The heart center in man opens the door into what is called “the heart of the Sun.” The throat center opens the way into full understanding of the path of the physical Sun and all true astrologers must eventually have that center functioning. The head center opens the way to the central spiritual Sun, each passing, via the planetary correspondence, to one of the cosmic planes.
Thus we have a summation of technicalities, and of facts, which are (under the Law of Analogy) of purely academic interest and no more. Even those of us who are initiate know practically nothing of the cosmic planes beyond the cosmic physical. Our consciousness is only beginning to be solar, and we are laboring in our small measure to overcome those planetary limitations which hold us back from solar knowledge and life. For aspirants who have not even a knowledge of what planetary consciousness signifies, the above information has only one value and that is, that it emphasizes the synthetic nature of the great plan and the fact that the smallest unit is an integral part of the whole. It enforces the idea that energy is a life fluid circulating throughout the entire body of the Logos, and vivifying therefore even the tiniest atom in that whole. It is valuable to endeavor to grasp the picture and to vision the wonder of what is transpiring. It is waste of time, nevertheless, to ponder upon the cosmic astral plane, for instance, when even the plane of the ego (the fifth subplane of the cosmic physical plane, counting from above downwards) is as yet inaccessible to the average man and is the goal for all his aspiration and meditation.
For man, therefore, the Universal Mind can best be grasped as it expresses itself through what we call the concrete mind, the abstract mind, and the intuition or pure reason.
The concrete mind is the form building faculty. Thoughts are things. The abstract mind is the pattern building faculty, or the mind which works with the blue prints upon which the forms are modeled. The intuition or pure reason is the faculty which enables man to enter into contact with the Universal Mind and grasp the plan synthetically, to seize upon divine Ideas or isolate some fundamental and pure truth.
The goal of all the work of an aspirant is to understand those aspects of the mind with which he has to learn to work. His work therefore might be summed up as follows:
- He has to learn to think; to discover that he has an apparatus which is called the mind and to uncover its faculties and powers. These have been well analyzed for us in the first two books of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
- He has to learn next to get back of his thought processes and form building propensities and discover the ideas which underlie the divine thought-form, the world process, and so learn to work in collaboration with the plan and subordinate his own thought-form building to these ideas. He has to learn to penetrate into the world of these divine ideas and to study the “pattern of things in the Heavens” as it is called in the Bible. He must begin to work with the blue prints upon which all that is, is modeled and molded. He becomes then a student-symbolist, and from being an idolater he becomes a divine idealist. I use these words in their true sense and connotation.
- From that developed idealism, he must progress even deeper still, until he enters the realm of pure intuition. He can then tap truth at its source. He enters into the mind of God Himself. He intuits as well as idealizes and is sensitive to divine thoughts. They fertilize his mind. He calls these intuitions later, as he works them out, ideas or ideals, and bases all his work and conduct of affairs upon them.
- Then follows the work of conscious thought-form building, based upon these divine ideas, emanating as intuitions from the Universal Mind. This goes forward through meditation.
Every true student knows that this involves concentration in order to focus or orient the lower mind to the higher. Temporarily the normal thought-form building tendencies are inhibited. Through meditation, which is the mind’s power to hold itself in the light, and in that light become aware of the plan, he learns to “bring through” the needed ideas. Through contemplation he finds himself able to enter into that silence which will enable him to tap the divine mind, wrest God’s thought out of the divine consciousness and to know. This is the work before each aspirant and hence the necessity of his understanding the nature of his mental problem, the tools with which he must perforce work, and the use he must make of what he learns and gains through right use of the mental apparatus.
How is this to be done? How bring through and how build afterwards?
No matter how small or unimportant an individual thinker may be, yet in cooperation with his brethren, he wields a mighty force. Only through the steady strong right thinking of the people and the understanding of the correct use of mental energy can progressive evolution go forward along the desired lines. Right thinking depends upon many things, and it might be useful to state some of them very simply:
- An ability to sense the vision. That involves a capacity in a faint measure to realize the archetype on which the Lodge is endeavoring to fashion the race. It involves cooperation in the work of the Manu, and the development of abstract as well as synthetic thought, the flashing forth of the intuition. The intuition wrests from the high places a touch of the ideal plan as it lies latent in the mind of the Logos. As men develop this capacity, they will touch sources of power that are not on mental levels at all but which constitute those from which the mental plane itself draws sustenance.
- Then, having sensed the vision and glimpsed a fraction of the beauty (how little men see is astounding!) in your hands lies the opportunity to bring down to the mental plane as much of the plan as you possibly can. Nebulous and faint at first is your grasp after it, yet it will begin to materialize. Seldom at first will you find that you can contact it, for the vision comes through the medium of the causal body and few can hold that high consciousness for a long time. But the struggle to apprehend will lead to results, and little by little the idea will seep through to the concrete levels of the mental plane. Then it becomes a concrete thought, something that can be definitely visualized and appropriated as a basis for thought.
- This accomplished, what comes next? A period of gestation, a period wherein you build your thought-form of as much of the vision as you can bring through into your consciousness. Slowly must this be done, for a stable vibration and a well built form is desired. Hurried work leads nowhere. As you build there will gradually be sensed a longing, a desire to see this vision brought to earth, and see it becoming known to others among the sons of men. Then you vitalize the thought-form with the power of your will, you seek to make it be; the rhythm becomes heavier and slower, the material built into your form is necessarily coarser, and you find that your thought-form of the vision is clothed in matter of the mental and astral planes.
- Happy the disciple who can bring the vision nearer still to humanity, and work it into existence on the physical plane. Remember this, that the materialization of any aspect of the vision on the physical plane is never the work of one man. Only when it has been sensed by the many, only when they have worked at its material form can their united efforts draw it into outer manifestation. Thus you see the value of educating public opinion; it brings the many helpers to the aid of the few visionaries. Always the Law holds good; – in descent, differentiation. The two or three sense the plan intuitively; then the rhythm they set up with their thought sweeps the mental plane matter into activity; thinkers seize hold of the idea. This is a hard thing to learn and difficult to do but the reward is great.
To those who wrestle, strive, and hold on, the joy is doubled when the materialization comes. The joy of contrast will be yours, for knowing the past of darkness you will revel in the light of fruition; the joy of tried and tested companionship will be yours, for years will have proved to you who are your chosen associates, and in community of suffering will come the strengthened link; the joy of peace after victory will be yours, for to the tired warrior the fruits of achievement and rest are doubly sweet; the joy of participation in the Masters plan will be yours, and all is well that associates you closely with Them; the joy of having helped to solace a needy world, of having brought light to darkened souls, of having healed in some measure the open sore of the world’s distress, will be yours, and in the consciousness of days well spent, and in the gratitude of salvaged souls, comes the deepest joy of all, – the joy a Master knows when He is instrumental in lifting a brother up a little higher on the ladder. This is the joy that is set before you all – and not so very far ahead it lies. So work, not for joy but towards it; not for reward, but from the inner need to help; not for gratitude, but from the urge that comes from having seen the vision and realization of the part you have to play in bringing that vision down to earth.It is helpful to differentiate between happiness, joy and bliss:
- • First, happiness, which has its seat in the emotions, and is a personality reaction.
- • Second, joy, which is a quality of the soul and is realized in the mind, when alignment takes place.
- • Third, bliss, which is the nature of the Spirit and about which speculation is fruitless until the soul realizes its oneness with the Father.
This realization follows upon an earlier stage wherein the personal self is at-oned with the soul. Therefore speculation and analysis as to the nature of bliss is profitless to the average man whose metaphors and terminologies must perforce be personal and related to the world of the senses. Does the aspirant refer to his happiness or joy? If he refers to the latter it must come as the effect of group consciousness, of group solidarity, of oneness with all beings, and may not be interpreted in terms of happiness after all. Happiness comes when the personality is meeting with those conditions which satisfy it in one part or other of its lower nature; it comes when there is a sense of physical well being, of contentment with one’s environment or surrounding personalities, or of satisfaction with one’s mental opportunities and contacts. Happiness is the goal of the separated self.
When however we seek to live as souls, the contentment of the lower man is discounted and we find joy in our group relationships and in bringing about those conditions which lead to the better expression of the souls of those we contact. This bringing of joy to others in order to produce conditions in which they may better express themselves may have a physical effect as we seek to better their material conditions, or an emotional effect as our presence brings to them peace and uplift, or an intellectual result as we stimulate them to clarity of thought and understanding. But the effect upon ourselves is joy, for our action has been selfless and non acquisitive, and not dependent upon the aspirant’s circumstance or worldly state. Much happiness is necessarily foregone when ill-health makes its pressure felt, as the environment is difficult and the “accumulated karma of many births” presses down, or as the troubles of the family, nation or race weigh upon the sensitive personality. The happiness of youth or the self-centered contentment of the selfish insulated person (hiding himself behind the shield of his protective desires) must not be confounded with joy.
It is a platitude as well as an occult paradox to say that in the midst of profound personality distress and unhappiness, the joy of the soul may be known and felt. Such however is the case, and it is for this the student must aim. Some people are happy because they shut their eyes to truth, or are self-hypnotized, hiding themselves within a shell of illusion. But the aspirant has frequently reached the stage wherein his eyes are wide open; he has learnt to speak truth to himself, and has built up no separating wall between himself and others. He is awake and alive; he is sensitive and frequently suffering. He wonders why apparently what the world calls happiness and peace have left him, and asks what is to be the outcome.
We who watch and guide on the inner side, watch with loving care all of you who struggle in the thick of the fray. We are like the General Headquarters Staff who follow the course of the battle from a secure eminence. In our security lies your ultimate success, for we hold in our hands the solution of many problems, and apply that solution when the battle goes contrary. One thing always would I have you remember. It is of vital importance. It is this statement, that in the destruction of the form lies hid the secret of all evolution. Think not this is truism. You will see it in constant application and need to be prepared for its demonstration. The Masters utilize the form to the uttermost; They seek to work through it, imprisoning the life in confining walls for just as long as the purpose is served and the race instructed through that form. Then the time comes that the form no longer serves the purpose intended, when the structure atrophies, crystallizes and becomes easily destructible. Its destruction then becomes the matter of greatest concern and usefulness, and it goes, whilst a new form takes its place. Watch and see if this be not so. Always the building of the form, always its utilization for as long as possible, always the destruction of the form when it hinders and cramps the expanding light, always then the rapid reconstruction of a new form. Such has been the method since the commencement of the aeon.
