Mental Travelling

WHEN the student is united to his secondary system he contacts another condition that will enable him to pass out of his physical body. An experienced teacher does not at first take his pupil into the astral or lower realms, but into the higher, and the student learns about the different degrees of densities that compose these atmospheres. Such experiences are very interesting and exhausting at first, for it will take some time before he can rise by the power of his own will to any place he is directed.

His teacher will first take him to the top of a high mountain. This is difficult on account of the seeming weight of his body. When this is accomplished he is given a load to carry to the same height. This is still more difficult, and at times he is assisted by his teacher, who encourages him and takes the load from him when he is exhausted. The process of levitation gives him, later on, the power to enter the clearer atmospheres of the inner worlds and learn about them.

When he develops this power he becomes a worker of a higher type of service. He is taught by his teacher how disaster may be prevented by his power to impress minds that are determined to lull or injure the innocent, and, if he is sufficiently developed, he is shown the evil of the world. This will cause him great depression, for the things he witnesses are terrible and could not be written down.

At this time the Secret Enemy will try to impress upon him the uselessness of combating its powers, and will suggest that he should leave this world wherein there is so little good.

The student will now realise that those who strive to lead noble and clean lives are not without their invisible helpers. Kind hearts, no matter what their degrees of intelligence, are more carefully watched than they realise. No prayer is unheard, though they may not receive a reply from their Advocate at the time.

The student is taught to prepare people for death when out of the body. Sometimes in a storm at sea the teacher takes him round to the stern of a sinking ship so that he can read and memorise its name and port. Then before the vessel goes down they appear before the crew and passengers. Sometimes the drowning people take them for higher beings. The teacher and student tell these people to breathe in the water as naturally as they breathe in air, and that they should not be afraid.

The student never forgets such trips and the care and attention he receives from his teacher. He is also greatly impressed by the noble manner in which those who had lived fine lives meet their deaths. At such times the student has the power to sense their characters instantly and deal with them according to their intelligence.

Sometimes he is taken by his teacher into the councils of the great—such as the Warlords of the Secret Enemy—and he can sense their conversation as though it were audible.

Only one country in Europe had advanced sufficiently to call upon the services of their great occultists during the Great War, and in the future no secret will be hidden in the hearts of any opposing force.

Passing through a rainstorm whilst in the astral is like passing through a fine mist.

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The magician is submerged within everyone’s nature; for long ago we worked with Nature’s materials and could produce her phenomena. When we recover our lost consciousness the magician within us will arise. The invisible forces of Nature are very quick in their movements, and we have to learn to follow the waves of their thought with an alertness not easy to gain. We receive an extended range of hearing. That is: these finer vibrations react upon our coarser nervous system.

The student cries to the Reality: “Why is my body so coarse? Why have I not these finer perceptions? Why can I not see? Why can I not receive knowledge?” Here are the reasons.

When we leave our bodies on mental flights we often pause and look at them, and we suddenly realise how coarse a vehicle the body is. We are surprised to find that we view it with indifference and often disdain; for its density seems to absorb one and conceal the light that we see when out of its sheath. We also find that it tries to shut out our memories of journeys we long to bring back. Artists have often felt this loss of remembrance and keen regret for failing to record some moment of beauty.

We meet exalted Beings who impress us with their clarity of atmosphere. Their thoughts are as brilliant as clear streams of water flowing over a fall in early morning, and standing in wonder at this majesty of beauty we become regardless of our own body awaiting our return.

It is sometimes difficult for a teacher to get his pupil to travel to his own plane; for when he arrives at an inner sphere he finds it so interesting that it is difficult for the teacher to levitate him further. The pupil is like a small boy at a circus who will persist in lingering at the cages. Women pupils are more susceptible to this gazing in the shop windows of Nature and afterwards regret having done so; for their disregard of time has kept them from attending some council.

The laws of man vary with races. Nature’s laws are also often contrary to our own. This can sometimes shock the student and give him much suffering; but until he can understand the cause of a thing he will be unable to pronounce judgment. Therefore if he cannot arrive at a cause he should remain silent. This law is strongly impressed upon us by Nature.