by-paths made by faithlessness, by false judgment, by lovelessness, until you can no longer hear my voice, no longer see my outstretched hand. Open your hearts to that divine love which, as a mirror, reflects our unity. Remember that your brother's sin is your sin, your sister's weaknesses are your weaknesses, and that as the Great Master cannot enter into his rest until he has gathered into one fold the sheep that belong to him, neither can you enter into your inheritance until you have led into your love the hearts that are a part of your heart. Take my hand, and with me seek your straying brothers and enfold them in the love that is the apotheosis of all things, the love that can conquer all things, even death itself.

As the sound of the words you have spoken passes into the invisible realms ; as the light of the fires you have kindled passes inward beyond your earthly vision ; both sound and light return to that form of energy of which they are integral parts, subject to recall by those who have won the power to manipulate those forms of energy, not necessarily as repetitions of the spoken words, or similar flashes of light, but as elementary embodiments subject to control. In like manner, the thoughts of love, compassion, and devotion which well up in the human heart, pass beyond the ken of their creators, to mingle with like forces in the realms of spirit. And these, too, are subject to recall, and come as angel visitants to those who have prepared a dwelling-place for them.

To those who look upon all spoken or written efforts to awaken man to a consciousness of the power of Love, as a string of platitudes . a useless waste of time, that might better be devoted to some material Purpose, I would say : even from the most material standpoint, the cultivation of the power of Love will bring about the manifestation of all they prize most highly ; for beyond all controversy, Love is the Most Potent form of energy in the Universe, and he who has won the power to control it, bas at his command all lesser forms of force ; but it is that form of Love that gives all instead of that which takes all ; for, paradoxical as it seems, and difficult to comprehend, renunciation is equivalent to possession. [TT 112]

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RIGHT APLLICATION OF LAW

LESSON 47

There are countless lessons to be learned from observation of the action of modern business principles. A past cycle of hand-to-hand conflict between men and nations for the possession of prestige, power and wealth is fast closing, and another cycle of the same world-wide struggle, wherein brains will furnish the weapons of offense and defense, has commenced, and is rapidly developing strength.

All cycles overlap each other to a greater or less extent. The "brave knight" no longer uses the crowded arena to display his prowess and receive his reward. The scene of bloody carnage is changing, and the greater battles are being fought out in the business offices of towering blocks of stone. Within these luxuriously appointed ante-rooms to the real scene of action . the world . deep plans are laid, the results of which sweep over the whole world, leaving in their wake bitterness, despair, suicide and murder, thereby sending countless thousands of men, women and children into the streets to beg, or worse ; and at the same time there is arising an over-active, optimistic class of men who are continually prating of the rapid advance of civilization.

Giants of finance, many of them are termed, men who heartlessly take every advantage of their wretched dupes and skilfully manipulate the people's own rights and privileges to their personal advantage, while the latter cringe and bow down to their temporary idols, until they find a loophole in their armor large enough to admit a hand, when a frenzied clutch is made at the Idol's hoarded wealth. If unsuccessful, jealousy and despair drive them on to tear down their idols from their pedestals, trample them into the dust, and cover their very names with obloquy, as, of old, like sycophants tore down the idols they had made and worshipped slavishly, until a time came when the governing laws of all life bore too heavily upon them, and the impotence of their idols to avert disaster and well deserved punishment became painfully apparent.

As long as they were sustained by the hope of a satisfactory response to their supplication, the idols were safe. When the latter seemed to fail to supply their ever increasing demands, all that they had before received, supposedly from the same source, was forgotten ; and in a frenzy of rage men fell upon the thing in which they had placed their trust, and tore it to pieces. And whether it be idol, king, government or individual, it matters not ; selfish, ungrateful, treacherous lower human nature in its rage repeats the same old tragedy over and over again throughout each age ; [TT 113] and the one who perceives the shadows of coming crises, and places himself in the midst of a tumultuous mob, to warn, to supplicate, to teach, must inevitably meet with the same fate that has befallen the would-be Saviours of mankind since the beginning of time.

But though all I have said be apparently rank pessimism, to the mind of the uninitiated, it is far from that in reality, for the fact that there has been a transference of the scene of action from a lower or material plane to a higher or mental plane, is the one redeeming feature of the whole pitiable situation. Until mankind could sense the horror, the brutality of bodily conflict, he could not . or would not . forego the gratification of his lustful desire for physical supremacy and emoluments, so again until man has reached to a full appreciation of the final effects of the still more deadly, if bloodless, slaughter of the innocents, now taking place under the guise of business, and the fact that his implements of torture are tenfold more dangerous, the wreckage which follows their use tenfold wider in extent, and the sin of it all as much more far-reaching as the mental energy is higher than mere brute force . he cannot even awake to the seriousness of the conditions in which he is involved ; and, until he is awakened, he will make no effort to change the situation.

Age after age there have been sent out from the Infinite Heart of Compassion the great souls who have won their crown of immortality, and they have been torn to pieces, and flung back to the source of being, as a gift may be flung at a giver after being covered with the filth which adhered to the hands which so desecrated it, and all because of the blindness, the selfishness of those whose sight is impeded by the brick-red mist of passion which swims before their inner eyes. And yet the struggle has only begun. What wonder is it that poor, weak human flesh quails at the thought of the ostracism, the contempt, the bludgeon and the halter, which it must expect, if it be placed in the wake of those who have taken a stand for righteousness' sake

But by far the most pitiful of all the cowards of the present human race is the man or woman who prates of brotherhood, of divine love and law, who has donned a wolf's garment and hidden it with the garb of righteousness, for the purpose of Preying upon his weaker brethren ; who has not even the courage of conviction ; who can stand idly by and see his fellow workers spat upon, buffeted, torn to pieces by the inner as well as outer forces of rebellion, without lifting a finger to aid or succor, and who will join hand and voice with the hands and voices of common enemies, in order to destroy those brothers. And the strangest part of the whole strange, abnormal condition of such a one is his lack of appreciation of all that he is bringing upon himself, upon his loved ones ; that he should be [TT 114] unable to perceive the character of the garment he has donned ; or if lie does perceive it, will not admit its character, even to himself, and so continues to lower himself into a slough of treachery and unbrotherliness, while knowing that lie is a part of the One Life, and that lie cannot strike at his brother without having the blow descend on his own head.

But even to such as these will the true soul turn in pity and love, for it knows that naught can be lost out of the universal heart of things and creatures ; that sooner or later that soul must come back to its early home ; it may be that it will come like a bird that has flung itself upon the rocks till its pinions are all broken, its power exhausted, and it falls to the ground a helpless, lifeless thing, a prey for the wild beasts, the sport of the winds of heaven ; but come it must, for there is no place in God's universe wherein a part of God may be lost eternally.

Physical pain, mental torture, reduces the bravest to a condition of helplessness ; and so long as selfishness exists, pain must live to do its perfect work. Banish selfishness, and the cause and sequence of pain must follow, for selfishness lives and thrives on gratified desire. In your hours of physical pain and languor, your thoughts naturally fly to the Higher Self . to God, or to some Master or Saviour to whom you have hitherto aspired ; you realize your weakness, and feel around with the arms of your soul, hoping to touch a hand in the darkness, which will impart the courage, the magnetic force to lift you out of the valley of the shadow and set your feet on the rugged path of life.

When disaster overtakes you by means of loss of fortune through the treachery of others, or your own lack of wisdom, you fall into a similar condition of weakness, and again you reach out into the great silence for help. You will hide this seeming weakness, this call for help, from those around you ; and sincere, earnest, as you have been, the answer to your supplication comes as it will invariably come, if your demand is made aright ; but alas, it all ends with the divine answer. Returning vigor, business or social calls distract your mind, the vows you have made remain unfulfilled, and often forgotten ; the light which once flooded your soul dies out because you have shaded the windows of the soul through which that light came.

The sympathy for others who suffer now as you then suffered is crushed back in your fight for material things ; your heart is hardened ; in other words, your soul is starved because you have failed to supply it with the only food that can nourish it, the food that can be attained in but one way . by obedience to the irrevocable law of supply and demand. Your wives, your husbands, children and friends sicken, suffer and possibly die, or other heavy [TT 115] losses follow, losses commensurate with the loss the heart of All-Being has sustained by means of your recreancy, your ingratitude, your failure to continue to make the spiritual demands which would make it possible for the divine Father-Motherhood to supply the nourishment your soul requires for its individual growth.

From even a superficial point it appears unaccountable that the average, intelligent, keen, executive operator in business or social life should so fail to continue to apply the laws which have hitherto brought success to him on material lines, to the soul or spiritual life, when to him the result of such success is so clearly all that is worth having, because of the possibility of the gratification of desires which more immediately concern the real sense organs of the soul. It is not alone for bodily ease and comfort his life is spent in struggle ; it is for the opportunity of filling his life with beautiful things, educating and gratifying his mind . for desire is located principally in the mind ; and still as a general thing such a man will entirely ignore, or fail to make an effort to appreciate the higher action of these laws. He knows, if he is to win in the struggle of life, that lie must be able to supply or create a demand in the public market. He knows lie must awaken such an appreciation of himself or his goods as will result in a return wave of thankfulness in the shape of dollars. He knows lie must repeat the effort, supply or create the demand over and over again ; that it is not enough to do it once and then cease all effort.

And yet, with all his knowledge of the action of those universal laws, it seldom occurs to him that by making the same continued effort, taking advantage of the action of the same laws, with an expenditure of one one-hundredth part of the same energy, lie could bring to himself infinitely more satisfaction, could feed and sustain his mind and soul, and thereby obtain a height of development unattainable to any marked degree by his labor in a lower field ; and his failure to perceive his lost opportunities lies in the fact that lie will not follow out the logical sequence of the action of those laws beyond the point where his physical eyes can perceive material results, though lie would look at you in scorn if you were to tell him the positive and negative laws which govern electricity were suspended upon the lighting of one arc light, or that the laws which govern sound would cease their action upon the sounding of a single note. He knows each law continues to act in exactly the same way through the whole visible universe, under the same circumstances ; and he is himself the arbiter of these circumstances so far as the action of the laws affects him personally. So, if lie would but carry his conclusions to a sensible terminus, lie could scarcely fail to perceive the unreasonableness of even theorizing along any other lines than those which have brought him to a point of material success. [TT 116]

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THE PATH OF LIGHT

LESSON 48

My Children : The first seven year cycle of the present phase of the Temple work is fast slipping away. There remains but a short time ere it passes into the great silence, with its records of efforts, successes, and failures ; its opportunities appreciated and advantageously used, or neglected and repudiated. No single Temple child can truthfully say it is not mentally and spiritually better fitted for contact with the world, more enlightened, more capable of assisting others to climb the steep hill of life, if it has faithfully followed the directions given by me.

As for those who have either willfully, purposefully, or ignorantly refused to follow those directions, spurned the advice which would have helped them, over many rough places, and who are therefore unable to see any sign of spiritual advance in themselves or others, I can only say, that if they have evolved any sense of justice, and are capable of making an honest self-examination (regardless of wounds to pride and egotism), they will admit that the fault lies with them. When I have made an explicit statement to a disciple concerning the good or evil result that will follow any specified line of action, a statement which I know rests upon the foundation of some unalterable law, and that statement is not accepted at its true value and acted upon, I have done all I may do to aid that disciple in that respect, until hard experience has taught him to view the contested point from an unbiased and intelligent angle of vision. This would seem to be an evident fact.

Nevertheless, there are among your number those who have set a false estimate on the value of certain statements made by me, ignoring or repudiating them, without making an effort to learn their true basis, and for the reason that they could not make them fit in with their own theories ; or, as in some instances, while admitting the possible truth of said statements, their acceptance would render those disciples unable to justify to their own consciences the continuance of certain practices they were not yet prepared to renounce. In no case where I have observed such results, have I failed to see the acceptance of opposing statements made by false teachers, which, notwithstanding all denials, must inevitably lead to the severance of those ties which unite the true Master of the White Lodge and his disciples ; and just as inevitably bind the latter to the service of the opposing forces ; though it may be all unconsciously.

When I have told you that any particular line of action in regard to a brother [TT 117] disciple will surely awaken an active semi-conscious degree of corresponding elemental force within your own Auras, a force which up to that time bas been merely potential so far as you are concerned ; and which, unless rendered impotent by a higher power will induce some mental or physical ailment that will incapacitate you for reaching some higher degree of evolution to which you are aspiring ; and when, instead of accepting my statement and acting upon given directions, you try to justify your actions or to assure yourselves that your conduct bas been due to the influence of others or to some evil hereditary or acquired characteristic, now very indulgently contemplated by you, you make me powerless to aid you in controlling those elements.

I do not say you have an easy task before you when you commence to change or kill out such tendencies, but I do say it must be done ; so why not begin to do it now, instead of daily adding to their power over you by indifference ? If you are honest with yourselves, you know whether or not you are yet capable of rightly using the greater secrets of occultism ; for instance, the secrets of life and death ; the power of changing the vibration of living substance, for a wrong use of which you would be held accountable to the Lodge ; you, who have as yet but little or no control over even what you term "a bad temper", which for instance, if indulged in, coincidently with the exercise of such powers, might kill the victim of your anger by a look or thought. Or many of you are still so tainted with the curse of the world, the accumulation of wealth at the expense of your brethren, that you would be unable to refrain from, using even a divine power if it were yours to use, for self-aggrandizement. I have never given you advice or direction that has not had back of it the knowledge of the action of some cosmic law which would more rapidly develop some important centre in your Auras, or retard or destroy the growth of some undesirable one.

I have given you instruction after instruction, explanatory of the modus operandi of such laws, that you might more intelligently observe and profit by the same, as well as given you my reasons for emphasizing many Points of given directions ; and when I tell you that sortie one act will arouse a corroding force within your Aura, it should not now be necessary for me to elaborate such a statement in order to enable you to understand that such a force could not operate in that essence of your vehicles of manifestation, mental, astral and physical (the Aura), without destroying or badly injuring some important plexus or organ, thereby rendering you incapable of becoming a centre of operations for the special degree of energy that under normal conditions would [TT 118] express itself through that plexus or organ, thereby making you so much the less "a whole man", or woman. I have told you that certain acts would invariably lead to black magic, and that a conscious and continued line of action of such a nature would take you from under the protection of the White Lodge ; and yet, to satisfy curiosity or insatiate thirst for abnormal growth, I have seen some of your number deliberately perform such acts ; and in some instances, perform them at the suggestion of incompetent instructors ; eagerly drinking in the poison offered them in the line of instruction, and even indulging in the practices that must inevitably cost them many incarnations of woeful suffering, mental and physical.

I have heard others criticize as "old and trite", directions that have been given them from the depths of centuries of experience, and suffered anguish of soul because of seeming inability to convey the truth of the tremendous importance of the apparently simple idea and still more simple words in which they were clothed, and also to convey a knowledge of the fact that their simplicity and age are the surest indications of their value. If they had been hitherto understood by others, and acted upon, there would be no necessity for their constant repetition, for they would have accomplished the desired purpose.

What would you think of your dearest friend if he stopped to consider carefully the grammatical construction of a sentence in which he was conveying a warning, while a cobra was coiled for a spring at your back, if his inaction was caused by a fancied idea that you would object to the form of words he must use to arrest your attention ?

There are certain strict and inviolable rules for developing a disciple into an Initiate, and each of these rules is simple in construction of form, and as old as the stars and planets of the solar system. If their age, construction and context render them, uninteresting reading, or tiresome in their application, to those who are always seeking some new thing, some easy way of climbing the ladder of life, it simply proves such persons incompetent, impossible, as far as true chelaship is concerned.

Only too often such a one falls under the ban of the law when harassed mercilessly by implacable enemies, with faith destroyed, destitute of love, of all that sentient life offers to man in seeming generosity only to snatch away as his hand is reached out, if he prove incapable of seizing the gift ; he goes to the foot of the ladder of life, and there finds that his desires have fled, his will is broken ; and finally crushed to the earth he reaches out to the Great Silence, where alone the soul may speak with God, and then he learns how unnecessary was the greater part of all his woe ; how gladly would his elder brothers have helped him on his way if he had permitted them. [TT 119

] If man could dissociate the egoism of his personal self (which is usually in contradistinction to the general ideal of the egoism of the Godhead), and understand that in the last analysis there is but one Soul, one Ego, the result of ages of manifested life, and that It is divine, his contempt for the seemingly simple things of life would undergo a great change ; for, paradoxical as it seems, the more simple appears to be a thing, a number, the greater and more complex it is in reality.

A man who can neither read nor write may be as far beyond you in the real scale of life, as you are beyond the lowest form of life, if he bas evolved the Power and Will to render perfect service in exact justice, and you are still clinging to present worldly ideals, though he may be at a great disadvantage in the world of things and unable to make the necessary correlation between the different material planes. "There are no little things." Every great event rests upon the foundation of some seemingly little thing, some simple action, and you may rest assured no Initiate of the Lodge will waste time, and force, and knowledge in propounding a conundrum ; or, for amusement, direct the accomplishment of a useless task. If you refuse to learn the alphabet of life, you can never understand or speak its language.

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THE VALUE OF CORRESPONDENCES

LESSON 49

The Astrologer, Astronomer or Geologist, even more than many other seekers in cosmic fields of research, will find more than enough to occupy his time and attention in a single life time, in any one field of investigation ; nevertheless, if he permit himself to be confined exclusively to one field, he will find his powers of generalization and combination gradually departing : in other words, atrophying.

If the said powers are to be retained in their fullness, they must be kept constantly employed. Research into the minutiae of any one field of labor should awaken a desire for the investigation of corresponding minutiae in other fields, for it is only by combining the minutiae of the Phenomena of all states of matter belonging to the same octave of vibration, that the ideal form which has given birth to all that class Of phenomena can be brought under observation. By losing the ability to find and concentrate on the primal cause, the centre, from which [TT 120] proceed all the minutiae of any degree of matter, the investigator becomes rigid, inflexible ; fie narrows his nature and his conception of things down to such an infinitesimal Point that he becomes a mere slave to minutiae ; he attaches himself by the energy of concentrated effort to the "little things" of life instead of the great, and but seldom rises to the investigation of primal causes.

In my communications to you, I have been striving to aid you to avoid this danger by frequently changing your angle of vision, and forcing you to turn your attention to different planes and states of consciousness ; not pursuing any one line of research, but endeavoring to give you general outlines interspersed with more specific delineations, trusting that you would be able to fill in the outlines with the minor details of personal experiences, and finally, not only be able to seize upon and place any one of the greater divisions where it belongs in the Cosmic scale of Matter, Force and Consciousness, but also, be able to form a comparatively good concept of any one of those divisions by means of any part of the minutiae which constitute that division ; so there has been more method in my apparent wanderings than my critics would suppose. I might for instance take the sacred word Aum, and confine my efforts for many months to the different definitions given to the word, take some one letter and trace it back through the archives of time to its first utterance ; give you a detailed account of all the difficulties experienced by those who have sought for its correct interpretation ; but when I had completed such observations, you would know no more of the real power and substance of the word than you did when I commenced ; and it may be as well to continue to use this word as a subject for further illustration, while giving a short instruction on the principles under consideration.

The Sacred Word symbolizes three of the greatest forms of energy in manifestation, the higher potencies of which are subject to the will of perfected man and God. By many it is supposed that the power of this word lies in the right pronunciation of the letters alone, but this is a great mistake. Its power lies in the energies which are symbolized by the letters, and the correct pronunciation only starts the vibration of a definite degree of each of the three forms of energy. The purpose and direction of the same must also be clearly defined in the mind of the operator using the word.

The letter A symbolizes fire (flame), the letter U heat, and the letter M water ; legendary lore maintains that the first sound symbolized by the letter M, i. e., the explosive utterance of that sound, by the Cosmic Builder, called together the scattered elementals and created the Great Deep . the [TT 121] Waters, and the wavy motion thus imparted to the Akasha, by the movement of the Elementals, continued such explosions, by bringing together and combining the Hydrogen and Oxygen potentially resident in the Akasha, thus creating the first deluge or watery planes. In fact we are told the letter M designates a cosmic centre of manifestation, and whenever or wherever we see a drop of water, we may know it was created by an explosion of gases, an expulsive effort of Nature. Water is the feminine principle of life, and each one of the three centres of generation manifesting therein is symbolized by the double strokes which form one-third of the letter M, and each such division symbolizes a union of the masculine and feminine principles . an equilibrium struck by positive and negative action. Either some one, or a combination of two of the three above mentioned centres of generation creates the foundation strata and holds the potential form of every creature or object in all the natural kingdoms, from a stone to a god ; as in the axis around which gather the minute lives of crystallization. Within and around such an axis evolves every molecule of plant, flower and fruit, and also the central nucleus of all seed and seminal fluids.

Different combinations of all three of these centres form the nucleus of the brain, heart, and organs of reproduction in man. On the subliminal planes where the vibratory action of all substance is increased, the fiery properties designated by the first two letters of the word, A-U, begin to operate more powerfully ; the watery element M, is absorbed by the heat, U, which has previously been generated by the flame A ; and as the separated letters of the Sacred Word are combined, forming a word, so the principles of Flame, Heat and Water are combined in the nucleus of a thing or a world.

The pronunciation of the Word is then no longer, AAA-OOO-MMM it has become Aum. Water ceases to be water ; it is transmuted, raised, as the physical body of the Neophyte is transmuted in the fiery pillar of the great Initiation chamber, leaving only a congery of energies subject to the control of Will, capable of being condensed and made visible and audible to physical eyes and ears, as Hydrogen and Oxygen by means of an explosion may become condensed and visible as water. Take a piece of ice, subject it to heat, it becomes water ; increase the heat, it becomes steam ; subject that steam to, pressure, it becomes energy ; in a corresponding manner the Physical body becomes a spiritual body. The fire body of an Initiate is such a congery of energies, and by effort of His purified will He can condense and concentrate the same to different degrees of vibration corresponding to planes of phenomena above noted.

If the investigator in the field of crystallization is content to confine his research exclusively to the material aspects of the same, he [TT 122] will not only have a comparatively narrow field for investigation, but he will gradually lose interest in other fields of research, and will finally lose his power to seek and find the basic principles of crystallization, which can far more readily be observed in the corresponding fluidic principles ; therefore I repeat, do not be satisfied with exclusive investigations in one field ; find the correspondences to any one object or detail under observation, in all the other kingdoms of nature ; for you will never find the basic principle of any one state of matter or substance in that particular state or degree of substance wherein it manifests more pronouncedly to physical senses.

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ZONES OF COLOR

LESSON 50

However wise the teacher, he can give but little knowledge to his pupils in the stereotyped phrases lie must use to clothe his ideas ; unless his words strike upon the Soul's organ of hearing, lie can convey no vital truth. Words are but symbols, which change and pass away, while knowledge is eternal, and words must be vitalized, impregnated with pranic force, to give them even temporary endurance ; and this can only be done in concentration. It is in the parturition pains of concentration that the power of perception is born-or, to be a little more exact, is transferred from the spiritual to the mental plane.

In pursuing the study of Symbolism, if anything but a superficial knowledge of the same is to be attained, the student must at the same time strive to cultivate the power of concentration. He must become able to recognize the whole of an idea or object by any one of its constituent parts, and to do it instantaneously ; or in the interpretation of an idea or a message lie may lose the most important point while stopping to interpret some connecting or other symbol of secondary importance.

By understanding that all things in manifestation are symbols of eternal truths, and by taking any one visible object and fixing the mind upon that, first by an effort of will, then by stopping the fluctuations of the mind, the soul can make itself heard as it tries to impart to the mind some inner truth in relation to the object under investigation. In fact the consciousness of observer and observed becomes identified, the personal Ego becomes conscious of all [TT 123] that is in the consciousness or soul of the object.

But as a rule students become too easily discouraged. Because they have some difficulty in stopping the fluctuations of the mind and in listening for the tones of the inner voice at one and the same time, they give up in despair. They seem to think it ought to be a purely natural process requiring no continued effort on their part. It is quite understandable to them that even years of study and close application may be necessary for the acquisition of some specific branch of scientific knowledge, while, at the same time, they rebel at the idea of giving much less time and effort to a power that is limitless, or despair of final success.

In no branch of Occultism will the earnest student find more to interest and instruct himself and others, than in the study of all phenomena from the aspect of Color. It is not generally understood that the geographical divisions of latitude and longitude were originally designed to mark out the habitat of different orders of Color Elementals, the knowledge of which was confined to Initiates and was held inviolate. At the centre of each of the Zones so defined, there are Astral conditions comparable to those resident around the solar plexus of man, where the Color Elementals of any ray exert more power than on either side, and therefore exert a tremendous influence on all things and people that live therein. As there are ties of relationship existing between different parts of the earth and corresponding divisions of the Cosmos, so there are ties of relationship existing between these and all human beings upon the Earth, and the Color that dominates a Color Zone has a Peculiar influence over the people that belong to that particular Color Ray. The hair, eyes, and skin are strongly affected, and such a Zone is the natural environment of those who belong to that ray. Out of it, they will degenerate and decay as a race. It does not often occur to students of life's mysteries that loss of health may be due primarily to a wrong color environment, yet this is true.

This particular part of California lies in the Centre of the Color Zone of the Red Ray. By following the 35th and 36th parallels you may find the portions of the Earth's surface where the Red races would find their natural environment. The Aztec, Indian and Aryan Races are among those races. So subtle and potent is the influence of color, that if the units of a race are transplanted, or even if the environment and association be changed by the introduction of innovations brought about by people of another race who are dominated by some other color, the people in Whom the operation of either color is most strongly pronounced are [TT 123] the ones who will gain and hold power and preeminence, and the others will die out gradually, or their descendants will become mixed and partake more strongly of the characteristics and constitutional tendencies of the dominating units.

There is some one color zone on the earth's surface in which every human, animal, vegetable and mineral creation, is naturally "at home" ; a zone where all that is in them will rise to its highest point of attainment, if given like advantages to those that might obtain elsewhere, under other circumstances ; and one result of the coming of the golden age will be the attainment of the knowledge of how to seek the true home zone and at the same time the necessary advantages that will enable all the races of the earth to reach the highest possible point of attainment for them. In individual minds there is already awakening an inkling of the importance of research along these lines.

However, an earnest student of Occultism will not be contented to stop his investigation at the point of manifestation of color and its effects ; he will desire to know what lies still farther back of the zones of color and their apparent effects on the human race ; and this brings me back to the opening paragraphs of this communication. The ability to determine these mysteries and satisfy his inner craving for knowledge lies in the student's power of understanding and remembering the correspondences . the language of symbolism, and by concentration and analytical research, to trace back the effects to their hidden causes ; and 't is not such a difficult thing to do as you might imagine.

Take for instance the Red race. The earth's red plexus, that part of the earth more particularly dominated by the Red Ray, lies between the 30th and 40th degrees from the equator ; that is the true home of all those people who spiritually belong to the Red Ray. There are also many people in incarnation in the mixed races at the present time who belong to the Red Ray, but who are on the verge of changing into some other ray ; for it must be remembered that at the beginning of each new manvantara, the monads ready for incarnation come under the dominion of some other degree of life or Color ray than that in which they had previously incarnated. Those now incarnated in the Red Ray will become a part of the Blue Ray in the next manvantara, those now of the Blue Ray will become a part of the Red Ray unless they have passed through that phase of existence, in which case both they and the monads of the present Blue Ray will pass into the Violet at the beginning of the next manvantara. Unless you are willing to accept the fact that every color ray, as well as every other division of the Cosmos, is an embodied entity on [TT 125] some plane of existence, you will not be able to accept my statement that there is a corresponding plexus to that of the red color zone of the earth, in the entity we term the Red Ray . a cosmic plexus . represented by the planet Mars, as far as it is visible to the human vision, and also another similar plexus or rather a form of energy which corresponds to a plexus, on each of the invisible planes.

If you are able to perceive that in their totality all these various plexuses which manifest in each state and condition of matter, force, and consciousness, are one single entity, it will not be difficult for you to perceive that there must inevitably be a very powerful force of attraction between the red color zone of the earth and the people of the Red race.