Lesson
10
The Astral World
WE
are confronted with a serious difficulty
at the beginning of this lesson, which
will be apparent to those of our students
who are well advanced in occult studies.
We allude to the matter of the description
of "planes" of existence. These lessons
are intended as elementary studies
designed to give the beginner a plain,
simple idea of the general principles of
occultism, without attempting to lead him
into the more complicated stages of the
subject. We have tried to avoid
technicalities, so far as is possible, and
believe that we have at least fairly well
accomplished our task of presenting
elementary principles in a plain manner,
and we know that we have succeeded in
interesting many persons in the study, who
had heretofore been deterred from taking
it up because of the mass of technical
description and complicated description of
details that met their view upon taking up
other works on the subject.
So,
in this lesson on the Astral World, and
the three lessons that follow it, we will
be compelled to deal in generalities
instead of going into minute and careful
descriptions such as would be needed in a
work taking up the "higher-grade" work.
Instead of endeavoring to describe just
what a "plane" is, and then going on to
point out the nice little differences
between "planes" and "sub-planes" we shall
treat the whole subject of the higher
planes of existence under the general term
of "The Astral World," making that term
include not only the lower divisions of
the Astral Plane, but also some of the
higher planes of life. This plan may be
objected to by some who have followed
other courses of reading on the subject,
in which only the lower Astral Plane has
been so styled, the higher planes
receiving other names, which has led many
to regard the Astral Plane with but scanty
consideration reserving their careful
study for the higher planes. But we ask
these persons to remember that many of the
ancient occultists classed the entire
group of the upper planes (at least until
the higher spiritual planes were reached)
under the general term "The Astral World,"
or similar terms, and we have the best of
authority for this general division. There
is as much difference between the lowest
astral planes and the highest mental or
spiritual planes, as there is between a
gorilla and an Emerson, but in order to
keep the beginner from getting lost in a
wilderness of terms, we have treated all
the planes above the physical (at least
such as our lessons touches upon) under
the general style of "The Astral World."
It
is difficult to convey clearly, in simple
terms, the meaning of the word "plane,"
and we shall use it but little, preferring
the word "state," for a plane is really a
"state" rather than a place - that is, any
one place may be inhabited on several
planes. Just as a room may be filled with
rays of the sun; light from a lamp; rays
from an X-ray apparatus; ordinary magnetic
vibrations; air, etc., etc., each acting
according to the law of its being, and yet
not affecting the others, so may several
planes of being be in full operation in a
given space, without interfering with each
other. We cannot go into detail regarding
the matter, in this elementary lesson, and
hope merely to give the student a good
working mental conception, in order that
he may understand the incidents and
phenomena of the several planes comprising
"The Astral World."
Before
going into the subject of the several
planes of the Astral World, it will be
better for us to consider some of the
general phenomena classified under the
term "astral." In our Sixth Lesson, we
have told you that man (in the body), in
addition to his physical senses of sight,
hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling,
has five astral senses (counterparts of
the physical senses) operating on the
astral plane, by which he may receive
sense impressions without the aid of the
physical sense organs. He also possesses a
"sixth sense" - physical organ (the organ
of the "telepathic" sense) which also has
a corresponding astral sense.
These
astral senses function on the lower astral
plane-the plane next removed from the
physical plane-and the phenomena of
clairvoyance is produced by the Use of
these astral senses, as we have described
in the Sixth Lesson. There are, of course,
higher forms of clairvoyance, which
operate on planes far above that used in
ordinary clairvoyance, but such powers are
so rare, and are possessed only by those
of high attainment, that we need scarcely
do more than mention them here. On this
lower astral plane, the clairvoyant sees;
the clairaudient hears; the psychometrist
feels. On this plane the astral body moves
about, and "ghosts" manifest. Disembodied
souls living on the higher planes of the
Astral World, in order to communicate with
those on the physical plane, must descend
to this lowest plane, and clothe
themselves with coarse astral matter in
order to accomplish their object. On this
plane moves the "astral bodies" of those
in the flesh, who have acquired the art of
projecting themselves in the astral. It is
possible for a person to project his
astral body, or travel in his astral body,
to any point within the limits of the
earth's attraction, and the trained
occultist may do so at will, under the
proper conditions. Others may occasionally
take such trips (without knowing just how
they do it, and having, afterwards, the
remembrance of a particular and very vivid
dream); in fact many of us do take such
trips, when the physical body is wrapped
in sleep, and one often gains much
information in this way, upon subjects in
which he is interested, by holding astral
communication with others interested in
the same subject, all unconsciously of
course. The conscious acquirement of
knowledge in this way, is possible only to
those who have progressed quite a way
along the path of attainment. The trained
occultist merely places himself in the
proper mental condition, and then wishes
himself at sonic particular place, and his
astral travels there with the rapidity of
light, or even more rapidly. The untrained
occultist, of course, has no such degree
of control over his astral body and is
more or less clumsy in his management of
it. The Astral Body is always connected
with the physical body (during the life of
the latter) by a thin silk-like, astral
thread, which maintains the communication
between the two. Were this cord to be
severed the physical body would die, as
the connection of the soul with it would
be terminated.
On
this lower Astral Plane may also be
perceived the auric colors of men, as
described in our Fourth Lesson. Likewise
it is on this plane that the emanations of
thought may be observed by the clairvoyant
vision, or the astral of one who visits
that plane in his astral body. The mind is
continually throwing off emanations, which
extend some distance from the person, for
a time, and which then, if strong enough,
gradually pass off, drawn here and there
by the corresponding thoughts of others.
These thought emanations resemble clouds,
some delicate and beautiful, while others
are dark and murky. To the psychic or
astral vision, places are seen to be
filled with this thought-stuff, varying in
character and appearance with the quality
and nature of the original thought which
produced them. Some places are seen to be
filled with bright attractive
thought-stuff showing that the general
character of the thought of those who
inhabit it is of an uplifting and cheerful
character, while other places are filled
with a hazy, murky mass or cloud of
thought-stuff, showing that those who live
there (or some visitors) have been
dwelling on the lower planes of thought,
and have filled the place with depressing
reminders of their sojourn there. Such
rooms should be opened wide to the sun,
and air, and one moving into them should
endeavor to fill them with bright,
cheerful and happy thoughts, which will
drive out the lower quality of
thought-stuff. A mental command, such as
"I command you to move away from this
place," will cause one to throw out strong
thought vibrations, which will either
dissolve the objectionable thought-stuff,
or will cause it to be repelled and driven
away from the immediate vicinity of the
person making the command.
If
people could see but for a few minutes the
thought-atmosphere of groggeries,
gambling-rooms, and places of that kind,
they would not care to again visit them.
Not only is the atmosphere fairly
saturated with degrading thoughts, but the
lower class of disembodied souls flock in
large numbers around the congenial scene,
striving to break the narrow bounds which
separate them from the physical plane in
such places.
Perhaps
the best way to make plain to you the
general aspects and phenomena of the
Astral World, would be to describe to you
an imaginary trip made by yourself in that
world, in charge of an experienced
occultist. We will send you, in
imagination, on such a trip, in this
lesson, in charge of a competent guide -
it being presupposed that you have made
considerable spiritual progress, as
otherwise even the guide could not take
you very far, except by adopting heroic
and very unusual methods, which he
probably would not see fit to do in your
case. Are you ready for your trip? Well,
here is your guide.
You
have gone into the silence, and suddenly
become aware of having passed out of your
body, and to be now occupying only your
astral body. You stand beside your
physical body, and see it sleeping on the
couch, but you realize that you are
connected with it by a bright silvery
thread, looking something like a large bit
of bright spider-web. You are conscious of
the presence of your guide, who is to
conduct you on your journey. He also has
left his physical body, and is in his
astral form, which reminds you of a vapory
something, the shape of the human body,
but which can be seen through, and which
can move through solid objects at will.
Your guide takes your hand in his and
says, "Come," and in an instant you have
left your room and are over the city in
which you dwell, floating along as does a
summer cloud. You begin to fear lest you
may fall, and as soon as the thought
enters your mind you find yourself
sinking. But your guide places a hand
under you and sustains you, saying, "Now
just realize that you cannot sink unless
you fear to - hold the thought that you
are buoyant and you will be so." You do
so, and are delighted to find that you may
float at will, moving here and there in
accordance to your wish or desire.
You
see great volumes of thought-clouds
arising from the city like great clouds of
smoke, rolling along and settling here and
there. You also see some finer vapory
thought-clouds in certain quarters, which
seem to have the property of scattering
the dark clouds when they come in contact
with them. Here and there you see bright
thin lines of bright light, like an
electric spark, traveling rapidly through
space, which your guide tells you are
telepathic messages passing from one
person to another, the light being caused
by the Prana with which the thought is
charged. You see, as you descend toward
the ground, that every person is
surrounded by an egg-shaped body of color
- his aura - in which is reflected his
thought and prevailing mental state, the
character of the thought being represented
by varying colors. Some are surrounded by
beautiful auras, while others have around
them a black, smoky aura, in which are
seen flashes of red light. Some of these
auras make you heart-sick to observe, as
they give evidence of such base, gross,
and animal thoughts, that they cause you
pain, as you have become more sensitive
now that you are out of your physical
body. But you have not much time to spare
here, as your trip is but a short one, and
your guide bids you come on.
You
do not seem to change your place in space,
but a change seems to have come over
everything - like the lifting of a gauzy
curtain in the pantomime. You no longer
see the physical world with its astral
phenomena, but seem to be in a new world -
a land of queer shapes. You see astral
"shells" floating about-discarded astral
bodies of those who have shed them as they
passed on. These are not pleasant to look
upon, and you hurry on with your guide,
but before you leave this second ante-room
to the real Astral World, your guide bids
you relax your mental dependence upon your
astral body, and much to your surprise you
find yourself slipping out of it, leaving
it in the world of shells, but being still
connected with it by a silk-like cord, or
thread, just as it, in turn, is connected
with your physical body, which you have
almost forgotten by this time, but to
which you are still bound by these almost
invisible ties. You pass on clothed in a
new body, or rather an inner garment of
ethereal matter, for it seems as if you
have been merely shedding one cloak, and
then another, the YOU part of yourself
remains unchanged - you smile now at the
recollection that once upon a time you
thought that the body was "you." The plane
of the "astral shells" fades away, and you
seem to have entered a great room of
sleeping forms, lying at rest and in
peace, the only moving shapes being those
from higher spheres who have descended to
this plane in order to perform tasks for
the good of their humbler brethren.
Occasionally some sleeper will show signs
of awakening, and at once some of these
helpers will cluster around him, and seem
to melt away into some other plane with
him. But the most wonderful thing about
this region seems to be that as the
sleeper awakens slowly, his astral body
slips away from him just as did yours a
little before, and passes out of that
plane to the place of "shells," where it
slowly disintegrates and is resolved into
its original elements. This discarded
shell is not connected with the physical
body of the sleeping soul, which physical
body has been buried or cremated, as it is
"dead"; nor is the shell connected with
the soul which has gone on, as it has
finally discarded it and thrown it off. It
is different in your case, for you have
merely left it in the ante-room, and will
return and resume its use presently.
The
scene again changes, and you find yourself
in the regions of the awakened souls,
through which you, with your guides,
wander backward and forward. You notice
that as the awakening souls pass along,
they seem to rapidly drop sheath after
sheath of their mental-bodies (for so
these higher forms of ethereal coverings
are called), and you notice that as you
move toward the higher planes your
substance becomes more and more
etherealized, and that as you return to
the lower planes it becomes coarser and
grosser, although always far more
etherealized than even the astral body,
and infinitely finer than the material
physical body. You also notice that each
awakening soul is left to finally awaken
on some particular plane. Your guide tells
you that the particular plane is
determined by the spiritual progress and
attainment made by the soul in its past
lives (for it has had many earthly visits
or lives), and that it is practically
impossible for a soul to go beyond the
plane to which it belongs, although those
on the upper planes may freely revisit the
lower planes, this being the rule of the
Astral World - not an arbitrary law, but a
law of nature. If the student will pardon
the commonplace comparison, he may get an
understanding of it, by imagining a large
screen, or series of screens, such as used
for sorting coal into sizes. The large
coal is caught by the first screen, the
next size by the second, and so on until
the tiny coal is reached. Now, the large
coal cannot get into the receptacle of the
smaller sizes, but the small sizes may
easily pass through the screen and join
the large sizes, if force be imparted to
them. Just so in the Astral World, the
soul with the greatest amount of
materiality, and coarser nature, is
stopped by the screen of a certain plane,
and cannot pass on the higher ones, while
one which has passed on to the higher
planes, having cast off more confining
sheaths, can easily pass backward and
forward among the lower planes. In fact
souls often do so, for the purpose of
visiting friends on the lower planes, and
giving them enjoyment and comfort in this
way, and, in cases of a highly developed
soul, much spiritual help may be given in
this way, by means of advice and
instruction, when the soul on the lower
plane is ready for it. All of the
planes, in fact, have Spiritual Helpers,
from the very highest planes, some devoted
souls preferring to so devote their time
in the Astral World rather than to take a
well earned rest, or to pursue certain
studies for their own development. Your
guide explains these things to you as you
pass backward and forward, among the lower
set of planes (the reason you do not go
higher will be explained to you
bye-and-bye), and he also informs you that
the only exception to the rule of free
passage to the planes below the plane of a
soul, is the one which prevents the
lower-plane souls from entering the "plane
of the sleepers," which plane may not be
entered by souls who have awakened on a
low plane, but may be freely entered by
those pure and exalted souls who have
attained a high plane. The plane of the
chamber of slumber is sacred to those
occupying it, and those higher souls just
mentioned, and is in fact in the nature of
a distinct and separated state rather than
one of the series of planes just
mentioned.
The
soul awakens on just the plane for which
it is fitted - on just the sub-plane of
that plane which its highest desires and
tastes naturally select for it. It is
surrounded by congenial minds, and is able
to pursue that which the heart of the man
had longed for during earth life. It may
make considerable progress during this
Astral World life, and so when it is
reborn it is able to take a great step
forward, when compared to its last
incarnation. There are planes and
sub-planes innumerable, and each finds an
opportunity to develop and enjoy to the
fullest the highest things of which it is
capable at that particular period of
development, and as we have said it may
perfect itself and develop so that it will
be born under much more favorable
conditions and circumstances in the next
earth life. But, alas, even in this higher
world, all do not live up to their best,
and instead of making the best of their
opportunities, and growing spiritually,
they allow their more material nature to
draw them downward, and they spend much of
their time on the planes beneath them, not
to help and assist, but to live the less
spiritual life of the denizens of the
lower planes - the more material planes.
In such cases the soul does not get the
benefit of the Astral World sojourn and is
born back into just about the same
condition as the last earth-life - it is
sent back to learn its lesson over again.
The
very lowest planes of the Astral World are
filled with souls of a gross type -
undeveloped and animal like - who live as
near as possible the lives they lived on
earth (about the only thing they gain
being the possibility of their
"living-out" their gross tastes, and
becoming sick and tired of it all, and
thus allowing to develop a longing for
higher things which will manifest in a
"better-chance" when they are reborn).
These undeveloped souls cannot, of course,
visit the upper planes, and the only plane
below them being the plane of shells and
the astral sub-plane immediately above the
material plane (which is one of the
so-called ante-rooms of the Astral World)
they often flock back as near to earth as
is possible. They are able to get so near
back to earth that they may become
conscious of much that is transpiring
there, particularly when the conditions
are such that they are in harmony with
their own natures. They may be said to be
able to practically live on the low
material plane, except that they are
separated from it by a tantalizing thin
veil, which prevents them from actively
participating in it except on rare
occasions. They may see, but not join in,
the earth-life. They hang around the
scenes of their old degrading lives, and
often take possession of the brain of one
of their own kind, who may 'be under the
influence of liquor, and thus add to his
own low desires. This is an unpleasant
subject, and we do not care to dwell upon
it-happily it does not concern those who
read these lessons, as they have passed
beyond this stage of development. Such low
souls are so attracted by earth-life, on
its lower planes, that their keen desires
cause them to speedily reincarnate in
similar conditions although there is
always at least a slight improvement -
there is never a going backward. A soul
may make several attempts to advance, in
spite of the dragging-back tendencies of
its lower nature - but it never slips back
quite as far as the place from which it
started.
The
souls in the higher planes, having far
less attraction for earth-life, and having
such excellent opportunities for
advancement, naturally spend a much longer
time in the Astral World, the general rule
being that the higher the plane, the
longer the rest and sojourn. But sooner or
later the lesson is fully learned, and the
soul yearns for that further advancement
that can only come from the experience and
action of another earth-life, and through
the force of its desires (never against
its will, remember) the soul is gradually
caught in the current sweeping on toward
rebirth, and becoming drowsy, is helped
toward the plane of the room of slumber
and, then falling into the soul-slumber it
gradually "dies" to the Astral World, and
is reborn into a new earth-life in
accordance to its desires and tastes, and
for which it is fit at that particular
stage of its development. It does not
fully awaken upon physical birth, but
exists in a dreamy state of gradual
awakening during the years of early
childhood, its awakening being evidenced
by the gradual dawning of intelligence in
the child whose brain keeps pace with the
demands made upon it. We will go more into
detail regarding this matter, in the
succeeding chapters.
All
of these things, your guide has pointed
out to you, and he has shown you examples
of all the things we have just mentioned.
You have met and talked with friends and
loved ones who have passed out of the body
and occupy some of the planes through
which you have passed. You have noticed
with wonder that these souls acted and
spoke as if their life was the only
natural one, and in fact seemed to think
that you had come to them from some
outside world. You also noticed that while
those on each plane were more or less
acquainted with the planes beneath them,
they often seemed in total ignorance of
those above them - except in the case of
those on the higher planes who had
awakened to a conscious realization of
what it all meant, and knew that they were
merely in a class working their way
upward. Those on the lower planes seemed
more or less unconscious of the real
meaning of their existence, not having
awakened to the conscious spiritual stage.
You also noticed how few changes these
souls seemed to have undergone - how very
little more they seemed to know about
things spiritual and occult than when on
earth. You also noticed on the lower
planes an old friend, who in earth-life,
was a pronounced materialist, who did not
seem to realize that he was "dead" and who
believed that, by some catastrophe of
nature, he had been transported to some
other planet or physical world, and who
was as keen as ever for his argument that
"death ended all," and who flew into a
rage with the visitors from the higher
spheres who told him whom they were and
from whence they came, calling them rogues
and imposters, and demanding that they
show him something of their claimed
"higher spheres" if they were realities.
He claimed that their sudden appearances
and disappearances were simply the
physical phenomena of the new planet upon
which they were living. Passing away from
him in the midst of his railing at you for
agreeing with the "imposters" and
"visionaries," who, to use his expression,
were "little better than the spiritualists
of the old world," you sadly asked your
guide to take you to the highest spheres.
Your guide smiled and said, "I will take
YOU as far as you can go," and then took
you to a plane which so fitted in with
your desires, aspirations, tastes, and
development, that you begged him to allow
you to remain there, instead of taking you
back to earth, as you felt that you had
reached the "seventh heaven" of the Astral
World. He insisted upon your return, but
before starting told you that you were
still in one of the sub-planes of the
comparatively lower planes. You seemed to
doubt his words, and like the materialist
asked to be shown the greater things. He
replied, "No, my son, you have progressed
just as far as your limitations will allow
- you have reached that part of the 'other
life' which will be yours when you part
with the body, unless you manage to
develop still more and thus pass into a
higher grade~ thus far you may go but no
farther. You have your limitations, just
as I have mine, still farther on. No soul
may travel beyond its spiritual
boundaries."
"But,"
continued your guide, "beyond your plane
and beyond mine are plane after plane,
connected with our earth, the splendors of
which man cannot conceive. And there are
likewise many planes around the other
planets of our chain - and there are
millions of other worlds - and there are
chains of universes just as there are
chains of planets - and then greater
groups of these chains - and so on greater
and grander, beyond the power of man to
imagine - on and on and on and on, higher
and higher to inconceivable heights. An
infinity of infinities of worlds are
before us. Our world and our planetary
chain and our system of suns, and our
systems of solar systems, are but as
grains of sand on the beach."
"Then
what am I - poor mortal thing - lost among
all this inconceivable greatness," you
cried. "You are the most precious thing -
a living soul," replied your guide, "and
if you were destroyed the whole system of
universes would crumble, for you are as
necessary as the greatest part of it - it
cannot do without you - you cannot be lost
or destroyed - you are part of it all, and
are eternal.
"And
beyond all of this of which you have told
me, you cried, "what is there, and what is
the center of it all?" Your guide's face
took on a rapt expression. "THE ABSOLUTE,"
he replied.
And
when you reached your physical body again
- just before your guide faded away - you
asked him, "How many million miles away
from Earth have we been, and how long were
we gone?" He replied, "You never left the
Earth at all - and your body was left
alone but a moment of time - time and
space belong not to the Astral world."
