We have mentioned before that plane of consciousness which intensifies pleasure and, when tapped, enables our minds to understand its gratification. Few people in the West have been able to tap this power which is akin to nature’s will and is far greater than electricity. This is symbolized as “the hidden fruit within nature’s veil.” Running parallel to this consciousness is a vibration in nature which can be called the discordant note. These opposing vibrations exist even in the light rays. Thus, most men, knowing little of their rightful heritage, “see through a glass darkly.” But to the earnest Yoga student nature will lift her veil and receive him into her consciousness.
White light can be broken down by means of the prism, the colors of the spectrum analyzed, and the existence of destructive colors demonstrated. Here, as elsewhere in nature, the destructive factor is controlled by its fellows, so that its destructive force is neutralized. For instance, the color green is the bindery note in light, and it exercises control as a policeman controls the traffic in the streets. There is much significance in this when we consider how the vegetable kingdom consummates its aspiration in greens of various tones.
Science informs us that other colors in the spectrum control and make harmless its destructive member. In like manner nature seeks to control her destructive factors by negating their activity, but when we draw upon these destructive forces with our human minds, we bring their intensity to birth within ourselves. These forces are Jupiterian in their influence and intensify destruction. But the beneficent higher counterpart of these forces is also Jupiterian and thus stimulates our creative faculties and powers of expression. If we harbor hatred and malice in our hearts, these forces work our own destruction. Hence, each man is master of his fate. It affects our minds according to our true merit. Consideration of this may throw light on “the good of evil and the evil of good.”
The younger musicians of today are an example of the working of this Jupiterian force, for very few composers have made their jazz music beautiful, whereas the original jazz played by the negroes of Africa, in their natural surroundings, had great beauty and dignity. The radio is introducing into the sacred precincts of our homes certain forms of the lower jazz music in which this false note in nature is found and accentuated, and such music, intensified by working through the lower instincts and uncontrolled imaginations of our jazz composers, causes us and our children to suffer.1 The white race, influenced by the spiritual music of the negroes, has become degenerate and the minds of many composers have been overshadowed and intensified by this false and destructive note in nature; the devas say, “by a wrong use of mantric rhythm.” We must not forget that the use of this rhythm by a beautiful mind can intermittently bring real beauty to birth in the minds of listeners. Some of Irving Berlin’s compositions are comparable to some of the best music of the negro race. It has been through music that some of the initiates have molded the minds of humanity. The Cingalese music would assist greatly in eradicating this false strain from jazz music but man, in his ignorance, distorts noble things, and through the radio he forces them upon the seclusion of our home life. In Debussy’s compositions we find the influence of the Cingalese music, which he first heard at the Paris Exposition.
The higher counterpart of destructive activity being Jupiterian, its justice is distributive. For instance, rather than allow some member of a family, in which there is discord, to be inflicted with the clan consciousness of the family, it separates him from them and sends him out into the world.
The Egyptians symbolized the destructive and distributive powers in nature by placing the “swelling asp” next to the sun. We must remember that we become what we aspire to become and it is only aspiration for Truth that will unfold a knowledge of nature’s laws to us. Science is also constructive when controlled, but destructive when uncontrolled. Aspiration for temporal power has brought about poison gas warfare and the most destructive forces which the scientific mind of man can conceive. Thus, when destructive forces are placed in the hands of the ignorant, they endanger the peace of the whole world. Again, the conquest of the air was quickly cursed by its use in demolition warfare. A great discovery becomes a danger to all humanity and to our own civilization, when not used for the good of mankind. Atlantis perished through the wrong use of things designed for good, and nations that use beneficent discoveries for evil purposes will follow her example.
In the book of nature we read of a great discovery which is to be made known to man. It is something which, if used by man for the good of others, will ennoble him to selfless purpose, but selfishly used it will cast him into oblivion. Nature, the lawgiver, has an exact science to give to humanity and this new “lightbringer” to our world of darkness has already arrived over our Eastern horizon.
When man recognizes that his physical body is a vortex of all animal instincts, but that he has been endowed with a creative and controlling mind, by the exercise of which he can resolve all discordant conditions, he will have gained the right to enter into this land of discovery, which is so near. No matter how ignorant he may be now, he must take steps to know himself, in order that he may consciously mingle with the gods, and God’s promise of emancipation be realized.
We must not forget that on the causeway to nature’s consciousness there stand two elemental lords of nature. One is beneficent, the other forbidding.2 The destructive and the distributive elements of nature, analyzing our character of expression and aspiration, would seek to turn us back until we have perfected our hearts through experience in the world and fortified them by the analysis of our experiences. When we approach the beneficent guardian we are challenged to show our credentials and, if worthy, through right conduct and action towards our fellow beings, we are welcomed into nature’s consciousness.
In order to enter nature’s consciousness the student must have three times the energy of a normal man. He must conserve his natural forces3 and evoke physical, mental, and spiritual power through developing the latent energy within him. For instance, in this world we see by means of our physical eyes, but in the finer states of matter we see by the “third eye.”4 This third eye, while distinct from, functions in conjunction with the pineal gland, and gives us what is called higher clairvoyance, for it is the higher counterpart of our human eyes, and sees and visualizes things in a manner quite different from them.
Linked to this higher clairvoyance is the consciousness of the knower, which is within. By aspiration, and a Yoga process of breathing, this clairvoyance is quite easily attained, but there are certain laws regarding its use.5 This higher clairvoyance is an instrument which is quite difficult to attune to the atmospheres with which we are constantly associating and there are certain things we cannot see in the early stages of development. As one seer has said, “It is difficult to see for that person whom I love most, and in whose atmosphere I have passed most of my life, but it is easy to see for any person with whose atmosphere I am not familiar.”
It is seldom that the great souls can see for themselves, or know their own fate. It is only just a little while before the seer departs from this earth, perhaps a year or two, that this knowledge is made known to him, and Yogis often foretell the day and hour of their departure, which they refer to as “birth into life.” Jesus was such an example. At the death of a true Yogi there are manifestations which show his pupils the exact state of his development, especially if he had gained union, or God realization while in the body.
Always the student must be careful in projecting his mind to another person for, as you enter that person’s thought atmosphere, your mind is carried along the pressure lines of his thought. A friend of mine, who is a Scotland Yard official, spends much of his time tracking down offenders against the law. I have met very few people who are as quick in their observation of things around them. He will enter my room and surprise me by noticing the absence of any article which has been removed from it since the time of his last visit. When I think of him, I see him at work. Perhaps he is disguised as an immaculate butler, or as a tramp, but I follow the pressure lines of his mind and pick up the conditions where his mind is placed. Thus I not only pick up atmospheres of evil and ignorance, scintillating with the brilliancy of minds of criminal instincts, but I also pick up the horrors of the elemental conditions around these people. I see the lower forces of elemental nature, twisting, writhing masses, obsessing forces, powers of titanic strength, seeking human expression. It is very easy to contact these conditions so that they enter one’s atmosphere. My friend is seemingly immune, but I always feel that they may get the mastery of him someday, if he is not very careful.
Therefore we must be careful in our thoughts towards others, for many ignorant people, in trying to assist those who are evil in thought and deed, have taken over their evil obsessions. Of this I have had personal observation for I have known people who, through trying to assist others, have brought on themselves conditions of hell and despair. Strange to say, I have found these cases among the amateurs of Christian Science. Therefore, great is the mind that can let every other mind alone, but greater still is the mind that has learned to stand alone.
Many families have suffered the torture and misery of having the habitual drunkard in their midst, not only while he was living, but afterwards when supposedly dead. You can pick up conditions where your thoughts are placed; therefore man, with a one-pointedness of mind, should seek the kingdom within and should not let his mind become a mental highwayman, seeking to interfere with the mental activities of others.
People in the ecstasies of so-called conversion sometimes band together for the express purpose of bringing mental pressure to bear on others. This is a most unwarrantable interference in other people’s affairs, for our attitude towards the beliefs of others should be that of love and tolerance.
When you respect men, men will respect you, but when you try to prevent a soul from gaining the experience for which it incarnated, you bring upon yourself the enmity of that soul. The soul desires freedom above all things, and particularly freedom of expression. In the commandments of nature you are told the things that you shall do, and the two commandments of the Master Jesus were, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, namely this, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”6 If you love your neighbor as yourself, you will not try to interfere with his freedom of body, mind, or spirit.
We cannot assist others until we can stand alone; not only must our motives be good, but our actions must not be wrong, else we shall be like Tom Hood’s monkey, which felt it was so wrong for animals to be caged that he sought to liberate them, beginning with the lion. However, by the time he had unbolted Nero’s cage, Nero had “bolted” him.
