DIVISION D - THOUGHT ELEMENTALS AND FIRE ELEMENTALS
IV. MAN AND THE FIRE SPIRITS OR BUILDERS
1. The Will Aspect and Creation.
IV. MAN AND THE FIRE SPIRITS OR BUILDERS
1. The Will Aspect and Creation.
In a previous division, we dealt somewhat with the transmission of the will of the Ego to the physical brain, and we saw how only in those persons who (through evolutionary development) had the sutratma and the antaskarana connected, and whose three physical head centres were more or less awakened, was the will of the Ego capable of transmission. In the other cases, such as the average man and little developed man, the purpose affecting the physical brain emanated from the astral or lower mental levels, and was, therefore, more likely to be the impulse of some lunar Lord, even if of a high order, than the divine will of the solar Angel, who is the true man.
a. The condition of the Magician. It is of value to remember that when the physical head centres are awakened (through alignment of the etheric centres) we have the very lowest aspect of egoic influence. From these three centres, man on the Probationary Path, and up to the third Initiation, directs and controls his sheath, and from them spreads that illumination which will irradiate the physical plane life. By the time the third Initiation is reached, the internal triangle is in full process of circulatory transmission, and the whole life of the Personality is subjected to the will of the Ego. "The Star absorbs the light of the moon, so that the rays of the Sun may be reflected back" is the occult way of expressing the truth anent this point in evolution. It might be of value here also to point out the condition of the etheric centres during this process of direct solar control.
Before the three physical head centres awaken, man is largely subjected to force flowing through the four minor etheric centres; later the three major centres—the head, the heart, and the throat—begin to vibrate, gradually assuming a greater sweep of activity, till their energy tends to negate that of the lower centres, to absorb their vitality and deflect the direction of their vitality, until the three higher wheels are in full fourth dimensional activity. As this proceeds, the three physical head centres begin to awake from dormancy into activity, the effect being felt as follows:
a. As the major head centre awakens, the pineal gland begins to function.
b. As the heart centre becomes fully alive, the pituitary body enters into activity.
c. As the throat centre assumes its right place in the process of evolution, the alta major centre vibrates adequately.
When the triangle of force that these three physical centres form is in circulatory effect, the greater triangle can be seen in circulation; it then becomes a "wheel turning upon itself." The major etheric centres are in full action, and the man is nearing the moment of liberation.
In the work of creation, as occultly carried on, all these three physical centres have to be utilised, and from a consideration of the subject it will become apparent why it has been necessary to deal with them in this order.
By means of the pineal gland, the organ of spiritual perception, man ascertains the will and purpose of the Ego, and from thence he draws the necessary energy [966] from the higher levels, via the head centre and the sutratma.
By means of the pituitary body, the second element of desire or of the form-building energy, becomes available, and under the law of attraction he can mould, and build in deva substance.
When the alta major centre, the synthesis of what might be called nervous energy, is awake, it becomes possible for him to materialise and activate the desired form which, through attractive energy, he is in process of constructing.
It will be apparent, therefore, why it is that so few people ever construct thought forms which are of constructive lasting benefit to humanity, and also why it is that the Great Ones, (as They work through Their disciples) are forced to work with groups, being seldom able to find a man or woman whose three physical head centres are simultaneously active. They frequently have to work with large groups before the quota of energy supplied to Them for the accomplishment of Their ends measures up to that necessitated.
It will be obvious, likewise, that the disciple's power for service for humanity is dependent largely upon three things:
a. The state of his bodies and their egoic alignment.
b. The condition of activity present in the physical head centres.
c. The circulatory action of the triangular transmission of force.
These factors are again dependent upon others, among which might be enumerated:
1. The ability of the disciple to meditate.
2. The capacity he displays for bringing through accurately from the subtler levels the plans and purposes of which his Ego is cognisant.
3. The purity of his motives.
4. His power to "hold a state of meditation," and while in that state begin to build the form for his idea, and thus materialise the plan of his Ego.
5. The amount of energy he can pour later into his thought form and thus procure for it a period of existence, or its tiny "day of Brahma."
These subsidiary factors are again dependent upon:
a. His place on the ladder of evolution.
b. The condition of his bodies.
c. His karmic condition.
d. The tenuosity of the etheric web.
e. The calibre of his physical body, and its relative refinement.
It is necessary here to warn the student against the error of making any hard or fast rule anent the sequential order of the development of the physical head centres, and the vitalisation of the force centres. This process is incident upon many things, such as the ray upon which the monad may be found, and the nature of the development in the past incarnations. Nature, in all departments of her corporate life, parallels her efforts, and overlaps her various processes, and it takes a seer of [968] vast wisdom and experience to state exactly the stage at which any particular unit of the human family may be. He that is wise always refrains from assertion until he knows.
Let us now consider:
b. The construction, vitalisation, and actuating of the thought form. The Ego, having brought about a condition of receptivity, or of recognition in the physical brain of the man, and having drawn from him the necessary response, the process of building is thereupon begun.
This process of physical plane response is based—as is all else in nature—upon the relation of the polar opposites. The physical centres are receptive to the positive influence of the force centres. The physical brain is responsive to the positive influence of the lower nature in the earlier evolutionary stages, or to the reactions of the substance of the sheaths, the impress of the lunar Lords. It responds in the later stages to the positive influence of the Ego or the impress of the solar Lord.
As is apparent, this building process is divided into three parts, which overlap, and assume an appearance of simultaneity. When (as is the case with the majority of the human family) the process is an unconscious one, produced by reflex action and based largely on the accomplishment of desire, all is carried on with great rapidity, and leads to rapid results—these results being effective of accomplishment according to the ability of the man to vitalise and hold in coherent form his idea. Most of the thought forms created by average man are only relatively effective, and this within great limitations, and having but a restricted radius. When man is learning consciously to create, which he does through the organisation of thought, concentration and meditation, he proceeds more slowly, for he has two primary things to do before the creative process can be carried through:
a. To contact or communicate with the Ego, or solar Angel.
b. To study the process of creation and to make it conform step by step with natural evolutionary law.
The above is necessarily but another way of defining meditation and its objective.
Later on, when a man is an expert in meditation, the work of thought creation proceeds with ever increasing rapidity, until he surpasses (on a higher turn of the spiral) the activity of the earlier unconscious period.
Starting, therefore, with the recognition of the egoic intent in the physical brain, the man proceeds to build the form for his idea. He begins first to organise the material required upon the mental plane. It is on that plane that the impulse takes to itself its primary form. On the desire or astral plane, the process of vitalisation is largely pursued, for the length of the life of any thought form (even such an one as our solar system) is dependent upon the persistence of desire, and the strength of the desire.
On the etheric levels of the physical plane the process of physical concretion takes place; as the physical vehicle assumes the necessary proportions, the thought form becomes divorced from the one who is giving it form. Any idea of enough strength will inevitably materialise in dense physical matter, but the main work of its creator ceases when he has worked with it on mental, astral and etheric levels. The dense physical response is automatic and inevitable. Some ideas of a large and important nature, which have arisen in the consciousness of the Guides of the race, reach full manifestation only through the medium of many agents, and the dynamic impulses of many minds. A few work consciously, when this is the case, at the production of the necessitated [970] form; many more are swept into activity and lend their aid through the very negativity of their natures; they are "forced" to be interested in spite of themselves, and are "swept into the movement," not through any mental apprehension or "vital desire," but because it is the thing to do. In this may be seen an instance of the ability of the Great Ones to utilise conditions of apparent inertia and negativity (due to little development), and thus produce good results.
We will here only deal with the man who is learning consciously to build, and will not consider the process as pursued by the adept, or the chaotic attempts of the little evolved. Having grasped the idea, and having with care discriminated the motive underlying the idea, thus ascertaining its utilitarian purposes, and its value to the group in the service of humanity, the man has certain things to do which, for the sake of clarity, we might sum up in certain statements:
He has, first of all, to hold the idea sufficiently long for it to be faithfully registered in the physical brain. Frequently the Ego will "get through" to the brain some concept, some portion of the plan, and yet will have to repeat the process continuously over quite a long period before the physical response is such that the solar Angel can rest assured that it is intelligently registered and recorded. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the entire process is greatly facilitated if the "shadow," or the man, pursues regular meditation, cultivates the habit of a daily and hourly recollectedness of the higher Self, and before retiring at night endeavours to "hold the thought" of bringing through at the time of awakening as much as possible of any egoic impress. When the reaction between the two factors, the Ego and the receptive physical brain, is established, the interplay is reciprocal, and the two are keyed or tuned to each other, the second stage is entered upon. The idea is conceived.
[971]
A period of gestation is then pursued, itself divided into various stages. The man broods over the idea; he ponders upon it, thereby setting up activity in mental matter, and attracting to his germ thought the material necessary for its clothing. He pictures to himself the contour of the thought form, clothing it with colour, and painting in its details. Hence will be seen the great value of a true imagination, and its ordered scientific use. Imagination is kama-manasic in origin, being neither pure desire nor pure mind, and is a purely human product, being superseded by the intuition in perfected men, and in the higher Intelligences of Nature.
When his will, or the initial impulse is sufficiently strong, and when the imagination, or power of visualisation, is adequately vivid, the second part of the gestation period is entered upon, and the vitalisation by desire is begun. The interplay of mental impulse and desire produce what might be called a pulsation in the organising form of the idea, and it becomes alive. It is yet but nebulous and its tenuosity is great, but it shows signs of organisation and the outline of its form. Students must remember that this entire process is being carried on now during this stage which we are considering from within the brain. There is thus a definite correspondence to the work of the nine Sephiroth:
The initial three correspond to the egoic impulse with which we have earlier dealt.
The secondary group of Sephiroth find their analogy in the work pursued in the stage we are now dealing with, or the impulse of mind-desire, emanating consciously from man's brain.
The work of the final three is accomplished when the thought form, being clothed in mental and astral matter, passes into objectivity on the physical plane.
A later stage in the gestation period is pursued when the thought form, being clothed in mental matter, and having become vitalised by desire, takes to itself a layer of substance of astral matter, and is consequently enabled to function on the astral plane as well as the mental. Here its growth is rapid. It should be carefully borne in mind that the process of building in mental matter proceeds simultaneously, and that the development is now twofold. Here the conscious builder must be careful to hold the balance, and not to let imagination unduly assume too large proportions. The manasic element and the kamic element must be justly proportioned, or else will be seen that too common manifestation, an idea wrongly conceived and nurtured, and therefore impossible of playing its just part in the evolutionary plan, being but a grotesque distortion.
The idea now is reaching a critical stage, and should be ready for the assumption of physical matter and to take to itself an etheric form. When on etheric levels, it receives that final impulse which will lead to what may be called its "actuating," or its reception of that motivating impulse which will lead to its dissociation from its originator, and the sending out to assume
1. A dense form.
2. A separate existence.
It should be remembered that the thought form has now passed from the mental plane, taken to itself an astral sheath, and likewise is gathering to itself a body of etheric matter. When it has reached this stage its vitalisation is proceeding apace, and the hour of its separated existence is drawing near.
This vitalisation is consciously carried out by the man who—according to the original intent or initial impulse—directs to the thought form energy of some kind. This energy is directed from one or other of the three higher centres, according to the quality of the embodied idea, [973] and will be seen pouring towards the rapidly objectivising idea from the particular centre involved. We must not forget that we are considering the thought form of the conscious builder. The thought forms of the majority of human beings are energised from no such high source, but find their active impulse emanating from either the solar plexus, or the still lower organs of generation.
It is this constant stream of emotional or sexual energy which is responsible for the chaotic conditions of the present; the balance is not preserved, the interaction between the two, and the myriads of thought forms consequently produced of a low order and vibration are producing a condition which is going to require all the efforts of mental workers eventually to negate, offset, and transmute. These forms, which scarce merit the prefix "thought," being largely kamic with an admixture of the lowest grade of mental matter, are responsible for the heavy, slow vibrating or pulsating fog or cloak which envelops the human family, and which produces much of the present evil, crime and mental lethargy. People are mainly polarised in the astral body, as we know, and the lower centres are the most active; when an atmosphere or environment of thought-forms of a low key and vitalised by all the baser forms of astral energy is coupled to this, it will become apparent how stupendous is the task of lifting humanity to a clearer, purer and better atmosphere, and how easy it is for the lower aspects and appetites to flourish and to grow.
As the vitalisation is pursued and the energy is poured from one or other of the centres into the thought-form, theconscious builder begins to extend this influence in order to send it forth from him to perform its mission, whatever that may be, to make it occultly "radiant" so that its vibrations will emanate, and make themselves felt, and finally to make it magnetic, so that something [974] in the thought form will call forth response from other thought forms or from the minds it may contact.
When these three objectives have been reached, the life of the form itself is now so strong that it can pursue its own little life cycle and fulfil its work, being only linked to its creator by a tiny thread of radiant substance, which is a correspondence to the sutratma. All forms have such a sutratma. It links a man's bodies to the inner Identity, or to that magnetic current which, emanating from the true Identity, the solar Logos, connects the Creator of the solar system with His great thought form by a stream of energy from the central Spiritual Sun to a point in the centre of the physical Sun.
As long as the attention of the creator of any thought form, great or small, is turned towards it, that magnetic link persists, the thought form is vitalised, and its work carried on. When the work has been accomplished, and the thought-form has served its purpose, every creator, consciously or unconsciously, turns his attention elsewhere, and his thought form disintegrates.
Hence the occult significance of all the processes occultly involved in sight, can be seen. As long as the eye of the Creator is upon that which is created, just so long does it persist; let the Creator withdraw "the light of his countenance" and the death of the thought form ensues, for vitality or energy follows the line of the eye. When, therefore, a man, in meditation, considers his work and builds his thought form for service, he is occultly looking, and consequently energising; he begins to use the third eye in its secondary aspect. The third or spiritual eye has several functions. Amongst others, it is the organ of illumination, the unveiled eye of the soul, through which light and illumination comes into the mind, and thus the entire lower life becomes irradiated. It is also the organ through which pours the directing energy [975] which streams out from the conscious creating adept to the instruments of service, his thought-forms.
The little evolved do not, of course, employ the third eye for the stimulating of their thought forms. The energy used by them in the majority of cases originates in the solar plexus, and works in two directions, either via the organs of generation, or through the physical eyes. In many people these three points—the lower organs, the solar plexus, and the physical eyes—form a triangle of force, around which the stream of energy flows before going out to the objectivised thought form. In the aspirant, and the man who is intellectual, the triangle may be from the solar plexus, to the throat centre and thence to the eyes. Later, as the aspirant grows in knowledge and purity of motive, the triangle of energy will have the heart for its lowest point instead of the solar plexus, and the third eye will begin to do its work, though as yet very imperfectly.
Just as long as the "Eye" is directed to the created form, the current of force will be transmitted to it, and the more one-pointed the man may be the more this energy will be centralised and effective. Much of the ineffectiveness of people is due to the fact that their interests are not centralised but very diffuse, and no one thing engrosses their attention. They scatter their energy and are attempting to satisfy every wandering desire, and to dabble in everything which comes their way. Therefore, no thought they think ever assumes a proper form, or is ever duly energised. They are consequently surrounded by a dense cloud of half-formed disintegrating thought forms and clouds of partially energised matter in process of dissolution. This produces occultly a condition similar to the decay of a physical form, and is equally unpleasant and unwholesome. It accounts for much of the diseased condition of the human family at this time.
Failure in thought creation is due also to the fact that [976] the laws of thought are not taught, and men do not know how, through meditation, to create those children of their activity to carry on their work. Results on the physical plane are much more quickly achieved through scientific thought creation than through the directly physical plane means. This is becoming more realised, but until the race has reached a point of greater purity and unselfishness, the more detailed explanation of the process must necessarily be withheld.
Another reason for creative ineffectiveness is owing to the currents which emanate from the majority of people being of such a low order that the thought forms never reach the point of independent action, except through cumulative group work. Until matter of the three higher subplanes of the astral and physical planes finds its place in the thought form, it has to be energised principally by mob energy. When the higher substance begins to find its way into the form, then it can be seen acting independently, for the individual Ego of the man concerned can begin to work through the matter—a thing before impossible. The Ego cannot work freely in the personality until third subplane matter is found in his bodies; the correspondence consequently holds good.
Once the thought form has been vitalised and its etheric form is completed or "sealed" as it is called, it can attain the dense physical form if desired. This does not mean that the individual thought forms of every man take dense substance upon the etheric, but they will eventuate in activity upon the physical plane. A man, for instance, is thinking a kindly thought; he has built it up and vitalised it; it is objective to the clairvoyant and exists in etheric matter close to the man. It will, therefore, find physical expression in an act of kindness or a physical caress. When the act is over, the caress consummated, the interest of the man in that particular thought form fades out and it dies. Similarly with a crime—the thought form has been built up and inevitably it will find its physical expression in some deed of one kind or another. All activity of every kind is the result:
a. Of thought forms built consciously or unconsciously.
b. Of self-initiated thought forms or of the effect of the thought forms of others.
c. Of responsiveness to one's own inner impulses, or of responsiveness to the impulses of others, and therefore to group thought forms.
It will be apparent, therefore, how vital is this matter, and how influenced men and women are by the thought forms they themselves create, or the mental children of other men.
c. The occult significance of speech. The old Scripture saith: "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin," because in a tide of words at this stage of man's evolution, many are spoken purposelessly or from motives which (when analysed) will be found to be based purely in the personality. The greater the progress that is made along the path of approach to the Mysteries, the greater the care that must be taken by the aspirant. This is necessary for three reasons:
First, owing to his stage in evolution, he is able to enforce his words in a manner which would surprise him could he but see on the mental plane. He builds more accurately than the average men, his subsequent thought-form is more strongly vitalised, and it performs the function whereon it is sent by the "Sound" or speech with greater precision.
Second, any word spoken and consequent thought-form built (unless along the higher path and not based on personality impulses) is apt to cause a barrier of mental matter between a man and his goal. This matter or separating wall has to be dissipated before further [978] advance can be made, and this process is karmic and unavoidable.
Third, speech is very largely a mode of communication on the physical levels; on the subtler levels whereon the worker stands, and in his communications with his fellow workers and chosen co-operators it will play an ever lessening part. Intuitive perception and telepathic interplay will distinguish the intercourse between aspirants and disciples, and when this is coupled with a full trust, sympathy and united effort for the plan we will have a formation wherewith the Master can work, and through which He can pour His force. The Master works through groups (large or small) and the work is facilitated for Them if the interplay between units of the group is steady and uninterrupted. One of the most frequent causes of difficulty in group work and consequent arrest of the inflow of force from the Master temporarily is based on misuse of speech. It brings about a clogging of the channel for the time being on the mental plane.
I mention these three factors for this question of group work is of vital importance and much is hoped from it in these days. If in any organisation on the physical plane the Masters can get a nucleus of even three people who mutually interact (I choose the word deliberately) and who disinterestedly follow the path of service, They can produce more definite results in a shorter space of time than is possible with a large and active body of people who may be sincere and earnest but do not know the meaning of trust in, and co-operation with each other and who guard not the gate of speech.
If a man succeeds in understanding the significance of speech, if he learns how to speak, when to speak, what is gained by speech, and what happens when he speaks, he is well on the way to achieving his goal. The person [979]who regulates his speech rightly is the person who is going to make the most progress. This has ever been realised by all leaders of occult movements. That most occult order of Pythagoras at Crotona, and many other of the esoteric schools in Europe and Asia had a rule that all neophytes and probationers were not permitted to speak for two years after entering the school and when they had learned to keep silence for that period, they were given the right to speak, for they had learned a specific reticence.
It might be of value here if students realised that every good speaker is doing a most occult work. A good lecturer (for instance) is one who is doing work that is analogous on a small scale to that done by the solar Logos. What did He do? He thought, He built, He vitalised. A lecturer, therefore, segregates the material with which he is going to build his lecture and which he is going to vitalise. Out of all the thought matter of the world he gathers together the substance which he individually seeks to use. Next he copies the work of the second Logos in wisely building it into form. He constructs the form, and then when it is constructed, he finishes up by playing the part of the first Person of the Trinity putting his Spirit, vitality and force into it so that it is a vibrant, living manifestation. When a lecturer or speaker of any kind can accomplish that, he can always hold his audience and his audience will always learn from him; they will recognise that which the thought form is intended to convey.
In everyday life when the student speaks, he is doing just the same thing, only the trouble frequently arises that in his speech he constructs something that is usually not worth while and vitalises it with the wrong kind of energy, so that the form, instead of being a constructive, vital, helpful force, is a destructive one in the world. If we study the various cosmologies of the world, we shall [980] see that the process of creation was carried on by the means of sound or speech or the Word. We have it in the Christian Bible, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." [ccxc]91 Thus, according to the Christian teaching, the worlds were made by the Word of God.
In the Hindu Scriptures we will find that the Lord Vishnu, Who stands for the second Person of the Trinity, is called "The Voice." He is the great Singer Who has built the worlds and the universe by His song. He is the Revealer of the thought of God Who has constructed the universe of solar systems. Just as the Christian speaks about the great Word, the Word of God, the Christ, so the Hindu speaks of Vishnu, the great Singer, creating by means of His song.
In physical plane manifestation, we are known by our speech; we are known by our reticence, by the things we say, and by the things we leave unsaid and are judged by the quality of our conversation. We think of people in terms of what they say, because their words disclose the type of thought-matter in which they work and the quality of energy or life which they put behind their words. To the various solar Logoi of the vast constellations that are apparent when we scan the starry heavens, the quality of the Logos of our solar system is seen through the medium of that great thought form He has built by the power of His speech, and which is energised by His particular quality of love. When God speaks, the worlds are made and at this present time He is only in process of speaking. He has not yet concluded what He has to say, and hence the present apparent imperfection. When that great divine phrase or sentence which occupies His thought is brought to a close, we [981] will have a perfect solar system inhabited by perfect existences.
Through speech a thought is evoked and becomes present; it is brought out of abstraction and out of a nebulous condition and materialised upon the physical plane, producing (could we but see it) something very definite on etheric levels. Objective manifestation is produced, for "Things are that which the Word makes them in naming them." Speech is literally a great magical force, and the adepts or white magicians, through knowledge of the forces and power of silence and of speech, can produce effects upon the physical plane. As we well know, there is a branch of magical work which consists in the utilisation of this knowledge in the form of Words of Power and of those mantrams and formulae which set in motion the hidden energies of nature and call the devas to their work.
Speech is one of the keys which opens the doors of communication between men and subtler beings. It gives the clue to the discovery of those entities who are contacted on the other side of the veil. But only he who has learned to keep silent, and has arrived at the knowledge of the times to speak can pass this veil and make certain esoteric contacts. Magic consists, we are told in the Secret Doctrine, in addressing the Gods in Their own language; therefore, the speech of average man cannot reach Them.
Therefore, those who seek to learn the occult language, those who yearn to become aware of the words which will penetrate to the ears of those who stand on the other side, and those who seek to utilise the formulae and phrases which will give them power over the Builders, have to unlearn their previous use of words and to refrain from ordinary methods of talking. Then the new language will be theirs and the new expressions, words, mantrams and formulas will be entrusted to their care.
The laws of speech are the laws of matter and students can apply the laws governing physical plane substance to their use of words, for it concerns the manipulation of matter on other levels. Speech is the great medium whereby we make apparent the nature of the little system we are constructing—that system of which each human unit is the central sun, for under the Law of Attraction he draws to himself that which he needs.
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