Mental retardation is one of the most tragic and least understood of
social problems. In former years the mentally deranged regarded as beyond help
were locked up often under hideously deplorable conditions, and left to
vegetate, out of sight of "respectable" people. More recently of course
gratifying progress has been made in care and treatment of these unfortunate
individuals and a generally more enlightened public attitude is permitting
them increasingly to live as recognized members of society often operating
usefully within their limited range of capabilities.
Such advances however do not remove the pain felt by parents of a retarded child or the suffering incumbent upon families of these sadly afflicted
individuals. If the cause of mental retardation were generally known the
conflicts and tortures experienced by these people would be far better
understood and mankind could begin to set the stage for an eventual end to
this problem.
When a person is mentally retarded he or she lacks an instrument with which to reason communicate and fully control the body. Why does this happen?
When viewed from the perspective of one lifetime mental retardation seems
cruel and unfair. However if we remember that human evolution continues over a
series of lives it helps us understand the present and gives hope for the
future.
Mental retardation is rightly regarded as an illness. Just as any other
illness it is suffered by an individual engendered solely by his own behavior
during the present or a previous life. Under the Law of Consequence we reap
precisely what we sow and if we engage in excesses or depraved conduct of any
sort a comparable toll will be taken of our ability to function during a
future physical embodiment, and to make consequent evolutionary progress.
The disabilities which affect humanity are divisible into two categories:
mental and physical. Mental troubles are particularly traceable to abuse of
the creative function. As the Holy Spirit is the creative energy in Nature,
the sex energy is its reflection in man, and misuse or abuse of that power is
the sin that must be expiated in impaired efficiency of the vehicles, in order
thoroughly to teach us the sanctity of the creative force. Occult science
teaches that the sex function should never be used for sense gratification,
but for propagation only. The tremendous amount of creative force thus saved,
then, may be transmuted into spiritual energy and used on a higher plane as
the agent of epigenesis — the ability to create something new.
Occult science also teaches that the brain and the larynx were built by
the Angels with half of the creative force so that man who, prior to the
acquisition of these organs, was bisexual and able to create from himself
alone, lost that faculty when these organs were created and is now dependent
upon the cooperation of another of the opposite sex in order to generate a new
vehicle for an incoming Spirit. There is, therefore, a close connection
between sexual activity and mental activity, as well as the power of speech.
Proof of this is shown in the case of the sex maniac, who becomes an idiot,
unable to think clearly because he is continually occupied in drawing and
sending out not only that part of the sex force which is normally to be used
for propagation, but also much of the force which should be used to build up
the brain, enabling it to produce thought.
Spiritual sight reveals that when man was yet in the making there was a
desire current wherever there is now a nerve; the brain and larynx themselves
were first made of desire substance. It was desire that first sent a motive
impulse through the brain and created these nerve currents, that the body
might be moved and obtain for the Spirit whatever gratification was indicated
by desire. Speech, also, is used for the purpose of obtaining a desired object
or end. Through these faculties man has obtained a certain mastery over the
world, and if he could just flit from one body to another, there would be no
end to his abuse of his power for gratifying every whim and desire. Under the
Law of Consequence, however, he takes with him into a new body faculties and
organs which are similar to those which he left behind in the one preceding.
When passion has wrecked the body in one life, it is stamped upon the seed
atom. In the next descent to rebirth it is, therefore, impossible for the Ego
to gather sound material with which to build a brain of stable construction.
He is then usually born under one of the common signs of the zodiac, and
usually, also, the four common signs are on the angles, for through these
signs passionate desire finds it difficult to express itself. Thus the
powerful impulse which formerly ruled in his brain and which might be used for
the purpose of rejuvenescence is absent; he lacks incentive in life and
therefore he becomes helpless — often insane.
The Spirit, however, is not insane. It sees, knows, and has a keen desire
to use the body, though that may be an impossibility, for often it cannot even
send a correct impulse along the nerves. The muscles of face and body are
therefore not under the control of its will. This accounts for the lack of
coordination which makes the afflicted one such a pitiable sight. Thus it is
that the Spirit learns one of the hardest lessons in life: that it is worse
than death to be tied to a living body and unable to find expression through
it because the desire force necessary to accomplish thought, speech, and
motion has been spent in unrighteous living in a previous life, leaving the
Spirit without the necessary energy to operate its present fleshly instrument.
There is one notable exception to the general rule that mental
disabilities are traceable to abuse of the creative function in a past life.
When an Ego comes down to rebirth he sees, upon entering the womb, a panorama
of the coming life. If it appears that the life is to be particularly hard,
and the Ego feels unwilling to undergo the experience, it sometimes tries to
run away from the school of life. At this time, the connection between the
vital body and the sense centers of the brain in the forming fetus already
has been made; therefore, the effort of the Spirit to escape from the mother's
womb is frustrated. The wrench that is given by the Ego, however, deranges the
connection between the etheric and physical sense centers, so that the vital
body is not concentric with the physical, causing the etheric head to extend
above the physical cranium. Thus it is impossible for the Spirit to use the
dense vehicle; it is tied to a mindless body which it cannot use, and the
embodiment is practically wasted.
There are also cases where a great shock later in life causes the Spirit
to endeavor to run away with the invisible vehicles. As a result, a similar
wrench is given to the etheric sense centers in the brain, and the shock
deranges the mental expression. Everyone, after being particularly frightened,
has probably felt a similar sensation — a surging, as if something were
endeavoring to get out of the dense body. This sensation is caused by the
desire and vital bodies, which act so swiftly that an express train is slow in
comparison. They sense the danger, and are frightened before the scare is
transmitted to the inert and slow physical body in which they are anchored, and
which prevents their escape under ordinary strain. Sometimes, however, the
shock is sufficiently severe as to give them such an impulse that
the etheric sense centers are deranged. Just as a ligament that has been
stretched and torn gradually may regain comparative elasticity, however, so
also, in these cases, is it easier to restore the mental faculties than it is
in cases in which congenital insanity, brought over from past lives, has
caused inadequate connection. Thus we see that mental retardation is not the
result of "injustice" on the part of a capricious God, as some have suggested,
nor is it an unfortunate accident. It is the result of the Ego's own conduct
and, as in the case of all ailments, the afflicted individual has brought it
upon himself.
This is certainly not to say, of course, that the mentally retarded should be regarded in any way except with deep sympathy and concern. Every effort
should be made to continue and expand the fine programs of education and self-help now being administered for many of these individuals. Certainly, the more compassionate help they receive during the present distressed and disoriented lifetime, and the more they are encouraged to work with their personal limitations, restricted though these may be, the more progress they will be able to make in this incarnation.
We can help a person suffering from mental retardation by respecting his
right to grow at his own rate. Try to understand how he views the world, how
he feels, and what he wants to do. However "inferior" a mentally retarded
person seems to be, we do well to remember that all humanity's present
mental development is primitive in comparison with God-like potential
which eventually will be realized.
If mental retardation is to be prevented, however, it is high time that
the relationship between this affliction and the improper use of the sacred
creative force becomes universally recognized. The generally prevalent modern
attitude which condones moral laxity and encourages sexual indulgence for the
sake of pleasure cannot help but result in disastrous future consequences for
many individual members of the human race. Such extreme behavior will have to
be expiated, and it is certain that one who indulges his passions in this
lifetime will reap the painful consequences in another, if not in the present
one.
We already have lived through a mineral-, a plant-, and an animal-like
existence before becoming human as we are today. Beyond us lie still further
steps of evolution where we shall approach the Divine more and more. Our
animal passions restrain us on the path of attainment, and chastity — except
for purposes of procreation — is essential to spiritual progress. It is
obvious, too, that very little material progress can be made by the mentally
handicapped.
At our present stage of evolution, all our vital force — save that
insignificant quantity required to propagate the human race — should be transmuted
by sublimation of the mind and emotions into soul power. Not until this fact
becomes generally known and accepted will the race free itself from the
mental, as well as the physical, limitations which now cause so much suffering
and impede our evolutionary advancement.
If a mentally retarded person sparks within us a sense of the tremendous growth we ourselves have yet to achieve, we may thank the person for this
spiritual lesson and bless him or her in the struggle to learn, speak, and
direct the body.
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