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In this series of anatomical studies in which we have considered the hidden or inner life of man and the wonders of his human temple, we now come to a consideration of the holy of holies of the human structure, the head, seat of the mind and the point of the indwelling Spirit of God.
With Initiate wisdom, Rudolph Steiner writes of the head as being "a store-chamber of former deeds, an image of successive metamorphoses of energies active in past lives — such is the human head." Dr. Steiner continues to elaborate on the wonders of the head. He.explains how the twelve zodiacal rays of spiritual force, which underlie the formation of the twelvefold physical body, in one earth life will set their impress upon the twelve principal nerves of the head for the following life.
The celebrated medieval seer, Paracelsus, expresses a similar truth. He writes: " There is a star behind every process going on in man. All the forces of heaven have their corresponding activity in those parts of the body that are expressive of their prayers."
Modern science must progress far toward things of spirit before it will accept such sacred and beautiful truths — truths dealing not with the construction of form alone, but also with the great cosmic forces of spiritual life. These forces weave and interweave, uniting Spirit with body in an ever refining and illumining process whereby the spiritual extracts of one earth life become the atoms of the Ego's next physical vehicle! Of equal or greater importance is the steadily growing acuteness of all the senses. For example, psychometry points to the further evolution of the sense of feeling; clairvoyance and clairaudience to the higher octave of seeing and hearing.
Hearing having been the first of the senses to be developed by early embryonic man, the ear is the most highly perfected of the physical sense organs. It is capable of registering outside impressions with greater accuracy than any of the other senses. The eye, though also highly developed, is, as we know, subject to many "optical illusions."
At present the human ear is capable of responding to a range of tones about eight times that possessed by even the most gifted musician. Who, therefore would presume to say that hearing the music of the spheres is a mere poetical fantasy?
Man's present optic nerve is due for an almost incredible expansion. Both the X-ray machine and motion pictures are forerunners of what the man of the future will be able to accomplish by means of extended vision. The Greek Mysteries taught these truths. The peafowl became a sacred bird to the neophyte because its many "eyed" feathers symbolized the extension of sight to the whole body.
Increased activity of the pineal and pituitary glands through finer and cleaner living will aid in the further stimulation of the five senses. Both smell and taste are intimately connected with the pituitary body.
The nerves are highly sensitized channels of spirit and may be used either to augment or to impair its expression. There is but slight understanding of the importance of the olfactory nerves in this connection. Psychiatry has discovered that man responds more quickly to odors than he does to other stimuli. Certain odors accelerate the desire body; others definitely soothe the desires and stimulate the forces of spirit.
The influence of odors upon the finer vehicles has been a guarded Temple secret down through the centuries. The preparation of Temple incense was considered a holy service and was assigned only to those possessing pure hands and a clean heart.
Every voice bears its own particular odor; so also does every virtue. With the development of Initiate-consciousness is born a definite soul fragrance.
As the body of the aspirant becomes increasingly purified, all its rhythms are accelerated and harmonized until they radiate an etheric sweetness. This fragrance deepens, as it were, or grows more potent as spiritual faculties are correspondingly awakened, until eventually a specific soul fragrance accompanies the individual. In this fact lies the origin of the use of perfume, each one endeavoring to express the aspirations of his soul in a chosen scent.
The brain was little understood by the ancients. The word "brain" does not occur in either the Old or the New Testaments. In Hippocrates' Collection (about 400 B. C.) there is a treatise on the "sacred disease" which deals with the brain. It includes the curious statement that among the many blood vessels supplying the brain the two largest are connected with the liver and the spleen. In the section dealing with head wounds, trepanning is very accurately and scientifically described.
An esoteric study of brain areas and their mode and time of development is most fascinating. Infants are born with both hearing and sight areas well developed. The speech center manifests much later. In obedience to a biological law, the embryo recapitulates all previous stages of evolution. Both bearing and sight antedated speech. Hearing and touch were the senses especially cultivated during the Saturn Period, or the First Creative Day of manifestation. Sight and sniell were given a similar predominance during the Sun Period, or the Second Creative Day. Speech received primary emphasis during the Moon Period, or the Third Creative Day.
The speech center is located in the left brain hemisphere of right handed persons and in the right brain hemisphere of those who are left handed. If through an accident a child loses the faculty of speech, gradually a new speech area is developed in the opposite side of the brain. This is not generally true of adults. In their case the center injured may be rebuilt, but a new one is not formed.
A child's body is much more amenable to the conditioning forces of spirit than is that of an adult. The open, receptive mind of the child tends to keep his body plastic. "Ye must become as little children " has a far reaching significance, applicable to the physical body as well as to the mind and soul.
Man's brain, larger — than that of any animal except the whale and elephant, is the instrument correlating with those higher faculties which set him apart from the animal kingdom. Encased within the bony structure of the skull and further protected by special membranes, the brain is nourished by an intricate ramification of blood vessels. Its power and intellectual capacity are indicated by the number and depth of the convolutions wrinkling its surface. Postmortem examinations reveal that infants have but few of these while the brains of brilliant men and women, though not necessarily larger in size, have a vastly greater number of deep convolutions.
Brain tissue is composed of delicate, sensitive, and minute cells. The brain is plaited, as it were, into very sensitive areas that correlate with man's intellectual capacities. The power of speech, the ability to write, and the capacity for listening to conversation, all belong to different areas. An injury to one controlling speech does not necessarily affect the ability to write or to understand spoken words.
In the brain of racial pioneers there is developing, near the seat of speech, a new area which will be productive of closer communication between those living on this plane and those who dwell "beyond the veil." It will also stimulate memory of past lives.
The brain is dual-lobed, its two halves possessing bilateral symmetry. The right and left sides have a corresponding arrangement of lobes, fissures, and nerves. The blood supply differs, however, in the right and left sides according to right or left handedness. This difference has gradually come to leave its definite impress on the skull. In this connection it is interesting to note that an examination of primitive skulls. has shown no discernible differences in this respect, which seems to indicate that undeveloped man was ambidextrous. Generally, the right half of the brain controls the left side of the body and the left half controls the right side.
Abraham typified the pioneers of the Fifth Root Race, the first to develop a mental equipment capable of clear, consecutive, logical thinking. After this development, Abraham was deemed ready to meet Melchisedek and to be initiated by him into the destiny of Fifth Race humanity.
The right brain hemisphere is under Mercurial guidance; the left, under Martian control. One need only to consider the chaotic and warring world of today to realize that the esoteric scientist is correct when he says that the left side of the brain (under Mars) is most active and dominates the life of mankind in general. The heart is also situated on the left side of the body; therefore, it is more submissive to the self-assertive and materialistic Martian area than to the reasoning and altruistic faculties of the Mercury-governed right hemisphere.
As the Mercurial lobe becomes increasingly active under the stimulus of Aquarian impulses, and the planet Mercury becomes correspondingly powerful in human evolution, the heart will gradually shift its position toward the center of the body and man will again begin to "think with the heart." as the Palmist admonished. Scientific thought transference will then be demonstrable by great masses of people instead of being merely a subject for experimentation, as is usually the case at the present time.
The bridging of space, with closer and more intimate contacts established between man and man, will rapidly erase the lines that now divide nations, races, and religion. Fellowship of spirit, unity of purpose, and the benediction of a lasting peace will proclaim the end of Martian domination over our world and the inauguration of the reign of Mercury.
The brain, its structure and function, have been considered in detail in the sixth chapter of this series, dealing with the two nervous systems. The brain is the vehicle through which the mind operates, but it is the mind, its organization and activities, with which we are dealing primarily at this time.
To recapitulate briefly, the initial pattern for the physical brain and cerebro-spinal nervous system. was given to man in the earliest dawning of the present Earth Period — technically' the Saturn Revolution. However, it was not until the Third or Lemurian Epoch of the Fourth Revolution of this Earth Period that the brain was sufficiently evolved to become usable as a vehicle for the mind. This precious gift was bestowed upon man by the Lords of Mind (Sagittarius), those great beings who possess the ability to manipulate mental stuff as human beings use and control physical matter. This took place in the Atlantean Epoch. From that time on, the doors of infinity have been opened to man, for mind is the stairway which connects matter with spirit.
Upon receiving this priceless link with the gods, man began to comprehend the truth spoken by Christianity's supreme philosopher, Paul, when he said, "Ye are heirs and joint heirs with Christ." Unfortunately, however, Atlantean man did not elect to walk in the way of the gods but chose to follow a lower and more devious path which plunged him into all the sorrow and woe, the disease, poverty, and death, which have prevailed in this world since his "fall" into material consciousness — or, as biblically described, his expulsion from Eden.
The desire body of Atlantean man was already strong. When he received the link of mind, instead of using it to focus the powers of spirit, he appropriated it for gratifying his desire nature. Mind is a creative agent. Wherever it is focused, there its powers will be demonstrated. Early humanity proved this to be true when, by closing the mind to spirit and opening it to sensual desire, man became adept in evil magic that eventually destroyed the entire Atlantean civilization and the very continent upon which he had his being.
To this present Fifth or post-Atlantean Epoch humanity is just beginning to understand something of the tremendous powers of mind and how, through its creative function, every individual can literally build a new heaven and a new earth, both within and about himself. All schools working with the creative powers of mind are heralds of the new Aquarian or Air (Mind) Age — during which these latent mental faculties will be developed to a degree far beyond the imagination of the most fervent present-day idealist.
Mind is the most important servant of spirit. When men learn to disengage it from the shackles of desire and to unite it wholly with spirit, they will have the key to the Kingdom and will realize the fulfillment of the Master's promise: "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
It was by the power of His Name (mind linked with spirit) that the Disciples were able to accomplish so-called miracles. For this reason Paul taught his followers that the first step toward spiritual development is the Christing of the mind: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
The mind is man's most recently acquired vehicle and his most important one. When studied clairvoyantly it seems filmy in appearance, almost globular in shape, and of a misty or silvery blue color. Like other inner vehicles, the mind possesses undeveloped centers which will open later and expand until man rises above the human state to become superhuman and godlike.
The occultist tells us that the mind is in its "mineral" state of evolution. Naturally, the term is not to be taken in the ordinary sense. The "mineral" is the first stage of evolution of every life wave. The mind originated in the present Earth Period and is therefore in its first or "mineral" state. It can create forms but it cannot as yet create life, for life belongs to the second state. In the next World Period or Creative Day (technically, the Jupiter Period) the mind will be so vivified as to be capable of creating thought forms and endowing these forms with the principle of growth. In the succeeding Creative Day (Venus Period) the mind will be able to create living forms having capacity for feeling; and finally, at the very end of our septenary evolution (in the Vulcan Period) the mind will be able to confer the gift of reason upon its creatures as the Lords of Mind did for us.
Thus it is plain that the summum bonum of Earth evolution is that mind shall manifest fully its divine creative power. In other words, all physical creation will be accomplished by mental processes only. For example, the work now performed by the organs of generation will be assumed by the mental faculties. This means that the mind is destined to become completely spiritualized, a clear and unobstructed channel for the workings of spirit. An Immaculate Conception will then be the transcendental and common heritage of the whole race.
In its present condition the mind is formed of the "densest" of thought substance, through which the Ego expresses itself by ideation and reason. These are now the principal attributes of mind. Its "mineral" condition is responsible for the prevailing materialism with its lack of spiritual sensitiveness. To the clairvoyant the mental aura of most human beings is curiously hard and impenetrable; the aura of the intellectualist is steely-bright with sharp blades which may be seen flashing about his head. But this represents the acme of development for "mineral" mind. Even now this type of mind is losing the place of command which it has enjoyed for so many centuries and is yielding to the more pliable type of mind that is able to reason spiritually and, therefore, is astir with fiery creative energy.
Paul, the brilliant Christian metaphysician, frequently emphasized the necessity for becoming transformed by renewing of the mind. When this transformation occurs men's minds will be literally translated from the denser substance of material thought to the finest and most attenuated essence emanating from the very realm of spirit, the home of our egoic being. With this accomplished, the transmutation of matter into spirit will have been achieved; and death, the last enemy of man, will be overcome by immortality. Ideation and reason, as we now know them, will be superseded by love and cosmic wisdom, which will thenceforth constitute the primary attributes of the illumined mind.
The mind, as previously stated, is the chief channel for the Spirit's manifestation in the body; and the brain is the chief channel for this operation of mind. This is accomplished through thought, operating either consciously through the cerebro-spinal nervous system or unconsciously through the sympathetic nervous system.
Where the work is done in full consciousness, there is always a contest with the outer objective universe bu means of the cerebro-spinal nervous system, for the Ego's consciousness during life in the body is focused in its outer nature. In the image-making work of the imagination, however, pictures come not from the outer, objective universe but from the inner, subjective, spiritual universe and are carried in the blood to the brain. The pictures, as we have called them, are "race memory" in one of its aspects, for the image-building faculty is not at present completely under the power of the will. It operates almost wholly under inspiration, an inflow from spirit, and not by reason. Hence it, too, like "memory" in the blood, operates in part through the sympathetic nervous system. When the Ego at last conquers the stronghold of the sympathetic nervous system (and this is part of the work of Initiation) the whole of race memory will be available to the imagination for use in creating or re-creating our world and, in addition, there will be the inflow of perfectly new ideas from spirit which have not been known upon earth before.
This makes evident the necessity for pure living and the use of clean, wholesome foods, for these leave their impress upon the blood — which is, correspondingly, a pure or an impure medium for the operation of creative thought. We have said that "the Ego is in the blood." Hence the blood is naturally drawn in special measure to any organ or part of the body on which attention is centered. For example, when the Ego is mentally active, blood centers in the brain; after a meal it centers in the digestive organs, and so on.
The Ego and its thought, however, are not in the blood itself, but in the reflecting ether which interpenetrates the blood. This is the highest and most attenuated of the four ethers. It is called the reflecting ether because it reflects spirit into or upon matter; and, contrariwise, reflects the pictures of the objective universe back upon the mind to the Ego. The latter is accomplished by means of the planetary reflecting ether-which contains an accurate picture of everything on earth and which flows into the lungs with the magnetic impulse of the breath, thence to be impressed upon the seed atom in the heart and upon the blood stream.
When the stream of thought flows outward from the Ego to the physical vehicle, the idea becomes animated by the forces of desire, either high or low. It then passes into the etheric brain, impinging upon the physical brain and thus leading to action. Such is the process by which an idea conceived by the Ego is brought into manifestation in the Physical World.
The mind is the focal instrument by which the Ego contacts spiritual forces and projects them by thought, word, and deed into the physical or objective world. During the Third or Lemurian Epoch man built an "animal soul," the expression of his lower or animalistic instincts. This animal soul is closely linked with the desire body. The great work is to transmute these animalistic forces so they may be used by the Ego in the specifically human activities of the "threefold soul."
The tragic conditions in the world today are the result of uncontrolled desires that have held sway over peoples and nations for ages past. Mankind is now experiencing the sorrow and suffering that follow upon the mind's becoming a servant to desire. He has yet to learn what can be accomplished when the mind has become the servant of spirit and the master of desire.
It has been said that the greatest discovery of the nineteenth century is the fact that mind is creative. Present world karma is exacting what man brought into being by successive lives wherein selfish desires dominated his thought creations. No man likes the world as he observes it today, and yet every single individual is, to a certain degree, responsible for existing conditions. Never was there a time when so much depended upon teaching the masses the power of constructive thinking. Through destructive thinking man has charged the atmosphere with disruptive forces, and base desires have polluted the ethers. By constructive thinking and cleansed desires he can dissolve the discords and purify the ethers, This is a task he himself must accomplish.
The Spirit's hold on the mind must be made by way of the heart. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.
Thinking creates thought-forms fashioned of higher or lower mind essence in accordance with the nature of the thought. Thoughts are in reality living entities! They are composed of creative substance and embody the intelligence imparted to them by their creator. Thought-forms attract others of a similar nature; these coalesce into a composite form, growing rapidly more powerful. They react upon the body, health, affairs, and environment of everyone. We are exactly what we think ourselves to be. Infirmities and deformities of mind and body may thus be appraised and accounted for.
The brain mind is a comparatively recent acquisition, and when highly trained tends toward egotism. It is prone to be puffed up in its own conceit. The mind, when it becomes wedded to spirit, will receive strict training and know a development far beyond anything known to academic logicians.
The supreme evolutionary task of humanity is the spiritualization or Christing of the mind. When this occurs the mind will reflect the eternal spirit instead of the transitory outer world as at present. As a consequence, Cosmic Wisdom will irradiate human consciousness and man will be not mere man, but superman.
The intellect represents the chief development of the conscious mind; memory, of the subconscious; intuition, of the superconscious. During the first twenty-one months — three septenary cycles — of an infant's life, the consciousness is virtually dormant. In later esoteric development, the more closely the mind becomes attuned to the heart the more fully and accurately will it be able to bring buried memories into waking consciousness because it then has access to the records inscribed on the permanent seed atom in the heart.
The subconscious mind of modern psychology may be said to correlate with the Reflecting Ether of the occultist, in the limited personal sense. The Reflecting Ether within the body and aura of the individual holds the records of everything that has ever happened to him in the current incarnation. These are also inscribed upon the seed atom of the heart, and become part of the permanent record which every Ego carries with it from life to succeeding life.
It should be noted that the planetary records which are inscribed in the planetary Reflecting Ether have a comparatively short life time. They remain strong and clear for only a few centuries, and then they fade out in spots, but important events may remain in this record for one or two thousand years. Thus contact with the Reflecting Ether may provide some knowledge of a previous incarnation if the incarnation has occurred within a few hundred years.
Max Heindel writes: "As the conscious memory of recent events which is strong in the human being gradually fades, so also the etheric record, which is the lowest aspect of the Memory of Nature, fades in time. In the highest subdivision of the Region of Concrete Thought, just on the border line between pure spirit and matter, an impress is made of the things and events in the world which is relatively much clearer and more lasting than the etheric record, for while events inscribed upon the etheric record fade away in spots in a few hundred years, and even important events may last only one or two thousand years, the record found in the highest subdivision of the Region of Concrete Thought lasts for the Earth Period. While the records made on the Reflecting Ether may be read by the uninstructed who have just a little spiritual sight, several initiations are required before it is possible for any one to read the records kept in the higher region noted above. Paracelsus calls the record made in the ether, Sidereal Light; and Eliphas Levi, the great Kabbalist, speaks of these records as being kept in the Astral Light. This is in a sense correct, for though they have nothing to do with the stars, as the name would seem to imply, they are found in the Etheric Region outside the earth's atmosphere. The medium or hypnotic victim who leaves the body by negative processes under outside control, levitates towards these realms as naturally as our physical body gravitates towards the earth."
"As for the memory of Past lives it is not necessary to wait until a future existence for the development of that faculty, when the spiritual sight has been cultivated, with the aid of proper teachers, such as the Elder Brothers of the Rosicrucian Order. For the neophytes are taught from the beginning to read the Memory of Nature in Order to know and differentiate between truth and delusion, first in the record that is kept in the fourth or Reflecting Ether, which requires only a very slight extension of the physical sight. Then by degrees, if they live the life and are diligent, the extension of sight is raised to the records in the archetypal regions. These are usually opened to them within a few years, and here they can easily investigate their own past. However, we do not believe that that is generally done, for no one goes so deeply into the work without becoming so absorbed in the system of service to others that he has no time to attend to his own selfish inclinations."
A biblical instance illustrating this process is the celestial vision of Jacob. With his head upon a stone pillow, the stone of Initiation, he was enabled to study the evolutionary ladder which extends from heaven to Earth and to trace individual journeying thereon.
Initiation is the voice of the superconscious or spiritualized mind. This faculty is being developed increasingly as mind becomes a more perfect channel for the workings of spirit. Intuition is sometimes referred to as the "voice of the soul" and also as man's "sixth sense." This faculty will come into full expression during the Aquarian Age that we are just now approaching.
The deepest esoteric instructions are never given either by word or in writing, but are projected mentally by the Great Ones and are received in the silence by the intuitional perceptions of the neophyte who is sufficiently sensitized to make the contact.
The subconscious mind (or memory) correlates with the inner forces of the Earth and may be said to relate to Earth life cycles of the immediate past and the present. The conscious mind correlates with the Moon and is related to the present Earth experiences only. The superconscious mind correlates with the Sun and produces the spiritual illumination known as Initiation, which gives the ability to read the Cosmic Records dealing with the past, present, and future.
The subject of thought-forms is most fascinating but can be touched upon only briefly in relation to mind and its functions.
Every thought possesses form, color, and tone. The ethers about us are filled with these vari-colored forms at all times. Many persons now possess the clairvoyance necessary to discern these colors, but few have attained the clairaudience to hear or the clairsentience to see them.
One should endeavor to cultivate a firmly positive attitude of mind at all times in order to be immune to the influence of many harmful thought-forms which permeate the atmosphere everywhere. Persons not understanding this may become easily subjected to thoughts of fear, contagion, and other negative and destructive thinking being sent out into the atmosphere. A strong, positive thinker can exercise a powerful influence over a community, be it for good or ill.
The fundamental color of a thought form is determined by the nature and quality of the idea that called it into being and the desire substance that energizes it. Anyone having the ability to investigate these forms at first hand has the advantage of knowing their essential nature and of dealing with them accordingly. But since few possess this ability, the danger in them can be nullified only by the cultivation of serenity, poise, and a disciplined imagination.
Many persons, upon attempting to "go into the silence," mistakenly cultivate an empty, negative mental state like a vacuum — to which Desire World entities are immediately attracted. This often results in serious psychic upheavals which disastrously affect both the mind and the body.There is a law of the occult world known as the Law of Repercussion. By it highly organized psychic energies work back, "repercuss" upon the dense body to its possible injury. In medieval times, when sorcery flourished, this was frequently demonstrated in cases where a wound inflicted upon the "werewolf " — a psychic entity — appeared upon the body of its host, the sorcerer or witch. However, the same law holds good now as then and is the explanation for the physiological disturbances caused by psychic forces.
Rightly observed, the silent time of inward contemplation is a time of concentrated spiritual activity. It then becomes the holiest hour of the day and is entered into joyously and expectantly. It is the time when the lover goes out (or up) to meet the Beloved. The Song of Solomon is a poetic description in rich oriental imagery of this spiritual adventure.
During a meditational. period the mind should be held still, but positive — never negative or passively receptive to whatever may come floating by. The senses also need to be alert to contact the interior ecstasy as the entire being is bathed and irradiated by the healing downpour of pure spirit radiance.
Such an experience in the silence heals the physical body, purifies the emotions, regulates the desires and stimulates the mind, thus enabling the Ego to conquer the objective world.
A student of the inner mysteries of life and being becomes increasingly responsible for the kind of thoughts he entertains. His habitual thought not only becomes a part of him, radiating out from him either for good or for ill, but remains in the planetary ethers for a long time. Thoughts have been known to maintain their psychic pressure even after their originator has departed from this physical plane of expression. Powerful thought forms of hatred, revenge, and murder have lingered in certain localities and exerted their baleful influence for several generations before their force was spent.
Lazy, listless fancies are seen as wisps of floating clouds. They have not been infused with enough forceful desire to make them dynamically effective. Thought-forms of love, truth, beauty, and every high aspiration or ideal, if sent forth with power and purpose, serve to cleanse, purify, heal and renew all who come in contact with them.
In writing of the wonders of the human body, Rudolph Steiner, the late eminent occultist, said of the brain:
"Everything in all the life of ideation can be found in the structure of the brain." He added: "No one can speak adequately of the brain unless he sees in its structure an imaginative replica of the life of the soul."
It has long been a disputed question in the scientific world as to when man first discovered within his gross physical casement a divine essence that endures after the transitory physical vehicle is no more. According to scientific speculations the Cro-Magnons, who occupied the greater portion of the European continent thousands of years ago, are credited with pioneering in the knowledge that there is a part of man which endures after physical existence is ended. Evidence cited in support of this conclusion is taken from what appears to have been their peculiar burial customs. When their dead bad been buried a sufficient time for the flesh to disintegrate, it seems that the bones were carefully exhumed, painted red, and then as carefully reburied. Since red has been the symbol of life and enduring vitality to people of all ages, it would appear that the Cro-Magnons were endeavoring to impart strength and energy to that part of man which survived death of the body, that part which was not consigned to the grave.
In Venezuela recent excavations of graves of an extremely ancient people give evidence of this same interment procedure, and for apparently the same reason.
On the earliest Egyptian papyri appear representations of the soul freed from the body, the soul being symbolized by a bird with the head and features of the person deceased. Ancient Grecian writers, among whom were Empedocles (480 B.C.), expressed the idea of the sacredness of the heart in relation to the soul — or, as they termed it, the pneuma (breath of life). This soul, they claimed, had its seat in the heart citadel of the body and could be seen rising as a shimmering stream as this organ ceased to beat.
During the third century before our Christian era, Alexandria became the important center for the study of all "Wisdom Literature," both natural and supernatural. The seat of the soul (wisdom) and the mind (understanding) was placed by the Alexandrian school in the heart. (See Ecclesiastes 7:5-6 and 16-18.) They taught the universality of the four elements as the only basis of creation, whether in its natural or supernatural aspects. The relationship of the four elements to the universe and to man, the macrocosm and the microcosm, as taught by this school is almost identical with the teaching given by our modern Wisdom Literature.
Early Hebrew writers gave the liver as the seat of life (Psalms 16.7; Proverbs 23:16). As the esotericist knows, this reference pertains to the fact that the liver is the seat of the desire body and from it arises the impulse to action.
It was, perhaps, with Aristotle (384-332 B.C.) that the theory of man's physical and spiritual correlation with the four elements received its most celebrated analysis. He held to the fundamental hypothesis of four primary and opposing elements, Fire, Earth, Air, and Water (hot-cold, dry, wet) which were linked with body, breath (soul), mind, and spirit. In our day these four elements are interestingly represented as phlegmatic, melancholy, sanguine, and choleric dispositions.
Galen (150-200 A.D.) who ranked after Hippocrates as the most famous of ancient physicians and one of the greatest biologists of all times, wrote a treatise on anatomy that was as philosophical as it was descriptive. Probably his best known work on the functions of the various parts of man's body was written in Rome while he was court physician to Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the famed and wise philosopher.
Galen's Anatomy and Physiology dealt with the inner as well as the outer man. He sought to justify the form and structure of all the organs with reference to the purpose which he believed they were intended to serve. His anatomical knowledge was called upon "to justify the ways of God." In other words, his aim was to demonstrate the power, wisdom, and love of God as manifest in His creation. Galen declared that the perfection of God can be traced in the body of man; that to comprehend this perfection brings man nearer to God than do the sacred Mysteries. Paul's philosophy expressed the same idea when he taught "Ye are the temple of the living God."
The Galenic philosophy maintained that the basic principle of life was a spirit or pneuma (breath) attracted from the world-soul in respiration. This "divine air" passed from the lungs into the left ventricle of the heart where it encountered the blood. This pneuma operating in the heart was termed vital spirit.
Another phase of the pneuma centered in the liver and was designated as the natural spirit or breath. This natural spirit was an alchemical transformation of the vital spirit which had its center in the third ventricle of the heart. A third pneuma was sent from the heart to the brain and was known as the animal soul. The blood was the "peculiar essence" or carrier of this threefold spirit force to these three body citadels — the heart, the liver, and the brain. Modern esoteric anatomists recognize these three important body centers as the receptacles for the seed atoms of the physical, desire, and mental bodies, respectively.
In many ways Galen's work gives evidence of genuine esoteric knowledge. His treatise on the nervous system contains many keys to changes operative in the nervous structure in connection with spiritual development. He gave the name sacrum to the small bone at the lower end of the spine which, like all occultists, he considered the most important bone in the whole body. This is truly the "sacred stone" of the body-temple, the stone the builders rejected but which shall become the cornerstone of the New Age physical temple.
Galen's influence was extensive until the era of materialistic science. His findings were closely approximated in the fifteenth century by the great Initiate painter, Leonardo da Vinci.
Da Vinci was born in Tuscany in 1452. His father was a nobleman, his mother a peasant girl. He spent his life in Florence. An aura of mysterious greatness seemed to enfold him from childhood. His most absorbing interest was anatomy and his notes of 1483 tell of his dissecting human bodies. His will bestowed upon his faithful friend Melzi his books and manuscripts, instruments, and portraits. The manuscripts were his dearest possession and included valuable anatomical works.
The heart and lungs especially engaged his interest, and his findings were notably in advance of his contemporaries. He made a very extensive study of the nervous system and his charts show all of the ventricles of the heart. His studies in physiological optics merit special notice. It was his purpose to publish a great anatomical work which would glorify God's most perfect handiwork, the human body.
Michelangelo was another profound student of anatomy but his work is characterized more by strength and originality than by the magical loveliness of Da Vinci. Like Da Vinci, however, he studied every branch of science, with the Bible and Dante as his preference among books. No artist has equalled him in grandeur of conception when drawing the human figure. He declared that painting, which merely imitates the external appearance of bodies, is not superior to the production of any mechanical trade or employment.
Da Vinci was the first to reveal the true relationship between descriptive anatomy and art. It has been said that he and Michelangelo were the best anatomists of their day and that, in consequence thereof, they were also the best artists.
We have mentioned in former studies that a distinction is made in Spiritual Science between the soul and the Spirit or Ego of man. In common usage these terms are interchanged because of a lack of that deeper esoteric knowledge which reveals their distinction. The Ego is a projection of the immortal Virgin Spirit made in the image and likeness of God. The soul is the product of evolution. We have much or little soul in accordance with the use we have made of our opportunities here on the planet Earth. The development of the soul could not begin until man received mind, which was the gift of the Lords of Mind to the masses in the Atlantean Epoch and to pioneers in the Lemurian Epoch. Thus the pioneer who received the link of mind in the Lemurian Epoch began work on his soul hundreds of thousands of years earlier than the masses who received this link in the later Atlantean Epoch. This extra period of development means that those pioneers have "more soul" or are "soulful." We also speak of the "old soul" as contrasted with the "young soul." The soul is truly the flower of civilization, the essence of all that distinguishes humanity from the lower kingdoms on earth.
"Man is a threefold Spirit," says Max Heindel, "possessing a mind by means of which he governs a threefold body which he emanated from himself to gather experience. This threefold body he transmutes into a threefold soul upon which he nourishes himself from impotence to omnipotence.
Technically, it is said that the soul is the essence extracted by the threefold Spirit from its experiences in and through a threefold body. The three "veils of spirit" are, properly speaking, the three primary "rays," qualities, or powers of the Virgin Spirit. When the Virgin Spirit (the Primal Man of the Gnostics) puts into expression these three "rays" or powers, it is then the Ego. It is the Virgin Spirit, not the Ego, that is made in the image and likeness of God. In the Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, Max Heindel writes of this Virgin Spirit: "Man is inherently a virgin spirit, good, noble, and true in every respect. All that is not good is from the lower nature, that illusory reflection of the Ego. The Virgin Spirit is always giving wise counsel. If we could only follow the impulses of the heart — the first thought — Universal Brotherhood would be realized here and now.
The three aspects of the Virgin Spirit are "reflected" in the three aspects of "body," the illusory reflection of the Ego. These are the desire body, the vital body, and the physical body. By means of the link of mind the Ego works upon the threefold body and extracts the essence of experience in the form of soul which nourishes its spiritual consciousness. Statements such as these must not be taken in a materialistic way. As has been said, the human mind is yet in its mineral stage. Unless the processes of natural growth are consistently promoted, mind will tend to mineralize, crystallize, and materialize every spiritual concept which passes through it. Every occult student must guard against this danger at all times.
The three aspects of the Spirit nourished by the pabulum of the soul-essence of the Ego's experience in evolution-are defined in Rosicrucian terminology as the Human Spirit, the Life Spirit and the Divine Spirit. The Divine Spirit is the first expression of the pristine Virgin Spirit. It is the first ray, the first aspect, and corresponds to the Creative Will of God. Any activity of creative will in evolution upon the Earth must, therefore feed this aspect of spirit; that is, stimulate its activity.
By work in the etheric body the Ego extracts the essence of the intellectual soul. This nourishes the Life Spirit, which is the universal or Christ Consciousness. (Spirit may almost be translated as a state of consciousness.) It is by repetition of spiritual truths that the consciousness of the Invisible Helper is awakened in the intellectual soul. The two higher ethers of the vital body, the light and reflecting ethers, are the basis of the intellectual soul, and the extraction of its essence is fundamental to all initiatory work.
By work in the desire body, spiritualizing the emotions and desires, the Ego extracts the emotional soul, the pabulum nourishing the Human Spirit. The Divine and Life Spirits are universal states of consciousness in which the Virgin Spirit is active. The Human Spirit is that state of consciousness in which man lives, moves, and has his being. It is characterized by a sense of individuality-egotism. The Ego is the true individuality; the desire body and its illusory reflection, a false ego. This false ego must be wholly transmuted before man's evolutionary work is completed.
The threefold soul essence is also manifest in the Desire World as soul life, soul light, and soul power, corresponding to the three aspects (or states) of the Spirit.
As the soul comes more and more into evidence the exterior world is increasingly translated in the light of spiritual values. The dense body becomes more tenuous and yet, marvelous to say, less destructible than now, and capable of exerting tremendous power-such as might destroy our whole physical world if improperly used. When directed by spiritually enlightened Initiates, men or women, this power heals all weaknesses and imperfections of the human body, enabling it to reflect the Divine Spirit.
At His coming Christ Jesus implanted in our Earth a new universal soul force from the World of Life Spirit. Its microcosmic expression is the intellectual soul extracted from the vital body by spiritual thought. When we have that mind which was in Christ Jesus we think with the soul as well as with the intellect. When mental problems can be flooded with soul light their solution will be instantaneous and their issues permanently satisfactory.
The spiritualization of the vital body will be manifested to the mortal senses as an interior radiant fire. In Persian mythology we read of the Peris, a race of creatures above man in spiritual status, but lower than the angels. Of them it is said that fire, not blood, runs in their veins, and that they feed upon pleasant odors and sweet perfumes; yet they are so far material as to be able to enter into intimate personal relationship with human beings. This suggests what our own future conditions will be.
Until the work on the dense and vital bodies has been accomplished we cannot know the true meaning of our humanity. When this is done the false reflection in our desire nature will be replaced by a true one. Today all desire is separative. Selfishness abounds, for our desires turn inward upon self. When the Ego extracts the emotional soul from the Desire Body we shall be conscious of but one desire: to do the will of God! Christ Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me."
It may be well to point out here that occult writers use a varied terminology so it is impossible to give exactly equivalent terms in all instances. The student will find it necessary to study these lessons until be has grasped the ideas of terms as we use them; then he will have no difficulty in recognizing those ideas under other guises in other occult works.
There is a definite path of evolution for the mind and another for the soul; nevertheless, the two lines develop simultaneously and harmoniously. The more completely the mind becomes a channel for the expression of spirit, the more soulful the individual becomes. Though a person study every book dealing with spiritual subjects, knowledge as such will but stimulate him mentally. Knowledge alone never resulted in soul growth. While a developed mentality is necessary to soul growth it is not of itself sufficient.
We have discussed at length the nature of the three-fold soul as the product of the Ego working in a three-fold body. We have seen how the soul is spiritual essence extracted from experience on the physical plane. But there is also a vehicle called "the soul body," which is composed of the two higher ethers of the vital body and has a very intimate relationship with the intellectual soul.
When we add to the daily repetition of spiritual thought a life of loving service to others, we attract into our vital body a glorious flaming golden ether of the nature of the Christ force. This is the spiritualized light ether. Though we already possess a nucleus of it, through the love that flows out in service we can attract such an abundance from the aura of the Cosmic Christ that it is as if we breathed a golden atmosphere pouring down from cosmic space. Within this fiery ether a celestial blue aura appears which does not usually show outside the physical body except in great saints and Initiates. With these it may be seen in the form of a blue sun shining around and through the human figure at its center. This is the spiritualized reflecting ether, the ether reflecting the Good, the True, the Beautiful, and nothing else.
These are the colors which artist-seers so frequently use when painting the Holy Family. Mary's robe is usually blue, her halo golden. It is a psychic law that that which is within the soul presses constantly outward into the world; and, by the process of transmutation that which is in the world presses inward upon the soul. The inner and outer worlds are, therefore, constantly changing place. These inner soul colors will sooner or later find expression in the personal adornment and clothing of an individual by the process of transmutation. For this reason the garments of Holy Ones typify their soul states.
In Greek mythology the weaving of the soul body — the golden "wedding garment" which the neophyte wears at the mystic marriage where the Christ presides — is symbolized in the story of the web woven by Penelope. Though she wove it every day it was never completed until Ulysses returned to her. (Unfortunately, we cannot follow every detail of such an allegory because it has been materialized by unspiritual minds.) We who seek the Christ, like Penelope awaiting Ulysses, are weaving day by day a beautiful web of color which, in the night hours of sleep, is incorporated into the tabernacle of spirit. Each day, again like Penelope, we begin afresh; and our web is not completed until the Bridegroom comes. (Husband has the same connotation. In our Bible God speaks through Isaiah saying, "For thy Maker is thine husband.")
As Penelope unravelled her web at night so is it possible for us to "unravel" our own golden "wedding garment;" for the soul, unlike spirit, is perishable, being the product of evolution. By right living soul powers are acquired; by evil and perverse living soul powers can be destroyed — but never spirit. It is from among the "soulless," those who have destroyed their souls, that Black Brotherhoods recruit their workers. These Egos possess a mind and a threefold body, but the soul quality is absent. As a result they are entirely inhuman in their unscrupulous and cruel pursuits. It is fortunate, however, that as it requires many lives of fruitful endeavor to build a soulful character, it also requires many lives wholly to destroy the soul and produce a soul-less personality. Ezekiel's statement "the soul that sinneth it shall die" refers to this soul-which is not to be confused with the Ego or Virgin Spirit, for neither of them can die. The animal soul alone is active in a soul-less personality. Such a personality is incapable of feeling any human impulse; even its higher animal emotions rapidly degenerate.
As we have indicated, the mind plays a most important part in the evolution of the soul since it is the link between Spirit and body. This link enables the Spirit to work in the threefold body and extract essence for the threefold soul. The soul work, therefore, can only be accomplished through the mind. It is for this reason that many occult textbooks refer to the mind as "the Path." And it also accounts for Paul's statement that "to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life everlasting. "
It is not generally recognized that the faculty we call will is spiritual, not emotional or mental. Will, the active function of the Divine Spirit in man, is the highest attribute of the Virgin Spirit made in God's likeness. It is, in fact, a creative principle, differing in both nature and function from what we ordinarily call "will power." This latter is all too often directed by the desire to get or the desire to rule, though not necessarily so. Desire and will are not identical. Because of the popular use of the word will as being a form of personal desire, occultists frequently speak of the "spiritualization of the will." This means that the desire body is transmuted; the false ego is slain and the true Ego is enthroned in the emotional soul. This being accomplished, there is no false will remaining — only the will of the Virgin Spirit. This is made possible through the Christing of the mind: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
To become proficient in any profession requires study, practice, and many years of sacrificial service. This is true when one seeks to awaken his higher mental faculties. That the mind may become a channel for spirit and nothing but spirit necessitates prolonged and careful training. In this connection the Rosicrucian School enumerates seven steps of special importance.
Concentration is fundamental and therefore first. Concentration is a strictly mental exercise which aims to make the mind one-pointed. The ability to shut out all outer distractions at will, and to hold the mind firmly fixed upon the subject under consideration, is difficult; the practice required causes many students to abandon further effort toward mental discipline.
And so we list persistence of effort as the next requisite. This is a quality sadly lacking in the majority of aspirants, despite the fact that without it nothing of real value in any line of endeavor can be accomplished. Mastery of any subject can be achieved only by continued patience and effort.
The third quality necessary for development is Discrimination. Absence of this mental attitude has led to more disillusionment and failure on the Path than any other. Its cultivation is of paramount importance, and yet the majority of occult students pay but little heed to its attainment. Perhaps the most fitting definition of discrimination is to be found in the ancient occult admonition: Learn to know the false from the true, the real from, tho unreal.
These three primary steps toward self-development are entirely on the mental plane; they are tools by which the workman changes the rough ashlar (of his mind) into the Master's perfect cube.
The four higher steps belong to the realm of spirit and are developed after the mind has been thoroughly disciplined. The first of these is Devotion, centered in the heart. Mind and Spirit can be united only by way of the heart, when the necessary devotion has been awakened.
Meditation is the chief means for further renewing of the mind. This is a spiritual process and replaces the mental activity of concentration. In it no mental effort is required, as the mind has now been trained to obey the slightest impulse of spirit. Through concentration one comes into contact with the form aspect of matter; meditation transcends form to arrive at the soul of things.
Contemplation is a step beyond meditation. Here mind and heart are en rapport. Nothing relative to a subject is concealed. Past, present, and future are as an open book.
Adoration is the final step by which the student is at-one-ment with the subject under consideration.
These four higher steps are attainable only after the student has learned to rise in consciousness to specific degrees of development. In adoration the entire octave is covered. The Christed Consciousness, the ultimate goal of human evolution, is attained.
The twelve zodiacal Hierarchies project into the universe archetypal ideas that are charged with cosmic creative energies. How clearly these register in human consciousness, and the extent to which they are appropriated and translated into action, depend upon man's evolutionary status.
Under Aries, Taurus, and Gemini the cosmic germ (seed) of thought force was projected and disseminated. Under Cancer, Leo, and Virgo, the mind, then in its early development, was plastic and amenable to external guidance. During this period man-in-the-making was a veritable automaton under the supervision of his celestial. Guardians. The power of logical thinking had not been developed. This faculty came to mankind under the next sign, Libra. Where man had previously responded to the impulses of Cosmic Wisdom, under Libra he began his "fall" into human concepts.
In the pre-Christian era thought forces and their influence upon humanity were controlled by Scorpio. After the coming of Christ these forces were taken over by the Hierarchy of Sagittarius, the Lords of Mind, who still control and operate them. Egotism and nationalism became dominant factors under these two signs. Under Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces thought power will transcend its limitations and bring into manifestation the superman made in the image and likeness of God.
Marie Carmichael Stopes, Doctor of Philosophy and Science, in writing of The Intellect in Command, states:
"There is a curious mental quality in the brain of many human beings, termed by some scientists as a form of 'herd instinct,' which tends to place opposition in the way of any new or novel invention or discovery. Hence it is very often that the prophet who brings new and enriching knowledge is persecuted. An example of this is the life of the noted physician Sir James Simpson, one of the first advocates of the use of chloroform to alleviate pain in operations and child birth. He was violently opposed by the clergy and many doctors and public men of his day, who contended that God intended humanity to endure this pain, therefore it was impious and wicked to try in any way to alleviate it.
"His answer which was beautiful and dignified has been vindicated by time. He said: I am sure you deeply regret and grieve with me that the interests of genuine religion should ever and anon be endangered and damaged by weak but well-meaning men believing and urging that this or that new improvement or knowledge is against the words of the Scriptures. We may always rest fully and perfectly assured that whatever is true in point of fact, or humane and merciful in point of practice, will find no condemnation in the Word of God."
Pioneers in every line of advanced thought must struggle to win recognition for phases of New Age illumination such as the spiritual concept of astral science, which will soon be the commonly accepted credo of the masses.
As each person progresses through the successive grades of Life's school of evolution, he will learn his lessons via one of two cosmic streams of consciousness. That is, he will learn primarily either by way of the head or by way of the heart. When be aspires to the higher Path he learns he must balance the two. This is an arduous task, requiring many lives for its completion. Much may be accomplished, however, in a single incarnation if the student is willing to devote himself to the fulfillment of this most exalted ideal.
Mind is a comparatively recent acquisition of the Ego, as has been said; and youth is ever proud, with a tendency toward arrogance and conceit. These are characteristics that distinguish a "young," inexperienced soul from an "old" soul ripe in wisdom.
Reason is the principal faculty to be evolved during the present Fifth Race Cycle. It is very evident that in this era man's mind is in the ascendance, with heart relegated to a secondary place as a motivating center of living and aspiration.
When the aspirant begins to live the life in earnest, the spinal essence gradually awakens and ascends toward the head. If the individual is temperamentally a mental type, this force will be predominantly positive in the brain and negative in the heart. If, on the other hand, he is a mystical or emotional type, the reverse will be true: positive polarity in the heart, negative in the head.
The positive center represents the dynamic force of either mind or heart and works to the detriment of the opposite function. Thus, when a person who is centered mentally begins occult study he is apt to cultivate intellectual power at the expense of his devotional nature, unless a special effort is made to counterbalance this tendency.
The mind is separative, divisional, and disruptive in its workings. Many who have followed the mental path to the exclusion of the heart become coldly analytical, unable to discover the soul wisdom which animated them for a moment at the beginning of their quest. They become disillusioned and may turn back to materialistic pursuits.
Those who follow the heart path exclusively all too often lack persistence, steadfastness, and discrimination to pilot themselves along higher reaches of the path. So they too may turn back to the ways of the world in discouragement, sometimes in despair.
The safe way is to work toward effecting a true balance between the two. The mentalist must learn to still his mind and listen to the dictates of his heart. The mystic must learn to control his emotions and heed the voice of clear reason.
As this procedure is followed, spiritual currents ascending in the body will effect a balance of power between heart and head, and further development of the weaker of the two will become easier of accomplishment.
This path between head and heart is symbolized by the mystic journey from Jerusalem (heart) to Bethlehem (head) made by Joseph (masculine) and Mary (feminine) in order that the Christ-Child might be born.
God is the first and eternal flame. Virgin Spirit (our humanity) is a spark of that Flame. The purpose of repeated cycles of reincarnation is to fan this spark until it becomes like unto its parent Flame. After being so long enmeshed in the illusion of matter, the Spirit's memory of its celestial origin has become dim. Through suffering and sorrow it rends the veil of illusion and discovers its inherent divinity; then commences the long and arduous journey back to its heavenly home.
Once the Spirit is fully awakened no obstacle can long impede its progress. The Parable of the Prodigal Son becomes an actual spiritual experience. Weary of having so long partaken of husks with the swine (living entirely in the outer or objective life), the "spark" returns home, where reunion with the Father occasions great rejoicing, as recounted in the parable-a parable that is applicable not only to a single individual but to the human race as a whole.
— Corinne Heline
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Contemporary Mystic Christianity |
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