Theos-Talk Archives (March 2002 Message tt00241)

Part VI ---CONVERSATIONS WITH H P B on OCCULTISM



OCCULT VIBRATIONS

A FRAGMENT OF CONVERSATION WITH H.P.B. IN 1888

W. Q. Judge

The following was written by me at the dictation of H.P.B. in
1888 with the purpose of printing it at that time. But it was not
used then, and as I brought it home with me it is now of
interest. - W.Q.J.


Q. - It has struck me while thinking over the difference between
ordinary people and an adept or even a partly developed student,
that the rate of vibration of the brain molecules, as well as he
coördination of those with the vibrations of the higher brain,
may lie at the bottom of the difference and also might explain
many other problems.

H.P.B. - So they do. They make differences and also cause many
curious phenomena; and the differences among all persons are
greatly due to vibrations of all kinds.

Q. - In reading the article ["Aum!"] in the PATH of April, 1886,
this idea was again suggested. I open at p. 6, Vol. I.

The divine Resonance spoken of above is not the Divine Light
itself. The Resonance is only the outbreathing of the first sound
of the entire Aum.... It manifests itself not only as the power
which stirs up and animates the particles of the universe, but
also in the evolution and dissolution of man, of the animal and
mineral kingdoms, and the Solar system. Among the Aryans it was
represented by the planet Mercury, who has always been said to
govern the intellectual faculties and to be the universal
stimulator.
What of this?

H.P.B. - Mercury was always known as the god of secret wisdom. He
is Hermes as well as Budha the son of Soma. Speaking of matters
on the lower plane, I would call the "Divine Resonance" you read
of in the PATH "vibrations" and the originator, or that which
gives the impulse to every kind of phenomena in the astral plane.

Q. - The differences found in human brains and natures must,
then, have their root in differences of vibration?

H.P.B. - Most assuredly so.

Q. - Speaking of mankind as a whole, is it true that all have one
key or rate of vibration to which they respond?

H.P.B. - Human beings in general are like so many keys on the
piano, each having its own sound, and the combination of which
produces other sounds in endless variety. Like inanimate nature
they have a key-note from which all the varieties of character
and constitution proceed by endless changes. Remember what was
said in Isis Unveiled at p. 16, Vol. I, "The Universe is the
combination of a thousand elements, and yet the expression of a
single spirit, - a chaos to the sense (physical), a cosmos to the
reason" (manas).

Q. - So far this applies generally to nature. Does it explain the
difference between the Adept and ordinary people?

H.P.B. - Yes. This difference is that an Adept may be compared to
that one key which contains all the keys in the great harmony of
nature. He has the synthesis of all keys in his thoughts, whereas
ordinary man has the same key as a basis, but only acts and
thinks on one or a few changes of this great key, producing with
his brain only a few chords out of the whole great possible
harmony.

Q. - Has this something to do with the fact that a disciple may
hear the voice of his Master through the astral spaces, while
another man cannot hear or communicate with the adepts?

H.P.B. - This is because the brain of a chela is attuned by
training to the brain of the Master. His vibrations synchronize
with those of the Adept, and the untrained brain is not so
attuned. So the chela's brain is abnormal, looking at it from the
standpoint of ordinary life, while that of the ordinary man is
normal for worldly purposes. The latter person may be compared to
those who are color-blind.

Q. - How am I to understand this?

H.P.B. - What is considered normal from the view of the physician
is considered abnormal from the view of occultism, and vice
versâ. The difference between a color-blind signal man who
mistakes the lamps and the Adept who sees is that the one takes
one color for another, while the adept sees all the colors in
every color and yet does not confuse them together.

Q. - Has the Adept, then, raised his vibrations so as to have
them the same as those of nature as a whole?

H.P.B. - Yes; the highest adepts. But there are other Adepts who,
while vastly in advance of all men, are still unable to vibrate
to such a degree.

Q. - Can the Adept produce at his will a vibration which will
change one color to another?

H.P.B. - He can produce a sound which will alter a color. It is
the sound which produces the color, and not the other or
opposite. By correlating the vibrations of a sound in the proper
way a new color is made.

Q. - Is it true that on the astral plane every sound always
produces a color?

H.P.B. - Yes; but these are invisible because not yet correlated
by the human brain so as to become visible on the earth plane.
Read Galton, who gives experiments with colors and sounds as seen
by psychics and sensitives, showing that many sensitive people
always see a color for every sound. The color-blind man has
coming to him the same vibrations as will show red, but not being
able to sense these he alters the amount, so to say, and then
sees a color corresponding to the vibrations he can perceive out
of the whole quantity.

His astral senses may see the true color, but the physical eye
has its own vibrations, and these, being on the outer plane,
overcome the others for the time, and the astral man is compelled
to report to the brain that it saw correctly. For in each case
the outer stimulus is sent to the inner man, who then is forced,
as it were, to accept the message and to confirm it for the time
so far as it goes.

But there are cases where the inner man is able to even then
overcome the outer defect and to make the brain see the
difference.

In many cases of lunacy the confusion among the vibrations of all
kinds is so enormous that there is not correlation between the
inner and the outer man, and we have then a case of aberration.
But even in some of these unfortunate cases the person inside is
all the time aware that he is not insane but cannot make himself
be understood. Thus often persons are driven really insane by
wrong treatment.

Q. - By what manner of vibrations do the elementals make colors
and lights of variety?

H.P.B. - That is a question I cannot reply to though it is well
known to me. Did I not tell you that secrets might be revealed
too soon?

Path, June, 1893


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OCCULT TEACHINGS

W. Q. Judge


STUDENT. - What is Occultism?

Sage. - It is that branch of knowledge which shows the universe
in the form of an egg.

The cell of science is a little copy of the egg of the universe.
The laws which govern the whole govern also every part of it. As
man is a little copy of the universe -- is the microcosm -- he is
governed by the same laws which rule the greater.

Occultism teaches therefore of the secret laws and forces of the
universe and man, those forces playing in the outer world and
known in part only by the men of the day who admit no invisible
real nature, behind which is the model of the visible.

Student. - What does Occultism teach in regard to man, broadly
speaking?

Sage. - That he is the highest product of evolution, and hence
has in him a centre or focus corresponding to each centre of
force or power in the universe. He therefore has as many centres
or foci for force, power, and knowledge as there are such in the
greater world about and within.

Student. - Do you mean to include also the ordinary run of men,
or is it the exceptions you refer to?

Sage. - I include every human being, and that will reach from the
lowest to the very highest, both those we know and those beyond
us who are suspected as being in existence. Although we are
accustomed to confine the term "human" to this earth, it is not
correct to confine that sort of being to this plane or globe,
because other planets have beings the same as ours in essential
power and nature and possibility.

Student. - Please explain a little more particularly what you
mean by our having centres or foci in us.

Sage. - Electricity is a most powerful force not fully known to
modern science, yet used very much. The nervous, physical, and
mental systems of man acting together are able to produce the
same force exactly, and in a finer as well as subtler way and to
as great a degree as the most powerful dynamo, so that the force
might be used to kill, to alter, to move, or otherwise change any
object or condition. This is the "vril" described by Bulwer
Lytton in his Coming Race.

Nature exhibits to our eyes the power of drawing into one place
with fixed limits any amount of material so as to produce the
smallest natural object or the very largest.

Out of the air she takes what is already there, and by
compressing it into the limits of tree or animal form makes it
visible to our material eyes. This is the power of condensing
into what may be known as the ideal limits, that is, into the
limits of the form which is ideal.

Man has this same power, and can, when he knows the laws and the
proper centres of force in himself, do precisely what Nature
does. He can thus make visible and material what was before ideal
and invisible by filling the ideal form with the matter condensed
from the air. In his case the only difference from Nature is that
he does quickly what she brings about slowly.

Among natural phenomena there is no present illustration of
telepathy good for our use. Among the birds and the beasts,
however, there is telepathy instinctually performed. But
telepathy, as it is now called, is the communicating of thought
or idea from mind to mind. This is a natural power, and being
well-understood may be used by one mind to convey to another, no
matter how far away, or what be the intervening obstacle, any
idea or thought.

In natural things we can take for that the vibration of the chord
which can cause all other chords of the same length to vibrate
similarly. This is a branch of Occultism, a part of which is
known to the modern investigator. But it is also one of the most
useful and one of the greatest powers we have. To make it of
service many things have to combine. While it is used every day
in common life in the average way - for men are each moment
telepathically communicating with each other -- to do it in
perfection, that is, against obstacle and distance, is perfection
of occult art. Yet it will be known one day even to the common
world.

Student. - Is there any object had in view by Nature which man
should also hold before him?

Sage. - Nature ever works to turn the inorganic or the lifeless
or the non-intelligent and non-conscious into the organic, the
intelligent, the conscious; and this should be the aim of man
also. In her great movements Nature seems to cause destruction,
but that is only for the purpose of construction. The rocks are
dissolved into earth, elements combine to bring on change, but
there is the ever onward march of progress in evolution. Nature
is not destructive of either thing or time, she is constructive.
Man should be the same. And as a free moral agent he should work
to that end, and not to procuring gratification merely nor for
waste in any department.

Student. - Is Occultism of truth or of falsehood; is it selfish
or unselfish; or is it part one and part the other?

Sage. - Occultism is colorless, and only when used by man for the
one side or the other is it good or bad.

Bad Occultism, or that which is used for selfish ends, is not
false, for it is the same as that which is for good ends. Nature
is two-sided, negative and positive, good and bad, light and
dark, hot and cold, spirit and matter.

The Black magician is as powerful in the matter of phenomena as
the White, but in the end all the trend of Nature will go to
destroy the black and save the white. But what you should
understand is that the false man and the true can both be
occultists. The words of the Christian teacher Jesus will give
the rule for judgment: "By their fruits ye shall know them. Do
men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?"

Occultism is the general, all-inclusive term, the differentiating
terms are White and Black; the same forces are used by both, and
similar laws, for there are no special laws in this universe for
any special set of workers in Nature's secrets.

But the path of the untruthful and the wicked, while seemingly
easy at first, is hard at last, for the black workers are the
friends of no one, they are each against the other as soon as
interest demands, and that may be anytime. It is said that final
annihilation of the personal soul awaits those who deal in the
destructive side of Nature's hall of experience.

Student. - Where should I look for the help I need in the right
life, the right study?

Sage. - Within yourself is the light that lighteth every man who
cometh here. The light of the Higher Self and of the Mahâtma are
not different from each other.

Unless you find your Self, how can you understand Nature?

Path, October, 1894

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THE POWER TO KNOW

W. Q. Judge


STUDENT. - What is the effect of trying to develop the power of
seeing in the astral light before a person is initiated?

Sage. - Seeing in the astral light is not done through Manas, but
through the senses, and hence has to do entirely with
sense-perception removed to a plane different from this, but more
illusionary.

The final perceiver or judge of perception is in Manas, in the
Self; and therefore the final tribunal is clouded by the astral
perception, if one is not so far trained or initiated as to know
the difference and able to tell the true from the false. Another
result is a tendency to dwell on this subtle sense-perception,
which at last will cause an atrophy of Manas for the time being.

This makes the confusion all the greater, and will delay any
possible initiation all the more, or forever. Further, such
seeing is in the line of phenomena, and adds to the confusion of
the Self which is only beginning to understand this life; by
attempting the astral another element of disorder is added by
more phenomena due to another plane, thus mixing both sorts up.

The Ego must find its basis and not be swept off hither and
thither. The constant reversion of images and ideas in the astral
light, and the pranks of the elementals there, unknown to us as
such and only seen in effects, still again add to the confusion.
To sum it up, the real danger from which all others flow or
follow is in the confusion of the Ego by introducing strange
things to it before the time.

Student. - How is one to know when he gets real occult
information from the Self within?

Sage. - Intuition must be developed and the matter judged from
the true philosophical basis, for if it is contrary to true
general rules it is wrong.

It has to be known from a deep and profound analysis by which we
find out what is from egotism alone and what is not; if it is due
to egotism, then it is not from the Spirit and is untrue.

The power to know does not come from book-study nor from mere
philosophy, but mostly from the actual practice of altruism in
deed, word, and thought; for that practice purifies the covers of
the soul and permits that light to shine down into the
brain-mind. As the brain-mind is the receiver in the waking
state, it has to be purified from sense-perception, and the
truest way to do this is by combining philosophy with the highest
outward and inward virtue.

Student. - Tell me some ways by which intuition is to be
developed.

Sage. - First of all by giving it exercise, and second by not
using it for purely personal ends. Exercise means that it must be
followed through mistakes and bruises until from sincere attempts
at use it comes to its own strength.

This does not mean that we can do wrong and leave the results,
but that after establishing conscience on a right basis by
following the golden rule, we give play to the intuition and add
to its strength.

Inevitably in this at first we will make errors, but soon if we
are sincere it will grow brighter and make no mistake. We should
add the study of the works of those who in the past have trodden
this path and found out what is the real and what is not. They
say the Self is the only reality.

The brain must be given larger views of life, as by the study of
the doctrine of reincarnation, since that gives a limitless field
to the possibilities in store. We must not only be unselfish, but
must do all the duties that Karma has given us, and thus
intuition will point out the road of duty and the true path of
life.

Student. - Are there any Adepts in America or Europe?

Sage. - Yes, there are and always have been. But they have for
the present kept themselves hidden from the public gaze. The real
ones have a wide work to do in many departments of life and in
preparing certain persons who have a future work to do. Though
their influence is wide they are not suspected, and that is the
way they want to work for the present. There are some also who
are at work with certain individuals in some of the aboriginal
tribes in America, as among those are Egos who are to do still
more work in another incarnation, and they must be prepared for
it now. Nothing is omitted by these Adepts. In Europe it is the
same way, each sphere of work being governed by the time and the
place.

Student. -What is the meaning of the five-pointed star?

Sage. - It is the symbol of the human being who is not an Adept,
but is now on the plane of the animal nature as to his
life-thoughts and development inside. Hence it is the symbol of
the race. Upside down it means death or symbolizes that. It also
means, when upside down, the other or dark side. It is at the
same time the cross endowed with the power of mind, that is, man.

Student. - Is there a four-pointed star symbol?

Sage. - Yes. That is the symbol of the next kingdom below man,
and pertains to the animals. The right kind of clairvoyant can
see both the five- and the four-pointed star. It is all produced
by the intersections of the lines or currents of the astral light
emanating from the person or being. The four-pointed one means
that the being having but it has not as yet developed Manas.

Student. - Has the mere figure of a five-pointed star any power
in itself?

Sage. - It has some, but very little. You see it is used by all
sorts of people for trademarks and the like, and for the purposes
of organizations, yet no result follows. It must be actually used
by the mind to be of any force or value. If so used, it carries
with it the whole power of the person to whom it may belong.

Student. - Why is the sword so much spoken of in practical
Occultism by certain writers?

Sage. - Many indeed of these writers merely repeat what they have
read. But there is a reason, just as in warfare the sword has
more use for damage than a club. The astral light corresponds to
water. If you try to strike in or under water with a club, it
will be found that there is but little result, but a sharp knife
will cut almost as well under water as out of it. The friction is
less.

So in the astral light a sword used on that plane has more power
to cut than a club has, and an elemental for that reason will be
more easily damaged by a sword than by a club or a stone. But all
of this relates to things that are of no right value to the true
student, and are indulged in only by those who work in dark magic
or foolishly by those who do not quite know what they do.

It is certain that he who uses the sword or the club will be at
last hurt by it.

And the lesson to be drawn is that we must seek for the true Self
that knows all Occultism and all truth, and has in itself the
protecting shield from all dangers. That is what the ancient
Sages sought and found, and that is what should be striven after
by us.

Path, November, 1894

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MENTAL DISCIPLINE

W. Q. Judge



STUDENT. - Is there not some attitude of mind which one should in
truth assume in order to understand the occult in Nature?
Sage. - Such attitude of mind must be attained as will enable one
to look into the realities of things. The mind must escape from
the mere formalities and conventions of life, even though
outwardly one seems to obey all of them, and should be firmly
established on the truth that Man is a copy of the Universe and
has in himself a portion of the Supreme Being. To the extent this
is realized will be the clearness of perception of truth. A
realization of this leads inevitably to the conclusion that all
other men and beings are united with us, and this removes the
egotism which is the result of the notion of separateness. When
the truth of Unity is understood, then distinctions due to
comparisons made like the Pharisee's, that one is better than his
neighbor, disappear from the mind, leaving it more pure and free
to act.
Student. - What would you point out as a principal foe to the
mind's grasping of truth?
Sage. - The principal foe of a secondary nature is what was once
called phantasy; that is, the reappearance of thoughts and images
due to recollection or memory. Memory is an important power, but
mind in itself is not memory. Mind is restless and wandering in
its nature, and must be controlled. Its wandering disposition is
necessary or stagnation would result. But it can be controlled
and fixed upon an object or idea. Now as we are constantly
looking at and hearing of new things, the natural restlessness of
the mind becomes prominent when we set about pinning it down.
Then memory of many objects, things, subjects, duties, persons,
circumstances, and affairs brings up before it the various
pictures and thoughts belonging to them. After these the mind at
once tries to go, and we find ourselves wandering from the point.
It must hence follow that the storing of a multiplicity of
useless and surely-recurring thoughts is an obstacle to the
acquirement of truth. And this obstacle is the very one peculiar
to our present style of life.
Student. - Can you mention some of the relations in which the sun
stands to us and nature in respect to Occultism?
Sage. - It has many such, and all important. But I would draw
your attention first to the greater and more comprehensive. The
sun is the center of our solar system. The life-energies of that
system come to it through the sun, which is a focus or reflector
for the spot in space where the real center is. And not only
comes mere life through that focus, but also much more that is
spiritual in its essence. The sun should therefore not only be
looked at with the eye but thought of by the mind. It represents
to the world what the Higher Self is to the man. It is the
soul-center of the world with its six companions, as the Higher
Self is the center for the six principles of man. So it supplies
to those six principles of the man many spiritual essences and
powers. He should for that reason think of it and not confine
himself to gazing at it. So far as it acts materially in light,
heat, and gravity, it will go on of itself, but man as a free
agent must think upon it in order to gain what benefit can come
only from his voluntary action in thought.
Student. - Will you refer to some minor one?
Sage. - Well, we sit in the sun for heat and possible chemical
effects. But if at the same time that we do this we also think on
it as the sun in the sky and of its possible essential nature, we
thereby draw from it some of its energy not otherwise touched.
This can also be done on a dark day when clouds obscure the sky,
and some of the benefit thus be obtained. Natural mystics,
learned and ignorant, have discovered this for themselves here
and there, and have often adopted the practice. But it depends,
as you see, upon the mind.
Student. - Does the mind actually do anything when it takes up a
thought and seeks for more light?
Sage. - It actually does. A thread, or a finger, or a long
darting current flies out from the brain to seek for knowledge.
It goes in all directions and touches all other minds it can
reach so as to receive the information if possible. This is
telepathically, so to say, accomplished. There are no patents on
true knowledge of philosophy nor copyrights in that realm.
Personal rights of personal life are fully respected, save by
potential black magicians who would take anyone's property. But
general truth belongs to all, and when the unseen messenger from
one mind arrives and touches the real mind of another, that other
gives up to it what it may have of truth about general subjects.
So the mind's finger or wire flies until it gets the thought or
seed-thought from the other and makes it its own. But our modern
competitive system and selfish desire for gain and fame is
constantly building a wall around people's minds to everyone's
detriment.
Student. - Do you mean that the action you describe is natural,
usual, and universal, or only done by those who know how and are
conscious of it?
Sage. - It is universal and whether the person is aware or not of
what is going on. Very few are able to perceive it in themselves,
but that makes no difference. It is done always. When you sit
down to earnestly think on a philosophical or ethical matter, for
instance, your mind flies off, touching other minds, and from
them you get varieties of thought. If you are not well-balanced
and psychically purified, you will often get thoughts that are
not correct. Such is your Karma and the Karma of the race. But if
you are sincere and try to base yourself on right philosophy,
your mind will naturally reject wrong notions. You can see in
this how it is that systems of thought are made and kept going,
even though foolish, incorrect, or pernicious.
Student. - What mental attitude and aspiration are the best
safeguards in this, as likely to aid the mind in these searches
to reject error and not let it fly into the brain?
Sage. - Unselfishness, Altruism in theory and practice, desire to
do the will of the Higher Self which is the "Father in Heaven,"
devotion to the human race. Subsidiary to these are discipline,
correct thinking, and good education.
Student. - Is the uneducated man, then, in a worse condition?
Sage. - Not necessarily so. The very learned are so immersed in
one system that they reject nearly all thoughts not in accord
with preconceived notions. The sincere ignorant one is often able
to get the truth but not able to express it. The ignorant masses
generally hold in their minds the general truths of Nature, but
are limited as to expression. And most of the best discoveries of
scientific men have been obtained in this sub-conscious
telepathic mode. Indeed, they often arrive in the learned brain
from some obscure and so-called ignorant person, and then the
scientific discoverer makes himself famous because of his power
of expression and means for giving it out.
Student. - Does this bear at all upon the work of the Adepts of
all good Lodges?
Sage. - It does. They have all the truths that could be desired,
but at the same time are able to guard them from the seeking
minds of those who are not yet ready to use them properly. But
they often find the hour ripe and a scientific man ready, and
then touch his cogitating mind with a picture of what he seeks.
He then has a "flash" of thought in the line of his
deliberations, as many of them have admitted. He gives it out to
the world, becomes famous, and the world wiser. This is
constantly done by the Adepts, but now and then they give out
larger expositions of Nature's truths, as in the case of H.P.B.
This is not at first generally accepted, as personal gain and
fame are not advanced by any admission of benefit from the
writings of another, but as it is done with a purpose, for the
use of a succeeding century, it will do its work at the proper
time.
Student. - How about the Adepts knowing what is going on in the
world of thought, in the West, for instance?
Sage. - They have only to voluntarily and consciously connect
their minds with those of the dominant thinkers of the day to at
once discover what has been or is being worked out in thought and
to review it all. This they constantly do, and as constantly
incite to further elaborations or changes by throwing out the
suggestion in the mental plane so that seeking and receptive
minds may use it.
Path, December, 1894

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12


RULES IN OCCULTISM

W. Q. Judge


Student. - Are there any rules, binding on all, in white magic or
good occultism? I mean rules similar to the ten commandments of
the Christians, or the rules for the protection of life, liberty,
and property recognized by human law.
Sage. - There are such rules of the most stringent character, the
breaking of which is never wiped out save by expiation. Those
rules are not made up by some brain or mind, but flow from the
laws of nature, of mind, and of soul. Hence they are impossible
of nullification. One may break them and seem to escape for a
whole life or for more than a life; but the very breaking of them
sets in motion at once other causes which begin to make effects,
and most unerringly those effects at last react on the violator.
Karma here acts as it does elsewhere, and becomes a Nemesis who,
though sometimes slow, is fate itself in its certainty.
Student. - It is not, then, the case that when an occultist
violates a rule some other adept or agent starts out like a
detective or policeman and brings the culprit to justice at a bar
or tribunal such as we sometimes read of in the imaginative works
of mystical writers or novelists?
Sage. - No, there is no such pursuit. On the contrary, all the
fellow-adepts or students are but too willing to aid the
offender, not in escaping punishment, but in sincerely trying to
set counteracting causes in motion for the good of all. For the
sin of one reacts on the whole human family. If, however, the
culprit does not wish to do the amount of counteracting good, he
is merely left alone to the law of nature, which is in fact that
of his own inner life from which there can be no escape. In
Lytton's novel, Zanoni, you will notice the grave Master,
Mejnour, trying to aid Zanoni, even at the time when the latter
was falling slowly but surely into the meshes twisted by himself
that ended in his destruction. Mejnour knew the law and so did
Zanoni. The latter was suffering from some former error which he
had to work out; the former, if himself too stern and unkind,
would later on come to the appropriate grief for such a mistake.
But meanwhile he was bound to help his friend, as are all those
who really believe in brotherhood.
Student. - What one of those rules in any way corresponds to
"Thou shalt not steal"?
Sage. - That one which was long ago expressed by the ancient sage
in the words, "Do not covet the wealth of any creature." This is
better than "Thou shalt not steal," for you cannot steal unless
you covet. If you steal for hunger you may be forgiven, but you
coveted the food for a purpose, just as another covets merely for
the sake of possession. The wealth of others includes all their
possessions, and does not mean mere money alone. Their ideas,
their private thoughts, their mental forces, powers, and
faculties, their psychic powers - all, indeed, on all planes that
they own or have. While they in that realm are willing to give it
all away, it must not be coveted by another.
You have no right, therefore, to enter into the mind of another
who has not given the permission and take from him what is not
yours. You become a burglar on the mental and psychic plane when
you break this rule. You are forbidden taking anything for
personal gain, profit, advantage, or use. But you may take what
is for general good, if you are far enough advanced and good
enough to be able to extricate the personal element from it. This
rule would, you can see, cut off all those who are well known to
every observer, who want psychic powers for themselves and their
own uses. If such persons had those powers of inner sight and
hearing that they so much want, no power could prevent them from
committing theft on the unseen planes wherever they met a nature
that was not protected. And as most of us are very far from
perfect, so far, indeed, that we must work for many lives, yet
the Masters of Wisdom do not aid our defective natures in the
getting of weapons that would cut our own hands. For the law acts
implacably, and the breaches made would find their end and result
in long after years. The Black Lodge, however, is very willing to
let any poor, weak, or sinful mortal get such power, because that
would swell the number of victims they so much require.
Student. - Is there any rule corresponding to "Thou shalt not
bear false witness"?
Sage. - Yes; the one which requires you never to inject into the
brain of another a false or untrue thought. As we can project our
thoughts to another's mind, we must not throw untrue ones to
another. It comes before him, and he, overcome by its strength
perhaps, finds it echoing in him, and it is a false witness
speaking falsely within, confusing and confounding the inner
spectator who lives on thought.
Student. - How can one prevent the natural action of the mind
when pictures of the private lives of others rise before one?
Sage. - That is difficult for the run of men. Hence the mass have
not the power in general; it is kept back as much as possible.
But when the trained soul looks about in the realm of soul it is
also able to direct its sight, and when it finds rising up a
picture of what it should not voluntarily take, it turns its face
away. A warning comes with all such pictures which must be
obeyed. This is not a rare rule or piece of information, for
there are many natural clairvoyants who know it very well, though
many of them do not think that others have the same knowledge.
Student. - What do you mean by a warning coming with the picture?
Sage. - In this realm the slightest thought becomes a voice or a
picture. All thoughts make pictures. Every person has his private
thoughts and desires. Around these he makes also a picture of his
wish for privacy, and that to the clairvoyant becomes a voice or
picture of warning which seems to say it must be let alone. With
some it may assume the form of a person who says not to approach,
with others it will be a voice, with still others a simple but
certain knowledge that the matter is sacred. All these varieties
depend on the psychological idiosyncrasies of the seer.
Student. - What kind of thought or knowledge is excepted from
these rules?
Sage. - General, and philosophical, religious, and moral. That is
to say, there is no law of copyright or patent which is purely
human in invention and belongs to the competitive system. When a
man thinks out truly a philosophical problem it is not his under
the laws of nature; it belongs to all; he is not in this realm
entitled to any glory, to any profit, to any private use in it.
Hence the seer may take as much of it as he pleases, but must on
his part not claim it or use it for himself. Similarly with other
generally beneficial matters. They are for all. If a Spencer
thinks out a long series of wise things good for all men, the
seer can take them all. Indeed, but few thinkers do any original
thinking. They pride themselves on doing so, but in fact their
seeking minds go out all over the world of mind and take from
those of slower movement what is good and true, and then make
them their own, sometimes gaining glory, sometimes money, and in
this age claiming all as theirs and profiting by it.
Path, January, 1895


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13


THE POWER TO KNOW
STUDENT. - What is the effect of trying to develop the power of
seeing in the astral light before a person is initiated?
Sage. - Seeing in the astral light is not done through Manas, but
through the senses, and hence has to do entirely with
sense-perception removed to a plane different from this, but more
illusionary. The final perceiver or judge of perception is in
Manas, in the Self; and therefore the final tribunal is clouded
by the astral perception if one is not so far trained or
initiated as to know the difference and able to tell the true
from the false. Another result is a tendency to dwell on this
subtle sense-perception, which at last will cause an atrophy of
Manas for the time being. This makes the confusion all the
greater, and will delay any possible initiation all the more or
forever. Further, such seeing is in the line of phenomena, and
adds to the confusion of the Self which is only beginning to
understand this life; by attempting the astral another element of
disorder is added by more phenomena due to another plane, thus
mixing both sorts up. The Ego must find its basis and not be
swept off hither and thither. The constant reversion of images
and ideas in the astral light, and the pranks of the elementals
there, unknown to us as such and only seen in effects, still
again add to the confusion. To sum it up, the real danger from
which all others flow or follow is in the confusion of the Ego by
introducing strange things to it before the time.
Student. - How is one to know when he gets real occult
information from the Self within?
Sage. - Intuition must be developed and the matter judged from
the true philosophical basis, for if it is contrary to true
general rules it is wrong. It has to be known from a deep and
profound analysis by which we find out what is from egotism alone
and what is not; if it is due to egotism, then it is not from the
Spirit and is untrue. The power to know does not come from
book-study nor from mere philosophy, but mostly from the actual
practice of altruism in deed, word, and thought; for that
practice purifies the covers of the soul and permits that light
to shine down into the brain-mind. As the brain-mind is the
receiver in the waking state, it has to be purified from
sense-perception, and the truest way to do this is by combining
philosophy with the highest outward and inward virtue.
Student. - Tell me some ways by which intuition is to be
developed.
Sage. - First of all by giving it exercise, and second by not
using it for purely personal ends. Exercise means that it must be
followed through mistakes and bruises until from sincere attempts
at use it comes to its own strength. This does not mean that we
can do wrong and leave the results, but that after establishing
conscience on a right basis by following the golden rule, we give
play to the intuition and add to its strength. Inevitably in this
at first we will make errors, but soon if we are sincere it will
grow brighter and make no mistake. We should add the study of the
works of those who in the past have trodden this path and found
out what is the real and what is not. They say the Self is the
only reality. The brain must be given larger views of life, as by
the study of the doctrine of reincarnation, since that gives a
limitless field to the possibilities in store. We must not only
be unselfish, but must do all the duties that Karma has given us,
and thus intuition will point out the road of duty and the true
path of life.
Student. - Are there any Adepts in America or Europe?
Sage. - Yes, there are and always have been. But they have for
the present kept themselves hidden from the public gaze. The real
ones have a wide work to do in many departments of life and in
preparing certain persons who have a future work to do. Though
their influence is wide they are not suspected, and that is the
way they want to work for the present. There are some also who
are at work with certain individuals in some of the aboriginal
tribes in America, as among those are Egos who are to do still
more work in another incarnation, and they must be prepared for
it now. Nothing is omitted by these Adepts. In Europe it is the
same way, each sphere of work being governed by the time and the
place.
Student. -What is the meaning of the five-pointed star?
Sage. - It is the symbol of the human being who is not an Adept,
but is now on the plane of the animal nature as to his
life-thoughts and development inside. Hence it is the symbol of
the race. Upside down it means death or symbolizes that. It also
means, when upside down, the other or dark side. It is at the
same time the cross endowed with the power of mind, that is, man.
Student. - Is there a four-pointed star symbol?
Sage. - Yes. That is the symbol of the next kingdom below man,
and pertains to the animals. The right kind of clairvoyant can
see both the five- and the four-pointed star. It is all produced
by the intersections of the lines or currents of the astral light
emanating from the person or being. The four-pointed one means
that the being having but it has not as yet developed Manas.
Student. - Has the mere figure of a five-pointed star any power
in itself?
Sage. - It has some, but very little. You see it is used by all
sorts of people for trademarks and the like, and for the purposes
of organizations, yet no result follows. It must be actually used
by the mind to be of any force or value. If so used, it carries
with it the whole power of the person to whom it may belong.
Student. - Why is the sword so much spoken of in practical
Occultism by certain writers?
Sage. - Many indeed of these writers merely repeat what they have
read. But there is a reason, just as in warfare the sword has
more use for damage than a club. The astral light corresponds to
water. if you try to strike in or under water with a club, it
will be found that there is but little result, but a sharp knife
will cut almost as well under water as out of it. The friction is
less. So in the astral light a sword used on that plane has more
power to cut than a club has, and an elemental for that reason
will be more easily damaged by a sword than by a club or a stone.
But all of this relates to things that are of no right value to
the true student, and are indulged in only by those who work in
dark magic or foolishly by those who do not quite know what they
do. It is certain that he who uses the sword or the club will be
at last hurt by it. And the lesson to be drawn is that we must
seek for the true Self that knows all Occultism and all truth,
and has in itself the protecting shield from all dangers. That is
what the ancient Sages sought and found, and that is what should
be striven after by us.
Path, November, 1894

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14 Forms of Elementals



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Dallas