Part 1 of 2 here.
This whole subject of light and power is of so vast a nature and is relatively so little understood in its true significance as an expression (in dual form) of energy which flows upward from the personality and downward from the soul that it is only as more and more people tread the Path that the problem will emerge in its true light and thus eventually be handled rightly. I will refer here briefly to some of the problems so as to provide the germ or seed of thought from which future study can grow and the future investigation arise. They might be summarized as follows:
- The theme of light and energy is closely connected with the problem (for such it is at this time) of the entire glandular system; it is, therefore, of basic importance that there should be understanding of this relation for it is one of the fundamental things upon which the health of the entire body and its right functioning rests.
- When there is a correct grasp of this subject, it will be found that the brain and the two head centers (actuating the pituitary body and the pineal gland) are the directing agents for all the activities of the man upon the physical plane. Today, he is largely directed by his animal instincts, by his sexual life and by his emotional reactions or else by his creative activities as they express themselves through the throat center. A few – very few – of his activities are directed from the heart, but eventually men must control their life expression from the head via the dual organs of the soul and the personality – the ajna center, working through the pituitary body and expressing the personality life at its highest, and the head center, working through the pineal gland, responsive to soul impulse. There will then be balance and right direction of all the life forces and a right development (following ray indications) of all the centers in the body.
- Through this right rearrangement of the life forces in the body and their consequent “enlightenment and energizing”, men will be enabled to do two things, speaking symbolically:
- They will “see God” and be in touch with the soul.
- They will “know what is in man” and can then act wisely and work constructively.
- They will be able to “pierce the glamor of the astral plane” and proceed to function without error and can thus bring about the unimpeded illumination of the brain and the dissemination of knowledge in the brain.
You will note from the above how many of the hallucinations, the glamors, the ambitions and the errors of the modern mystic can all be traced to the early stages and the embryonic beginnings of these developments. They are indicative, therefore, of unfoldment. But unfortunately they are not understood for what they are and the available light and energy are misapplied or turned to selfish and personal ends. This cannot as yet be avoided by any but the more advanced and experienced disciples and occultists; and many aspirants must continue for some time destroying themselves (from the personality angle and in this life) in what has been called the “fiery light of their misunderstanding and the burning fire of their personality ambition” until they learn that humility and scientific technique which will make them wise directors of the light and the power which is pouring into and through them all the time.
A study, therefore, of the three types of difficulties, emerging out of the development and the unfoldment of the psychic powers brings me to a wide generalization, to which you must remember there will be many exceptions:
- The appearance of the lower psychic powers usually indicates that the man who is their victim (for we are here only dealing with the abnormalities of the psychic science) is on the third ray or that the third ray is dominant in his personality or a controlling factor in his personality equipment. Frequently an astral body, controlled by the third ray, will be found.
- The registering of the mystical vision with its attendant difficulties is facilitated when the second ray is controlling and powerful, because the second ray is connected peculiarly with vision and with light.
- It will be apparent to you that the revelation of power is obviously part of the expression of the first ray type.
In this way, though all experiences come eventually to the disciple, the three major difficulties with which we have been dealing, – the psychic powers, the problems incident to the mystical vision and the revelation of light and power – have a relation to and a connection with the ray expression. This should be borne in mind by the psychologist, the investigator and the physician. Psychic sensitivity, mystical duality, and dominating power – these are the three major problems of the aspirant and should be studied and understood. They affect the three major centers – the head, the heart and the center between the eyebrows – in the disciple, for psychic sensitivity is related to the heart, mystical duality to the ajna center and the problem of power to the highest head center.
In the aspirant or advanced human being, they affect the throat, the solar plexus and the sacral center, but as they are definitely due to an expansion of consciousness, they have little registered or noticeable effect upon the unevolved man or upon the average man who is preoccupied with physical plane life and emotional reactions. He is not passing through the stimulating but disrupting processes of reorientation, of recognizing duality and of fusion of the personality. As we have earlier seen, the processes of integration bring their own problems.
As time goes on, the stages of difficulty will be more carefully investigated from the angle of the occult hypotheses and then much progress will take place. This will be peculiarly so, if the problems of adolescence are studied, for they are the problems of the Atlantean consciousness and of the mystical unfoldment.
I would like here to point out that just as the embryo in the womb recapitulates the various stages of animal unfoldment, so the human being, during the years of infancy, adolescence and youth up to the age of 35, recapitulates the various racial stages of consciousness. At 35 years old he should then affirm in himself the stage of the intelligent disciple. Much will be gained by a recognition of this recapitulatory process which – in the New Age which is upon us – will do much to control and to determine the processes of unfoldment to which the child and youth will be subjected by the wise educator.
