Theos-Talk Archives (September 2004 Message tt00395)

Hello Pedro,
Certainly we need to look seriously at what may be observed by
modern-day seers.

However would the sources you quoted from be considered Adepts and
Initiated Seers or simply people who developed lower clairvoyance of
one kind or another.
Geoffrey Hodson for example simply reiterated the things Leadbeater said.
Like the idea that the "Angelic / Devic/ elemental Kingdom" is in a
different scheme of evolution to our own a teaching that is flatly
refuted in both the Mahatma Letters and the writings of HPB.

He also spoke of elementals being cute little humanoid beings in pixie
outfits ect.
Is this an example of projection rather than genuine clairvoyance as
possessed by an Adept?

As Daniel's posts have continually shown from the quotations by the
Mahatmas and HPB on the pitfalls involved in clairvoyance and psychic
readings of the inner planes much that is seen is projection.
This in no way is said as a put down to those people who have
genuinely given their accounts of what they see.

However what they see may in many cases not corroborate what a an
Adept will see.
Geoffrey Farthing's article on the `Etheric double' is worth studying
seriously by every student as he points out the differences in the 2
schools of thought.

Regards

Perry

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "prmoliveira" <prmoliveira@y...> wrote:
> --- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Perry Coles" <perrycoles@y...> 
> wrote:
> 
> > Who checked and verified there visions and pronouncements?
> 
> 
> Regarding the "etheric double", for example, at least three 
> different clairvoyants, independently. See quotes:
> 
> 
> "The human etheric double interpenetrates the physical body, 
> reproduces its shape (hence the name) and extends about 1/16 of an 
> inch beyond the skin. It is lavender grey in colour with currents of 
> differently coloured *pranas* flowing through it, orange yellow 
> predominating, and has seven flower-shaped vortices about 4 inches 
> in diameter upon its surface, with "stalks" connecting some of them 
> to the spinal cord and others to bodily glands. Though built of 
> substance called ether which is finer than matter in the gaseous 
> condition, it is still physical. It can therefore become densified 
> so that it reflects light as in psychic photographs, and it is 
> visible and even tangible.
> 
> In advance, it has three functions: Reservoir and conveyor of vital 
> energy or *prana*: Connecting link between the physical and the 
> superphysical: Matrix or etheric mould for the growth of the body, 
> and the receipt of *karmic* modifications, from the moment of 
> conception."
> 
> (Geoffrey Hodson in "Basic Theosophy" (1981), chapter III)
> 
> 
> 
> "I feel strongly that in a study of this kind it is necessary to say 
> what I personally mean by clairvoyance. There is so much 
> misunderstanding attached to extrasensory perception which is, after 
> all, merely a means and not an end.
> 
> In the physical world one can learn much by observation, but it does 
> not at all follow that what is observed is understood. In using the 
> faculty of clairvoyance one still uses external observation, and 
> sees much that is not necessarily deciphered accurately. All such 
> vision is personal, and not to be confused with spiritual 
> illumination. The evidence of the physical senses can never be 
> accepted as proof of ultimate reality. Neither can that of psychic 
> sense, for the latter, like the former, is a useful servant but a 
> dangerous guide.
> 
> All extra-sensory perception has to pass through the mind of the 
> percipient and is therefore biased by its mental images, 
> intellectual interests, and the neutral tone and coloring of that 
> mind. To me the most legitimate use of my capacity is to make such 
> observations as I can, and present these for acceptance or rejection 
> in precisely the same way as we present the other ideas in this 
> study. At best they perhaps serve as illustrations of the many 
> subtle things we have tried to convey, at worst the can be regarded 
> as fantasies and thus dismissed. But after thirty years of 
> observation of the human etheric field in diagnostic work for both 
> physical and psychological cases, I can at least state simply that 
> clairvoyant observation has been useful abd acceptable."
> 
> Phoebe D. Bendit in (with Lawrence J. Bendit)
> "The Etheric Body of Man" (Quest Books, 1977,
> first published in 1957 under the title 
> "Man Incarnate".)
> 
> 
> 
> "Regarded as energies, feelings and thoughts are related to one 
> another in a way that is analogous to the relationship between sound 
> and light. At one end of the spectrum of consciousness lies the 
> field most closely related to the the physical body. It is known as 
> etheric, and its characterisitc form of energy is what is called 
> *prana* in Indian thought -- that is, life energy or vitality. All 
> living things are nourished and sustained by this energy. In 
> diagnosing illness, the color and radiance of an individual's pranic 
> flow are important indicators to me of the state of health. The 
> reason why the emotions have such an impact upon our health is 
> because the etheric is very closely linked with the emotional field; 
> there is a constant interplay between the two types of energy.
> 
> Incidentally, this is the most difficult field to study 
> clairvoyantly, because it is the most complex. The etheric is really 
> the prototype of the physical body, and it replicates the 
> complexities of our bodily processes. In looking for traces of 
> disease, therefore, one must take note of variations in color, 
> texture, degree and type of motion, and may other factors within the 
> etheric. In the practice of healing techniques such as Therapeutic 
> Touch, we work primarily to discover and remove impediments in the 
> flow of etheric energy, while always thinking of the person as a 
> whole."
> 
> Dora Kunz in "The Personal Aura", chapter II
> (Quest Book, 1991) 
> 
> 
> 
> >We have no two beliefs or hypotheses on the same subject.
> 
> 
> What then is the reason for HPB to mention, both in The Key and in 
> the SD, *several* schools of thought concerning the constitution of 
> man (e.g. Vedanta, Kabala, Taraka-Raja Yoga, Esoteric Buddhist, 
> Greek)?
> 
> 
> Pedro