Theos-Talk Archives (October 2001 Message tt00307)

PART 2 - HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY


Friday, October 19, 2001

Dear Friends:

In connection with this subject, I attach some quotations taken
from original Theosophical sources that related to the psychic
nature and plane.

because of its length it is divided into 2 parts. This is Part
2 --



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MANAS - THE HUMAN SOUL - MIND - INTELLECTUALITY


"...the thinking Soul or mind..." KEY 74


"...the Soul, Psyche..." KEY 91


"...man and Soul have to conquer their immortality by
ascending towards the unity." KEY 102


"...the Soul of man (or his higher "principles, and
attributes")...(as defined by Pythagoras, Plato, and Timmaeus of
Locris)...[ are derived ] from the Universal World Soul...AEther
(Pater Zeus)..." KEY 104


"...the reasoning soul comes from within the Universal
Soul..." KEY 105


"From the fact that the soul (Higher Manas) is conjoined
in the body with the organ of thought (Lower Manas), and thus
with the whole of Nature, lack of discrimination follows,
produces misconceptions of duties and responsibilities."
PAT 24-5


"...the work of the soul is to seek Wisdom, and the
substance of earthly wisdom is to know Universal Wisdom."
MODERN PANARION, 379


"Since Manas, in its lower aspect, is the seat of the
terrestrial mind, it can, therefore, give only that perception of
the Universe which is based on the evidence of that mind; it
cannot give spiritual vision." KEY 158


"...Manas-Taijasi, the Buddhi-lit human soul...if it can
be said of Buddhi that it is unconditionally immortal, the same
cannot be said of Manas...no post-mortem consciousness or
Manas-Taijasi, can exist apart from Buddhi, the divine soul,
because the first (Manas) is, in its lower aspect, a
qualificative attribute of the terrestrial personality...In its
turn, Buddhi would remain only an impersonal spirit without this
element which it borrows from the human soul, which conditions
and makes of it. in this illusive Universe, as it were something
separate from the universal soul for the whole period of the
cycle of incarnation. Say rather that Buddhi-Manas can neither
die nor lose its compound self-consciousness in Eternity, nor the
recollections of its previous incarnations..."
HPB ART II 198-9




LOWER MANAS - PERSONALITY - ANIMAL SOUL


"Astral Soul," another name for the lower Manas, or
Kama-Manas so-called, the reflection of the Higher Ego." GLOS
37


"...Anoia, (folly, or the irrational animal Soul)..."
KEY 91


"...the instinctual soul...derived from and through and
ever influenced by the moon [astral light]..." KEY 96


"The Soul of man (i.e., the personality) per se, is
neither immortal, eternal, nor divine." KEY
106


"From the fact that the soul (Higher Manas) is conjoined
in the body with the organ of thought (Lower Manas), and thus
with the whole of Nature, lack of discrimination follows,
produces misconceptions of duties and responsibilities."
PATANJALI, pp, 24-5


...the animal soul, that which becomes a ghost after
death, when lust or liking or the memory of ill-deeds holds it to
the neighborhood of human beings..." L on P p. 49



WHY THE UNIVERSE ? - WHY THE SOUL ?


"The Universe (visible and invisible--compounded of
purity, action and rest)...exists for the sake of the soul's
experience and emancipation...For the sake of the soul alone, the
Universe exists..."
PAT 25-6


"the soul is the Perceiver; is assuredly vision itself
pure and simple; unmodified; and looks directly upon ideas."
PAT 26


"Spirit is universal...It cannot know itself except as
Soul. Spirit is the "power to become;" Soul is "the becoming."
Spirit is the power to see and know; Soul is the seeing and
knowing. Soul is the accumulation of perceptions and experiences
by means of which Spiritual Identity is realized." Q & A 21
(see GLOS 306)


"...a soul which thirsts after a reunion with its spirit,
which alone confers upon it immortality, must purify itself
through cyclic transmigration..." KEY 111


"What then is the universe for, and for what purpose is
man the immortal thinker here in evolution? It is all for the
experience and emancipation of the soul, for the purpose of
raising the entire mass of manifested matter up to the stature,
nature, and dignity of conscious god-hood. The great aim is the
reach self-consciousness; not through a race or a tribe of some
favored nation, but by and through the perfecting, after
transformation, of the whole mass of matter as well as what we
now call soul. Nothing is or is to be left out. The aim for
present man is his initiation into complete knowledge, and for
the other kingdoms below him that they may be raised up gradually
from stage to stage to be in time initiated also. This is
evolution carried to its highest power; it is a magnificent
prospect; it makes of man a god, and gives to every part of
nature the possibility of being some day the same; there is
strength and nobility in it, for by this no man is dwarfed and
belittled, for no one is so originally sinful that he cannot rise
above all sin." OCEAN, 60-1



"Starting upon the long journey immaculate; descending
more and more into sinful matter, and having connected himself
with every atom in manifested Space--the Pilgrim, having
struggled through and suffered in every form of life and being,
is only at the bottom of the valley of matter, and half through
his cycle, when he has identified himself with collective
Humanity. This, he has made in his own image. In order to
progress upwards and homewards, the "God" has to now ascend the
weary uphill path of the Golgotha of Life. It is the martyrdom
of self-conscious existence. Like Visvakarman he has to
sacrifice himself to himself in order to redeem all creatures, to
resurrect from the many into the One Life. Then he ascends into
heaven indeed; where, plunged into the incomprehensible absolute
Being and Bliss of Paranirvana, he reigns unconditionally, and
whence he will re-descend again at the next "coming," which one
portion of humanity expects in its dead-letter sense as the
second advent, and the other as the last "Kalki Avatar."
SD I 268


"Theosophy considers humanity as an emanation from
divinity on its return path hereto. At an advanced point upon
the path, Adeptship is reached by those who have devoted several
incarnations to its achievement...many incarnations are necessary
for it after the formation of a conscious purpose and the
beginning of the needful training..." KEY 214-5



SOUL AND SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION - PROGRESS


"There is That which must ever remain unknown, because it
is the Knower in every body, It cannot be known because Its
potentiality of knowing is Infinite. There is that in ourselves
which is our very Self and which is unchanged and exhaustless
through infinitudes of experiences; it is the unknowable in us
as well as in all Nature; from It all manifestation proceeds.
We learn what is the Self by seeing what is the non-Self...the
Self ever remains unchanged, while at the same time the
receptacle of all perceptions and experiences...we are not the
experience, the knowledge or the power--they are our possessions.
The whole process of growth is one of realization of the Oneness
and eternity of the Self in us and in all creatures and forms of
manifestation." Q & A 12-13


"The object of the student is to let the light of [the]
spirit shine through the lower coverings. This "spiritual
culture" is only attainable as the grosser interests, passions,
and demands of the flesh are subordinated to the interests,
aspirations and needs of the higher nature; and this is a matter
of both system and established law.

This spirit can only become the ruler when the firm
intellectual acknowledgment or admission is first made that IT
alone is. ...it being not only the person concerned, but also the
whole, all selfishness must be eliminated from the lower nature
before its divine state can be reached. So long as the smallest
personal or selfish desire--even for spiritual attainment for our
own sake--remains, so long is the desired end put off...When
systematically trained in accordance with the aforesaid system
and law, men attain to clear insight into the immaterial,
spiritual world, and their interior faculties apprehend truth as
immediately and readily as physical faculties those of
reason..."They are able to look directly upon ideas..."
WQJ --Epitome of Theosophy p. 14


THE HIGHER SELF


"Higher Self The Supreme Divine spirit overshadowing
man. The crown of the upper spiritual Triad in man--Atman.
T. Glos. 141


"...Spirit (in the sense of the Absolute...invisible
All), or Atma. As this cannot be located or limited in
philosophy, being simply that which is in Eternity, and which
cannot be absent from even the tiniest geometrical or
mathematical point of the universe of matter or substance, it
ought not to be called, in truth, a "human" principle at all.
Rather, and at best, it is in Metaphysics that point in space
which the human Monad and its vehicle man occupy for the period
of every life. Now that point is imaginary as man himself, and
id an illusion, a maya; but for ourselves, as for other personal
Egos, we are a reality during that fit of illusion called life,
and we have to take ourselves into account, in our own
fancy...Occultism calls this seventh principle the synthesis of
the six, and gives it for vehicle the Spiritual Soul, Buddhi..."
HPB Key p. 119


"The student must not confuse this Spiritual Ego with the
"Higher Self" which is Atma, the God within us, and inseparable
from the Universal Spirit." Key p. 130-1fn


"This "Higher Self" is Atma... For Atman or the "Higher
Self" is really Brahma, the Absolute, and indistinguishable from
it. In hours of Samadhi, the higher spiritual consciousness of
the Initiate is entirely absorbed in the One essence, which is
Atman, and therefore being one with the whole, there can be
nothing objective for it...this term [Self] ought never to be
applied except to the One universal Self...even Buddhi, the
"Spiritual Soul," is not the Self, but the vehicle only of the
Self. All the other "selves"...ought never to be spoken or
written of without their qualifying and characteristic
adjectives." -- HPB Key p. 174


"The Higher Self is Atma, the inseparable ray of the
Universal and One Self, It is the God above, more than within,
us. Happy the man who succeeds in saturating his inner Ego with
it !
-- HPB Key, p. 175


"The "Master" in the Sanctuary of our souls is "the
Higher Self"--the divine spirit whose consciousness is based upon
and derived solely...(during the mortal life of the man in whom
it is captive)...) from the Mind, which we have agreed upon to
call the Human Soul (the "Spiritual Soul" being the vehicle of
the Spirit [Atman]). In its turn the former (the personal or
human soul) is a compound in its highest form of spiritual
aspirations, volitions, and divine love; and in its lower
aspect, of animal desires and terrestrial passions imparted to it
by its association with its vehicle, the eat of all these. It
thus stands as a link and a medium between the animal nature of
man which its higher reason seeks to subdue, and his divine
spiritual nature, with the inner animal. The latter is the
instinctual "animal Soul" and is the hotbed of those
--HPB
"Occultism vs. the Occult Arts" HPB Art II p. 105


"...our Higher Self is leading us through all the
experiences of life to the end that we shall recognize the unity
of all, then, instead of continually acting contrary to that
object of the Higher Self, we try to acquire the right belief and
aspiration." GITA NOTES, pp. 123-4


"Rely within yourself on your Higher Self always, and
that gives strength, as the Self uses whom it will. Persevere,
and little by little new ideals and thought-forms will drive out
of you the old ones. This is the eternal process."
LETTERS p. 129


"To meditate on the Higher Self is difficult. Seek then,
the bridge--the Masters. Fix your thoughts again on Those Elder
Brothers, work for Them, serve Them, and They will help through
the right appropriate means..." LETTERS p. 112


"...think, think, think on the truth that you are not
body, brain, or astral man, but that you are THAT, and "THAT" is
the Supreme Soul." LETTERS, p. 116


"...relying always on the Higher Self, and looking to it
for knowledge and light..." LETTERS, p. 122


"...remember that the greatest and truest friend is the
Higher Self. He who has the Higher Self as his friend possesses
all things and lacks nothing, and the Higher Self is your friend
if you will but receive that friendship. Take courage and be
patient; the light is shining in your heart, and, if you will
but go on, you will find it there, and it will be brighter far
than you can now imagine." LETTERS THAT
HAVE HELPED ME, pp. 174-5


"...a full reliance upon the Spirit within and upon the
law that the hands that smite us are our own, will relieve the
pressure of some events that seem mysteries...The great struggle
must be to open up my outer self, that my higher being may shine
through, for I know that in my heart the God sits patient, and
that his pure rays are merely veiled from me by the many
strivings and illusions that I bring on outwardly." Letters,
p. 85



ADVICE TO A CHELA


"You must be ready to work, to wait, and to aspire in
silence, just as all do who have fixed their eyes on this goal.
Remember that your truest adviser is to be found, and constantly
sought, within yourself. Only by experience can you learn to
know its voice from that of natural instinct or mere logic, and
strengthen this power, by virtue of which the Masters have become
what They are.

"Your choice or rejection of this course is the first
test of yourself. Others will follow, whether you are aware of
them or not, for the first and only right of the neophyte is--to
be tried...those trials and reverses will come only from the Law
to which you have appealed." --J.N. Letters, p. 56


"But let me again insist upon your trying to realize in
yourselves that you are a part of the All. That is the constant
subject of meditation, and will bring you the best and most rapid
progress...too much must not be expected of the Mahatmas. They
cannot interfere with Karma'; and so, if a man starts out to
them, they say: "Try."...It does not follow that they are always
helping him because he has made himself a chela. Of course,
there are those whose Karma is such that they are helped...Of
course if the Master sends one, then he will protect...We say we
are all part of the All. Well, we must intensely mediate upon
that until we begin to realize it, and from then we will receive
instruction." Letters, p. 200


"He must first get rid of the idea that he himself really
does anything, knowing that the actions all take place in these
three natural qualities, and not in the soul at all. The word
"qualities" must be considered in a larger sense than the word is
generally given.

Then he must place all his actions on devotion. That is,
sacrifice all his actions to the Supreme and not to himself. He
must either (leaving out indifference) set himself us as the God
to whom he sacrifices, or the other real God--Krishna, and all
his acts and aspirations are done either for himself or for the
All. Her comes in the importance of motive. For if he performs
great deeds of valor, or of benefit to man, or acquire s
knowledge so as to assist man, and is moved to that merely
because he thinks he will attain salvation, he is acting only for
his own benefit and is therefore sacrificing to himself.
Therefore he must be devoted inwardly to the All; that is, he
places all his actions on the Supreme, knowing that he is not the
doer of the actions, but is the mere witness of them...All doubts
come from the lower nature, and never in any case from the higher
nature. Therefore, as he becomes more and more devoted, he is
able to know more and more clearly the knowledge residing in his
Satwa part...

The three qualities are lower than a state called Turya,
which is a high state capable of being enjoyed even while in this
body. Therefore, in that state, there exists none of the three
qualities , but the soul sees the three qualities moving in the
ocean of Being beneath. This experience is met with not only
after death, but, as I said, it may be enjoyed in the present
life, though of course consciously very seldom. But there are
those high Yogees who can and do rise up to Nirvana, or Spirit,
even consciously, while on earth. This state is the fourth
state, called Turya...In that state the body is alive even though
in deep catalepsy. (Self-induced by the Adept.] When the Adept
returns from it be brings whatever he can of the vast experiences
of that Turya state. Of course they are far beyond any
expression, and their possibilities can only be dimly perceived
by us." WQJ - Letters, p. 28-9


"I am glad that you have such faith in the Great Workers
who are behind us. They are behind us, to my personal knowledge,
and not behind me only, but behind all sincere workers. I know
that their desire is that each should listen to the voice of his
inner self and not depend too much on outside people, whether
they be Masters, Eastern disciples, or what not. By a dependence
of that kind you become at last thoroughly independent, and then
the unseen helpers are able to help all the more." WQJ
Letters pp. 112-113



CONSIDERING THE MASTERS


"Those who can to any extent assimilate the Master, to
that extent they are the representatives of the Master, and have
the help of the Lodge in its work.... Bear up, firm heart, be
strong, be bold and kind, and spread your strength and
boldness." -- WQJ Letters, p. 113


"Fix your thoughts again on those Elder Brothers, work
for Them, serve Them, and They will help through the tight
appropriate means and no other. To meditate on the Higher Self
is difficult. Seek, then, the bridge--the Masters. "Seek the
truth by strong search," by doing service, and by enquiry, and
Those who know the Truth will teach it. Let the warrior fight,
the gentle yet fierce Krishna, who, when he finds thee as his
disciple and friend, will tell thee the truth and lighten up the
darkness with the lamp of spiritual knowledge." -- WQJ
Letters, p. 112


"The best and most important teacher is one's seventh
principle centered in the sixth." -- WQJ Letters, p. 96


"It is not high learning that is needed, but solely
devotion to humanity, faith in Masters, in the Higher Self, a
comprehension of the fundamental truths of Theosophy, and a
little--only a little--sincere attempt to present those
fundamental truths to a people who are in desperate need of them.
That attempt should be continuous." WQJ Letters p. 97



REINCARNATION -- A BASIC FACT


"A student of occultism...gets into...a vortex of
occultism...he passes into the whirl caused by the mighty effort
of his Higher Self to make him remember his past lives. Then
those lives affect him..." LETTERS 15.




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