278. Telepathy And The Etheric Vehicle - 04. SECTION ONE - TEACHING ON TELEPATHY - Part 4 - A. BAILEY

SECTION ONE - TEACHING ON TELEPATHY - Part 4

With this last mentioned type of communication, there will be found mixed certain messages or impressions from the Ashram which the disciple will be apt to confuse with group telepathy, soul communication and direct relation with the Master—a relationship at this stage non-existent. This will not greatly matter, because when the disciple begins to realise certain differences, a new type of registration will awaken and guide the disciple's consciousness.

This stage, which embraces the second type of impression in its earliest forms, can be quite a long one, for it [89]covers a very definite period of transition from the astral plane to the mental plane. The time equation varies according to ray and the age of the soul. Sixth ray people, for instance, are very slow in making this transition, owing to the pronounced factor of glamour; first and second ray people are relatively quick. Third ray people are also slow, for they are lost in the threads of their own glamorous manipulations and their devious thinking, and hardly know where truth begins and delusion ends; illusion, which is the problem of the mental types on all rays, is far more temporary in its effects than is delusion.

When the disciple has mastered to some degree the significant difference between messages from his own subconscious or the subconscious of other people with whom he may be en rapport, and the messages coming from his own soul, his life then becomes more self-directed and organised, more fruitful from the angle of service, and therefore of definite use to the Hierarchy. He learns to distinguish the messages coming from his own soul from those which are hierarchical; his life becomes more clearly directed; he next distinguishes definitely and accurately the communications which come to him from the Ashram and which are sent out to make impression upon the minds of aspirants and disciples of all degrees and of all ray types. When he can distinguish between these various communications, then and only then does the third type of communication become possible—direct messages which are due to contact with the Master of his Ashram in person. He, by that time, possesses what has been called "the freedom of the Ashram" and "the keys to the Kingdom of God"; he can then be trusted with some of the directive potency of the Ashram itself. His thinking will then affect and reach others. This developing effectiveness grows with rapidity when the fourth type of impression is familiar to the disciple: [90] that coming from the Spiritual Triad, and therefore from the Monad and Shamballa. There are consequently (to this final stage of impression) three lesser though definite states, each marking an expansion in the realm of service and each related to the last three initiations of the total possible nine initiations which confront developing humanity. The sixth initiation, in which only Masters can participate, marks a transition from the first three stages of impressibility required by the disciples as preludes to the fifth initiation—or in reality to the third, fourth and fifth—and are related to the three stages of Triadal communication, each of which is related to the seventh, the eighth and the ninth initiations.

Never does the geometrical pattern, the numerical progression or the Law of Correspondences break down in the understanding of the purpose and the plans of the planetary Logos—established before the worlds were created and finding their prototypes upon the cosmic mental planes. These points are peculiarly difficult for men to grasp at this time wherein their state of consciousness is concentratedly individualised.

Nevertheless, there is on man's part a steadily growing responsiveness to an expanding environment, as for instance man's recognition of the distinction between nationalism and inter-nationalism. This responsiveness is naturally conditioned by human freewill, effective peculiarly in the timing process. He may learn rapidly and fast or he may go the slow way, but his state of consciousness remains one of a developing reaction to his environment, as registered by his consciousness, and in which he (stage by stage) becomes an integral factor. This integration into his environment, his absorption of its atmosphere and his potency in progression are all related to the fact that he is created to receive impression and that he possesses a mechanism of response to all [91] the facets of the divine expression in manifestation. It is for that reason that the truly illumined man and all who have taken the three highest initiations are always referred to as "the diamond souled"; they, in their totality constitute the "jewel in the lotus"—that twelve-petalled lotus which is the symbol and expression of the potency of the planetary Logos.

You can see, therefore, how the theme of revelation runs throughout the entire evolutionary process; it must never be forgotten that step by step, stage by stage, expansion after expansion, initiation after initiation, the divine WHOLE is realised by man. The method is impressed from a hitherto unrecognised environment; this only becomes possible in this particular form when "the Sons of Mind who are the Sons of God and whose nature is at-one with His began to move on Earth". The Science of Impression is in reality the technique whereby Humanity has been taught by the Spiritual Hierarchy from the moment of its first appearance upon Earth; it is the technique which all disciples have to learn (no matter which of the Seven Paths they may eventually choose) and it is also the sublime art which every Master practises on inspiration from Shamballa; it is a technique which is implemented by the Will, and its consummation is the complete assimilation of the "little wills of men" into the divine Purpose; it is the acceptance on their part of the promotion of that Purpose through right impression on all forms of life at any particular point of evolution. Disciples then become agents of the divine will and are entrusted with the direction of energies, with the plan and with the secrets and the inspiration which are hidden in the Mind of God.

His Contribution to the Divine Plan

To that knowledge—germinated and formed in the solar system previous to this—they add that which the present solar system has to give and to mature; the magnetic [92] attractiveness of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom in one of its three major forms or Rays of Aspect, implemented by the four Rays of Attribute. This power to use the ray energies to attract and impress the constantly expanding revelation is the clue to all the work going forward today, and to this activity we give the name of the Science of Impression. It involves the constant opening up of a new environment—an environment which reaches all the way from the lowest grade of daily living, undertaken by the least developed of human beings, to that point upon the ladder of evolution when the aspirant becomes consciously susceptible to what we call spiritual impression. At that point he becomes capable of being more sensitive to a higher range of impression and—at the same time—he himself begins to learn the art of impressing the minds of others, to master the understanding of the level from which he works as an impressing agent, and to know who are the sons of men he can impress. He has to master also the secondary lesson of adapting his environment in such a manner that he can impress others and the impression can find its way through his environing circumstances and into the usually inattentive minds for whom he feels a responsibility.

This he does through a growing knowledge of himself and through learning the art of registering. The clearer and the more deeply apprehending is his capacity to register the impression to which he is subjected and to which he is sensitive, the more easily will he reach those he must aid towards a wider and deeper insight. This registering of his own expanding environment—with all its implications of a new vision, a new goal, a wider field of service—leads to the inflowing energies ( arriving on the wings of inspiration) becoming a reservoir of thought-substance, to the use of which he must accustom himself.

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The first step then is the fact of recording and of reducing into correct and available concepts, ideas and thoughtforms, that which he has registered. This marks the first stage in his truly occult service, and to this new type of service he will be increasingly dedicated. From the reservoir of thought-substance he learns to project those forms, those magnetic ideas, which will invoke the attention of those he seeks to help; this is called the stage ofresultant invocation. It is an invocative act, an invocative way of living, which will find its way into the minds of men, and which will call forth or evoke from them a response and a widening consciousness; the processes of spiritual impression are thereby set up; it is also an invocation—on the part of the disciple—for further and greater impression and inspiration in order to increase his ability to serve.

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XIII. TELEPATHIC SENSITIVITY A NORMAL UNFOLDMENT

You will have noticed that I have given no instructions as to the art of developing telepathic sensitivity. The reason is, as I told you before, that this sensitivity should be, and always is, a normal unfoldment when the disciple is correctly oriented, completely dedicated and learning decentralisation. If it is a forced process, then the sensitivity developed is not normal and carries with it much difficulty and future danger. Where the disciple is concerned, release from the constant consideration of personal circumstances and problems leads inevitably to a clear mental release; this then provides those areas of free mental perception which make the higher sensitivity possible. Gradually, as the disciple acquires true freedom of thought and the power to be receptive to the impression of the abstract mind, he creates for himself a reservoir of thought which becomes available at need for the helping of other people and for the necessities of his growing world service. Later, he becomes sensitive to impression from the Hierarchy. This is at first purely ashramic, but is later transformed into total hierarchical impression by the time the disciple is a Master; the Plan is then the dynamic substance providing the content of the reservoir of thought upon which he can draw. This is a statement of unique and unusual importance. Later still, he becomes sensitive to impression from Shamballa, and the quality of the Will which implements planetary Purpose is added to the content of his available knowledge. The point which I seek to make here, however, is the fact of the existence of a growing reservoir of thought which the disciple has created in response to the many [95] varying impressions to which he is becoming increasingly sensitive; the ideas, concepts and spiritual objectives of which he is becoming aware are steadily being formulated by him into thoughts with their appropriated thoughtforms, and upon these he learns to draw as he seeks to serve his fellowmen. He finds himself in possession of a reservoir or pool of thought-substance which is the result of his own mental activity, of his innate receptivity, and which provides the material for teaching and the "fount of knowledge" upon which he can draw when he seeks to aid other people.

The essential point to be grasped is that sensitivity to impression is a normal and natural unfoldment, paralleling spiritual development. I gave you a clue to the entire process when I said that

"Sensitivity to impression involves the engendering of a magnetic aura upon which the highest impressions can play."

I would have you give the deepest consideration to these words. As the disciple begins to demonstrate soul quality, and the second divine aspect takes possession of him and controls and colours his entire life, automatically the higher sensitivity is developed; he becomes a magnet for spiritual ideas and concepts; he attracts into his field of consciousness the outline, and later the details, of the hierarchical Plan; he becomes aware eventually of the planetary Purpose; all these impressions are not things which he must seek out and learn laboriously to ascertain, to hold and seize upon. They drop into his field of consciousness because he has created a magnetic aura which invokes them and brings them "into his mind". This magnetic aura begins to form itself from the first moment he makes a contact with his soul; it deepens and grows as those contacts increase in frequency and become eventually an habitual state of consciousness; [96] then, at will and at all times, he is en rapport with his soul, the second divine aspect.

Paralleling Spiritual Development

It is this aura which is in reality the reservoir of thought-substance upon which he can spiritually rely. His point of focus is upon the mental plane. He is no longer controlled by the astral nature; he is successfully constructing the antahkarana along which the higher impressions can flow; he learns not to dissipate this inflow but to accumulate within the aura (with which he has surrounded himself) the knowledge and the wisdom which he realises his service to his fellowmen requires. A disciple is a magnetic centre of light and knowledge just in so far as the magnetic aura is held by him in a state of receptivity. It is then constantly invocative of the higher range of impressions; it can be evoked and set into "distributing activity" by that which is lower and which is demanding aid. The disciple therefore, in due time, becomes a tiny or minute correspondence of the Hierarchy—invocative as it is to Shamballa and easily evoked by human demand. These are points warranting careful consideration. They involve a primary recognition of points of tension and their consequent expansion into magnetic auras or areas, capable of invocation and evocation.

These areas of sensitivity pass through three stages, upon which it is not my intention to enlarge:

1. Sensitivity to impression from other human beings. This sensitivity becomes of use in service when the needed magnetic aura has been engendered and is brought under scientific control.

2. Sensitivity to group impression—the passage of ideas from group to group. The disciple can become a receptive agent within any group of which he is a part, and this ability indicates progress in his part.

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3. Sensitivity to hierarchical impressions, reaching the disciple via the antahkarana and—later—from the Hierarchy as a whole, when he has attained some of the higher initiations. This indicates ability to register impression from Shamballa.

It would be of value if we now considered three points which are concerned with sensitivity to impression, with the construction of the resultant reservoir of thought, and with responsiveness to subsequent invocative appeals. These three points are:

1. Processes of Registration.

2. Processes of Recording Interpretations.

3. Processes of Resultant Invocative Response.

I would recall to your minds the knowledge that the aura which each of you has created around the central nucleus of your incarnated self or soul is a fragment of the over-shadowing soul which brought you into manifestation. This aura is (as you well know) composed of the emanations of the etheric body, and this in its turn embodies three types of energy for which you are individually responsible. These three types are (when added to the energy of prana which composes the etheric vehicles):

1. The health aura. This is essentially physical.

2. The astral aura, which is usually by far the most dominant factor, extensive and controlling.

3. The mental aura, which is in most cases relatively small but which develops rapidly once the disciple takes his own development consciously in hand, or once the polarisation of the personality is upon the mental plane. The time will eventually come when [98] the mental aura will obliterate (if I may use such an inadequate term) the emotional or astral aura, and then the soul quality of love will create a substitute, so that the needed sensitivity does not entirely disappear but is of a higher and far more acute nature.

In this threefold aura (or more correctly, fourfold, if you count the etheric vehicle) every individual lives and moves and has his being; it is this living, vital aura which is the recording agent of all impressions, both objective and subjective. It is this "agent of sensitive response" which the indwelling self has to control and use in order to register impression or to direct etheric or mental impression out into the world of men. Astral impression is purely selfish and individual and, though it may affect a man's surroundings, is not directed as are the other energies registered. It is the aura which predominantly creates the effects which a person has upon his associates; it is not primarily his words which produce reactions even though they are supposed to embody his reactions and his thinking but which are, in reality, usually expressions of his emotional desires.

All of us, therefore, carry around with us a subjective mechanism which is a true and perfect picture of our peculiar point in evolution. It is the aura which a Master watches, and this is a factor of major importance in the life of the disciple. The light of the soul within the aura and the condition of the various aspects of the aura indicate whether or not the disciple is nearing the Path of Discipleship. As the emotional reactions lessen, and as the mental apparatus clarifies, the progress of the aspirant can be exactly noted. I would have you distinguish carefully between the astral and the mental bodies and that which they emanate. The bodies (so called) are substantial in nature; the aura is essentially radiatory and extends from each substantial [99] vehicle in every direction. This is a point which should be most carefully noted.

The problem of the aspirant as he "engenders" his magnetic aura is himself to withdraw, and thus lessen the extent and the power of the astral aura, and extend and increase the potency of the mental aura. It should be remembered that the large majority of aspirants are definitely polarised in the astral nature, and that therefore their problem is to achieve a different polarisation and to become focussed upon the mental plane. This takes time and vast effort. Eventually—as mentioned above—the radiation of the soul is substituted in place of the hitherto present emotional activity of the aspirant; this emanation is, in reality, a radiation from the love petals of the egoic lotus.

The moment an aspirant begins to work consciously at his own unfoldment and to consider and deal with the aura with which he is equipped, he then passes through three stages during his progress upon the Path of Return. These are:

1. The stage wherein he discovers the potency and the quality of his astral aura. Owing to the fact that this is (in this second solar system) the quality of love and its distortion into the astral nature, the development of emotional sensitivity is peculiarly and almost unnaturally strong. It is stronger than the mental body and its mental direction.

2. The stage wherein the mental vehicle increases its potency and produces, finally, a mental radiation which is so strong that it dominates and controls the astral aura.

3. The stage wherein the soul expresses its essential nature of love and begins to pour its radiation into the astral aura, via the astral body. Eventually the [100] sensitivity of love is substituted for emotional sensitivity and desire.

Aspirants are to be found at all these three stages of sensitivity. There comes a moment during the second initiation when the soul of the initiate sweeps into activity and fundamental force (if I might use such a term) submerges the astral nature, vitalising and inspiring the astral body, changing temporarily the quality of the astral aura, and establishing a control which will lead finally to the substitution which I have mentioned above. This is an aspect of the truth which underlies the doctrine of "vicarious atonement"—a doctrine which has been woefully distorted by Christian theology.

Registration, Recording and Interpretation

Let us now deal with the aforementioned "Processes of Registration, of Recording Interpretations, and the Resultant Invocative Response." We must bear in mind always that I am stating general rules and that I am not dealing either with the ideal or with the undesirable; the sources of impression change as the disciple makes progress, though always the larger and the greater source will include all lesser sources.

The fact that a man is sensitive to hierarchical impression in his mental aura will not prevent his being sensitive in his astral nature to the invocative and emotional call of human beings. The two together are most useful in effect, if the disciple sees to it that they are related. Forget this not, brother of mine. The capacity to interpret recorded impressions is likewise learnt as the mental aura develops under the influence of the "mind held steady in the light" of the soul; the disciple learns that all recorded truth is susceptible to many interpretations, and that these unfold with increasing clarity as he takes one initiation after an other, and as he develops conscious responsiveness. Theability to invoke demonstrates from life to life and involves [101] the invocation of conscious response from the anima mundi or from the subconscious soul of all things, as well as from the human consciousness and from the world of super-conscious contact.

This ability develops steadily as the aspirant treads the Path of Discipleship; it is frequently prefaced in the earlier stages by much confusion, much astral psychism and frequent wrong interpretations. There is no need at this stage, however, for undue distress, because all that is needed is experience, and that experience is gained through experiment and its expression in the daily life. In no case is the truism of learning through a system of trial and error proved more correct than it is in the life and experience of the accepting disciple. When he is an accepted disciple, the errors decrease in number even though the trials (or the experimental use of the many varying energies) become more extensive and, therefore, cover a much wider range of activities.

The Processes of Registration are founded upon what I might call invocative approaches from a wide area of possible contacts. The disciple has to learn to distinguish between these many impacts upon his sensitive aura. In the early stages the majority of them are unconsciously registered, though the registration is acute and accurate; the goal, nevertheless, is conscious registration; this is brought about through the constant and steady holding of the attitude of the Observer. It is developed through the attainment of detachment—the detachment of the Observer from all desires and longings which concern the separated self. It will therefore be obvious to you that the use of the word "observer" involves the concept of duality and, therefore, of separation. In this case, however, the motive prompting observation is not self-interest, but the determination to clarify the aura so that it can register only [102] that which will be illuminating and related to the divine Plan, which will be to the benefit of humanity and, therefore, to the creation of a new server within the Ashrams of the Hierarchy.

The divisions made by certain psychologists of the consciousness of man into subconscious, conscious or self-conscious, and superconscious have a real measure of value here. It must be remembered, however, that the disciple, first of all, becomes a truly conscious unit of humanity and thus develops a true self-consciousness. This he arrives at by discriminating between the lower self and the higher self, and this renders his magnetic aura sensitive to an aspect of himself which has not hitherto been a controlling factor. From that achieved point he begins to register impressions with increasing clarity and accuracy. Usually, in the early stages, the one desire of the disciple is to register impressions from the Hierarchy; he much prefers that idea to the idea of registering impressions from his own soul or from the surrounding human factors, his fellowmen and the environment and the circumstances which they create. He longs for what might be called "vertical impression." This motive, being very largely self-centredness, turns the disciple introspectively in upon himself, and it is in this stage that many aspirants become prisoners, astrally speaking, because they register in their magnetic aura the many astrally motivated thoughtforms of what they believe and hope "vertical impression" supposedly would convey. They contact with facility the astral counterparts of the higher worlds, which are reflected (and thereby distorted) into the astral plane; the world there registered is glamoured by wrong and selfish desires and by the wishful thinking of well-meaning devotees. Upon this I need not enlarge. All disciples—at some point or another of their training—have to work through this phase of glamour; in so doing they [103] clarify and intensify the magnetic aura and, simultaneously, clarify the surrounding astral world with which they are in contact. They learn also that the longing to register impressions from the Hierarchy must give place to the determination to place their magnetic aura at the disposal of humanity; they then learn to register human need and to understand thereby where help is possible and their fellowmen can be served. By means of this conscious registration of invocative appeals from the world of horizontal contacts, the magnetic aura of the disciple is cleared of the hindering and engrossing thoughtforms, and from the aspirational desires and longings which have hitherto prevented right registration. The disciple then ceases to create them, and those which have been created die out or atrophy for lack of attention.

Later on, when the accepting disciple becomes the accepted disciple and is permitted to participate in ashramic activity, he adds the ability to register hierarchical impression; this however is only possible after he has learnt to register impression coming to him from his own soul (the vertical impression) and from the surrounding world of men (the horizontal impression). When he has taken certain important initiations, his magnetic aura will be capable of registering impression from the subhuman kingdoms in nature. Again, later on, when he is a Master of the Wisdom and, therefore, a full member of the fifth kingdom in nature, the world of hierarchical life and activity will be the world from which horizontal impression will be made upon his magnetic aura, and vertical impression will come from the higher levels of the Spiritual Triad and, still later, from Shamballa. Then the world of humanity will be to him what the subhuman kingdoms were when the fourth kingdom, the human, was the field of his registered horizontal impression. [104] You have here the true significance of the Cross of humanity clearly revealed.

The fact of registration is no unusual phenomenon. Sensitive people are constantly being impressed from some level of consciousness or other, and are receptive to these impressions according to the level of consciousness upon which they normally function; mediums, for instance, are exceedingly prone to receive impressions from etheric or astral levels, as are the vast majority of astral psychics—and their name is legion. Impressions from mental levels (concrete, abstract or of a more exalted nature) make their impress upon the minds of those who have attained a true measure of focus upon the mental plane. Scientists, mystics, mathematicians, occult students, aspirants and disciples, educators and humanitarians and all who love their fellowmen are all susceptible to such impression, and one of the outstanding needs of the disciple is to develop adequate sensitivity to ashramic impression and contact. Then he moves out of the group of mental sensitives listed above.

The problem with which I now deal is far deeper and concerns the interpretation and the clear and correct recording of the impression, which is a far more difficult matter. The subject who is impressed must know the source of the impression; he must be able to relate it to some field of demanded information, correction, instruction, or energy distribution. He must be able to state clearly on what aspect of his recording mechanism (the mind, the astral body, the energy body, or the brain) the imparted and registered impression has made impact. One of the difficulties, for instance, facing the aspiring disciple and the earnest occult student is to record directly in the brain impressions from the Spiritual Triad (and later from the Monad), via the antahkarana.

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This impression must be a direct descent from mental levels to the brain, avoiding all contact with the astral body; only in so far as this direct descent is attained will the re corded impression be devoid of error. It will not then be tinctured with any emotional complex whatsoever, for it is the astral level of consciousness which is the great distorter of essential truth. Impressions from the Ashram or from the Spiritual Triad (which are the only type of impressions with which I am here concerned) pass through three stages:

1. The stage of mental recording. The clarity and the accuracy of this recording will be dependent upon the condition of the channel of reception, the antahkarana; in this recording, curiously enough, a certain element of time enters in. It is not time as you know it upon the physical plane, which is but the registration by the brain of passing "events"; it is the higher mental correspondence to time. Into this, I cannot here enter as the theme is too abstruse; for time, in this connection, is related to distance, to descent, to focus, and to the power to record.

2. The stage of brain reception. The accuracy of this reception will be dependent upon the quality of the physical brain cells, upon the polarisation of the thinking man in the head centre, and the freedom of the brain cells from all emotional impression. The difficulty lies here, that the receiving aspirant or the focussed thinker is always aware emotionally of the descent of the higher impression and of the consequent clarification of the theme of his thought. This must, however, be recorded by a perfectly quiescent astral vehicle, and therefore you will see one of the main objectives of true meditation.

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3. The stage of recognised interpretation. This is an exceedingly difficult phase. Interpretation is dependent upon many factors: the educational background, the point reached in evolution, the mystical or the occult approach of the disciple to the centre of truth, his freedom from the lower psychism, his essential humility (which plays a major part in proper understanding), and his personality decentralisation. In fact, the character in its entirety is involved in this important matter of correct interpretation.

In this aspect of impression the subject of SYMBOLS must necessarily be involved. All impressions must necessarily be translated and interpreted in symbols, in word forms or in pictorial representations; these the aspirant cannot avoid; and it is in the word forms (which are, needless to point out, in the nature of symbols) that he is apt to go astray. They are the media through which the registered impression is conveyed to the brain consciousness, i.e., to the physical plane awareness of the disciple, thus making possible his useful comprehension of abstract ideas or of those aspects of the Path which it is his duty to understand and teach.

There is no need for me to elaborate this theme. The true disciple is ever aware of the possibility of error, of the intervention of psychic intrusions and distortions; he knows well that true and effective interpretation of the imparted impression is dependent largely upon the purity of the receiving channel and upon the freedom of his nature from all aspects of the lower psychism—a point oft forgotten. A thick veil of concrete thoughtforms can also distort the true interpretation, as can astral intervention; the teaching upon the Path and the spiritual impression can be interfered with by glamour from the astral plane or by separative and concrete [107] ideas emanating from mental levels. In this case it can be truly said that "the mind is the slayer of the real." There is a deep occult significance to the words "an open mind"; it is as essential to correct interpretation as is freedom from glamour and the psychic expressions to be found upon the astral plane.

Here again you can grasp the necessity of a factual alignment so that a direct channel is created, along which the impression (directed by some higher source than the personality) can descend into the brain. At first, this channel and alignment must be established between the brain and the soul; this will involve all the three aspects of the personality—the etheric body, the astral vehicle and the mind nature; basically, this aligning process should be started and developed upon the Probationary Path and brought to a relatively high state of effectiveness upon the earlier stages of the Path of Discipleship. Later, as the disciple consciously creates the antahkarana and becomes a functioning part of the Ashram, he learns (whilst practising alignment) to by-pass—if I may use such a word—two aspects of himself which have hitherto been of major importance: the astral vehicle and the soul body or causal body. The astral body is thus by-passed before the fourth initiation, and the soul body before the fifth; the entire process of "by-passing" takes much time and must be worked at with intensity, first of all with the focus upon the emotional nature through conscious discrimination, and finally upon the soul nature under the inspiration of the Spiritual Triad which is eventually substituted for the soul. All this will take many incarnations. For the registration and the interpretation of the higher impressions is a basic occult science and takes much learning and application to perfect.

As the two processes are slowly developed, the third stage automatically becomes increasingly effective. The received [108] and interpreted impression brings about fundamental changes in the life and the state of consciousness of the aspirant and, above all, in his orientation. He becomes an evocative and invocative centre of energy. That which he has received through the medium of his aligning channel becomes a potent factor in invoking a fresh flood of higher impression; it also makes him evocative upon the physical plane, so that the magnetic aura which he has engendered becomes increasingly sensitive to these spiritual inflowing impressions, and also increasingly sensitive to that which he evokes from his surrounding physical environment and from humanity. He becomes a power station en rapport with the Hierarchy and he receives and distributes (in response to the evocative call of humanity and human need) the energy received. He also becomes a "receiver of light" and of spiritual illumination, and a distributor of light in the dark places of the world and into human hearts. He is, therefore, an invocative and evocative centre for use by the Hierarchy in the three worlds of human evolution.

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XIV. HIGHER ASPECTS OF RELATIONSHIP

The word telepathy has been used primarily to cover the many phases of mental contact and the exchange of thought without the use of the spoken or written word or sign. However, what is thus understood in this modern usage does not cover the higher aspects of "relationship within the Universal Mind." The third aspect, that of intelligence, is involved when interpretation of contact occurs; the second aspect, that of love-wisdom, is the factor which makes the higher impression possible, and this it does whilst that aspect is developing or in process of coming into functioning activity. During this developing process, only straight telepathy is possible and this is of two kinds:

1. Sympathetic telepathy or immediate understanding, awareness of events, apprehensions of happenings, and identification with personality reactions. This is all connected with the solar plexus activity of the personality and this—when the love nature or second aspect is unfolded or unfolding—becomes the "seed or germ" of the intuitive faculty. The entire process is, therefore, astral-buddhic and involves the lower aspects of the Universal Mind as an agent.

2. Mental telepathy or the interplay of transmitted thought. Though this is a constant phenomenon among advanced intellectual people, it is still scarcely recognised, its laws and modes of expression are as yet unknown, and the best minds and interpreters on subjective levels still confuse it with solar plexus reactions. It is a relatively new and unexplored science, [110] but the range of its activities is not astral and, therefore, related to the solar plexus centre, for the substance in which this science is carried forward is not astral substance but mental substance, and therefore another vehicle is involved and employed, that of the mental body. It is the "seed or germ" of higher contacts and of impressions coming from levels higher than the buddhic or intuitional plane. It is related to the higher aspect of the Universal Mind, to the intelligent Will. In both cases, the lower aspect of love (emotional and sensitive astral response) and the pure love of the soul are involved.

Astral, sympathetic sensitivity is fallible and frequently erroneous in its conjectures and interpretations. The higher telepathy—also a form of sensitivity, and which is as an entering door or concept—becomes eventually infallible; in its earlier stages (where methods of interpretation and of deduction are concerned) it may prove frequently at fault.

Straight mental telepathy is one of the highest demonstrations of the personality; it is in the nature of a bridging faculty, for it is one of the major steps towards the higher impression; it always presupposes a relatively high stage of mental development, and that is one reason why it is not yet regarded as a reputable, proved and provable capacity of the human being. In this case, the mind is truly "the slayer of the Real," and the sources and modes of subjective knowledge still remain in a dark area of the human consciousness. The normal processes of evolution will, however, prove incontrovertibly the existence of faculties which make the higher spiritual and subjective impressions possible, and eventually normal.

This "Supreme Science of Contact" can be—as already explained—broken up into the following phases which are[111] all progressively developed from each other. Forget not the inevitable continuity which is the outstanding characteristic of the evolutionary process.

1. Astral sensitive awareness. This is based upon the reactions of the solar plexus, and the entire process is carried forward upon the astral plane and with astral substance. This, in its highest form, becomes the factor which later makes intuitive awareness and intuitive sensitivity possible; then the process is carried forward in buddhic substance. Aspirants are, at one stage of their development, strongly astral-buddhic in nature. This should be remembered.

2. Mental telepathy. This involves naturally two minds or several minds, and the process is carried forward in the substance of the mental plane. It is the factor which makes possible the activity which we call "impression." This impression comes largely from certain aspects of the mental plane, such as:

a. The soul of the telepathic individual, using the knowledge petals of the egoic lotus—a high form of mental intelligence.

b. The abstract mind, so called. This aspect of mental substance is largely used by the Hierarchy in order to reach the minds of disciples. It is only within the last few centuries that the Hierarchy has shifted the focus of its living attention on to the buddhic plane and away from the mental plane. This has become possible because the aspirants of the world are now sensitive to contacts which are founded upon an astral-buddhic consciousness but which are strictly carried on within mental [112] substance. This necessarily involves the three aspects of the mind, found therein: the concrete mind, the Son of Mind, and the abstract sensitivity or reaction. This involves (on the physical plane) an activity of the pituitary body (as you can readily see) and also the use of the ajna centre.

3. The occult Science of Impression. This becomes possible when the other two forms of telepathic rapport are present and are developing to a certain point of accuracy. It is dependent also upon the construction of the antahkarana and upon the steady orientation of the aspirant or disciple toward the Spiritual Triad; it also becomes possible when the abstract mind is developed and sensitive, and can thus become the seed or germ of the spiritual Will; this will involve responsiveness to divine purpose. The higher aspect of this abstract mind is the atmic plane. It is useful to realise the substantial nature of these two levels of consciousness. It is within the substance of the atmic plane that the activity is set up which can impress the abstract mind, which then becomes the seat of the consciousness of the spiritual man; at the same time, he remains in active possession and use of his personality and continues to employ the concrete mind; astral sensitivity, however, then begins to fall below the threshold of consciousness and thus joins the great array of instincts and of instinctual reactions of which the human being is possessed and which admit him into the life and conditioned awareness of all that exists in the three worlds, including the three subhuman kingdoms of nature. It is with these subliminated and controlled instincts that those Masters and disciples work whose task it is to oversee the evolution of the forms of life in the subhuman kingdoms.

The higher forms of mental telepathy, involving the soul and the abstract mind are concerned solely with the divine Plan—as the Hierarchy works it out in the three worlds. The Science of Impression is concerned, therefore, primarily, with the divine Purpose as Shamballa is working it out, and also with those higher aspects of hierarchical work which are not concerned with work in the three worlds. This is a point upon which I would ask you to ponder.

Today, owing to the curious evolutionary stage reached in the human kingdom, an intermediate aspect of the three above forms of impression has been instituted; it is like an interim period between full human expression and the full expression of the kingdom of souls. This we call:

4. The Science of Invocation and Evocation. This science can and does use the unintelligent urges and the higher (yet inchoate) longings of the masses of men in an invocative form; it does so in order to bridge the gap existing in consciousness between the life of the ordinary man, the life of the integrated personality and the life of the soul. Through the use of this invocative demand—oft speechless and not consciously expressed—the disciples of the world can focus; they can employ it and thus generate an energy which will be strong enough to make a true impact and a definite impression upon Beings and Lives found on levels higher than those in the three worlds. This impact evokes a reaction from these higher Beings, and then a spiritual and intelligent interplay is set up which is of great value in promoting [114] an added stimulus and an increased vitalisation of the normal and usually slow evolutionary process. This is happening today in an acute form and accounts for much that is taking place in the world of human affairs at this time. The spreading stimulation is of a very intense nature. The invocative cry of humanity is not only the voiceless appeal which the hierarchical workers are everywhere mobilising, but it finds expression also in all the plans and schemes, the formulated platforms, and the many groups and organisations which are dedicated to the betterment of human living.

Certain basic concepts underlie every phase of the Science of Contact, and without them there would be no basis for any effort to master this science. Please grasp this fact. There are three which must always be borne in mind:

1. The medium through which the thought currents or impressions (from no matter what source) must pass in order to make an impact upon the human brain is the planetary etheric body. This is fundamental in its implications. This etheric vehicle makes all relationships possible, because the individual etheric body is an integral part of the vital body of the planet. This vital body is the medium also of all instinctual reactions, such as an animal will evidence when danger is around. The closer that this etheric body is interwoven (if I may use such a word) with the dense physical vehicle, the clearer will be the instinctual reaction—as in the illustration which I have given and which is based upon millennia of such reactions; the greater also will be the sensitivity and the more aptitude will there be for telepathic [115] contact and recognition of the higher impressions. It might also be added that the etheric body of a disciple or even of an advanced person can be so handled and dealt with that it can reject much that might otherwise impinge upon it, pass through it or use it as a channel. This training is automatic; evidence of it can also be seen in the ability which the human mechanism possesses to tune out all contacts and impressions that it may not need, to which it is so accustomed that they do not even register, and all that it deems undesirable or not fit for consideration. The reason that true telepathic contact between minds is not more prevalent is due to the fact that few people think with an adequate clarity or with the energy required; they do not create true, concise or powerful thoughtforms or—if they do—these thoughtforms are not correctly directed towards the intended objective. When a man is a disciple and deliberately seeks to be impressed by his soul, by the Master or by the Spiritual Triad, the task of the impressing agent is relatively simple; all the disciple has to do is to develop right receptivity, plus an intuitive intelligence which will enable him to make correct interpretations, and to recognise also the source of the communication or impression.

This brings us to the second basic concept:

2. Sensitivity to impression involves the engendering of a magnetic aura upon which the highest impressions can play. This I dealt with (in some measure) in the preceding section. It should be borne in mind that the potency of the magnetic aura which envelops all human beings is to be found at present in four [116] areas of substance; these four areas are close to four major centres. When the individual is strictly low grade and is predominantly animal in nature, then the majority of impacting impressions will reach him automatically through the sacral centre; such impacting impressions (as you can well imagine) will be heavy and yet dynamic; they will have reference to all that concerns his physical being, his physical appetites, and his physical comfort or discomfort. There are however, today, relatively few persons in proportion to the planetary population who use the sacral centre as the major registering organ. The magnetic aura (when this is the case) is relatively small; all the tendencies of this tiny aura are downward in nature, and all impressions (which cannot possibly come from a higher source than the man himself) work downthrough the aura of the sacral centre. Most of the impressions are therefore purely instinctual in nature and little or no thought is involved; there is evidence, however, of what can be understood as aspiration even if it is not what a true aspirant might regard as spiritual in nature.

The average, though still unthinking, human being works through his astral body and, because he is there polarised, works through his solar plexus centre—etherically and primarily. All impressions find entrance into the aura via the area around that part of the etheric vehicle. It is through this major centre that the ordinary medium works, receiving impressions and communications from astral entities or from the animated astral forms to be found in the glamours created by humanity.

Forget not, nevertheless, that true aspiration is essentially an astral product or reaction; all aspirants—[117] in the early stages of their slow re-orientation—work through the solar plexus centre, and thus only gradually focus the lower energies there, prior to their transmutation and elevation to the higher centre, the heart centre. There are certain disciples who work deliberately upon the astral plane, under instruction from the Master of their Ashram, in order to reach such neophytes and thus to impress them with the knowledge and the subtle information needed for their progress. No Master works in this manner, and the Masters have therefore to use certain of Their disciples in this service. Such disciples direct the desired impression to the solar plexus area of the magnetic aura. This magnetic aura has another point of entry in the region of the throat centre, utilising it as the recipient of higher impressions. This centre or area of energy is largely used and vitally activated by those who are the creative workers of the world; they have necessarily made a direct contact with the soul and are therefore wide open to those intuitive ideas which are the source of their creative work. According to the success they have in such creative production, and according to the beauty of their work, will be the impression they thereby convey to other men. Curiously enough, the new and peculiar forms of art which delight some people and which outrage the sense of beauty in others are largely solar plexus creations and are therefore not of a truly high order. In a few of them—a very few—the throat centre is involved.

The magnetic aura around the head is that which is truly sensitive to the highest impressions and is the point of entry to the head centre. Upon this I need not enlarge; all that I have taught you is related [118] to the awakening of this highest centre, prior to the aspirant's becoming a member of the Kingdom of God. The ajna centre is notinvolved and it will remain for several more centuries the agent of directed impression and not the objective of such impressions.

The next key-thought which is of importance is found in the words:

3. "The Plan is the dynamic substance, providing the content of the reservoir upon which the impressing agent can draw and to which the recipient of the impression must become sensitive."