Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental
Occultism
Lesson
3
The Spiritual Principles
IN
our Second Lesson we gave you a brief
outline of the Fourth and Fifth
Principles of Man, i.e., (4) Instinctive
Mind, and (5) Intellect. As we have told
you before, man has passed through the
Fourth Principle stage to its extreme,
and has now passed on to a consciousness
of the Fifth Principle, Intellect. Some
of us have developed the Intellectual
stage to a considerable extent (although
we have practically conquered but a few
square miles of the new territory of the
mind, and there is still a great task
before us), while other men seem to have
a consciousness almost altogether within
the borders of the Instinctive Mind, and
have only a glimmering of Intellect. Not
only is this true of the savage races,
but many, very many of so-called
"civilized" people have not learned to
do their own thinking, and seem willing
to allow others to do their thinking for
them, they following certain leaders
with the stupid habit of the sheep. But
still the race is progressing, slowly
but surely, and many are thinking now
who never thought before-a greater
number are refusing to take their
thinking second-hand, and are insisting
upon knowing for themselves.
When
we consider that there are many men in
whom the Fifth Principle, the Intellect,
has scarcely unfolded, and that the race
in general has taken but a few steps
into the land of the Intellect, we begin
to realize how difficult it is for any
of us except the man or woman of
exceptional spiritual unfoldment to
comprehend even faintly the still higher
Principles. It is something like a man
born blind trying to comprehend light;
or one born deaf endeavoring to form a
mental concept of sound. One can only
form an idea of something akin to his
experiences. A man who has never tasted
anything sweet cannot form an idea of
sugar. Without experience or
consciousness of a thing, our minds are
unable to form a concept.
But
nearly all of us who have been attracted
to these lessons or who have attracted
these lessons to us, have had
experiences which will enable us to
comprehend something of the Sixth
Principle-have had glimmerings of
consciousness which help us to
understand something of the Spiritual
Mind. A tendency toward the occult-the
hunger of the soul or more light-are
indications that the Sixth Principle,
Spiritual Mind, is beginning to shade
into our consciousness, and, although it
may be ages before we awaken into full
Spiritual Consciousness, we are still
being influenced and helped by it. This
spiritual unrest often causes us great
discomfort, until we find ourselves on
the right road to knowledge, and even
thereafter we feel more or less
unsatisfied by the few crumbs that drop
to us from the table of Knowledge. But
despair not, seekers after the Truth;
these pains are but the travail of
spiritual birth - great things are
before you-take courage and fear not.
Toward
the end of this lesson we will speak of
the process of "Illumination" or
Spiritual Consciousness, which has come,
or is coming, to many of us, and what we
have to say may throw light upon many
experiences which have come to you, and
for which you have heretofore had no
explanation.
We
will now take up the subject of the
Sixth Principle, Spiritual Mind, which
will be more or less plain to those who
have had glimmerings of consciousness
from this plane of the soul, but which
will be full of "hard sayings" and "dark
corners" to those who have not as yet
reached this stage of unfoldment. The
Seventh Principle, The Spirit, however,
is beyond the comprehension of any
except the few enlightened and highly
developed souls, in and out of the body,
who are as far above the ordinary man as
the average enlightened man is above the
Bushman. We can but pass on to you
enough to give you a general
intellectual idea of what is meant by
"Spirit"--the consciousness of it is
still far beyond the race in its present
stage. It is well, however, to know of
the existence of Spirit, as it helps us
to understand something of the Spiritual
Mind, which is Spirit's means of
communication with the Intellectual
consciousness. The comprehension of
Spiritual Mind, however, opens up such a
wonderful world of thought that we are
satisfied to leave the understanding of
Spirit until such time as we will grow
into a consciousness of it.
(6) The Spiritual
Mind.
The
Sixth Principle, Spiritual Mind, has
been styled by some writers "The
Superconscious Mind," which term is a
fairly good one, as it distinguishes
between the lower Subconscious Mind or
Instinctive Mind, the Conscious Mind or
Intellect, and itself, which latter,
while outside of the realm of ordinary
human consciousness, is still a very
different thing from the lower or
Instinctive Mind.
While
the actual existence of the Spiritual
Mind has been made manifest to but a
limited number of the human race, there
are many who are becoming conscious of a
higher "Something Within," which leads
them up to higher and nobler thoughts,
desires, aspirations, and deeds. And
there is a still greater number who
receive a faint glimmering of the light
of the Spirit, and, though they know it
not, are more or less influenced by it.
In fact, the entire race receives some
of its beneficent rays, although in some
cases the light is so bedimmed by the
dense material obstacles surrounding the
man that his spiritual twilight is
almost akin to the blackness of night.
But man is ever unfolding, discarding
sheath after sheath, and is slowly
coming home. The light will eventually
shine full upon all.
All
that we consider good, noble, and great
in the human mind emanates from the
Spiritual Mind and is gradually unfolded
into the ordinary consciousness. Some
Eastern writers prefer the term
"projected" as more correctly indicating
the process whereby the ray of light is
sent into the consciousness of the man
who has not yet reached the superhuman
stage of full Spiritual Consciousness.
All that has come to man, in his
evolution, which tends toward nobility,
true religious feeling, kindness,
humanity, justice, unselfish love,
mercy, sympathy, etc., has come to him
through his slowly unfolding Spiritual
Mind. His love of God and his love of
Man has come to him in this way. As the
unfoldment goes on, his idea of Justice
enlarges; he has more Compassion; his
feeling of Human Brotherhood increases;
his idea of Love grows; and he increases
in all the qualities which men of all
creeds pronounce "good," and which may
all be summed up as the practical
attempt to live out the teachings of
that great spiritual Master, when He
enunciated that great truth (well
understood by the occultists of all
creeds, but so little understood by many
who claim to be followers of Him),
saying:
"And 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," and "Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself."
As
man's Spiritual Consciousness begins to
unfold, he begins to have an abiding
sense of the reality of the existence of
the Supreme Power, and, growing along
with it, he finds the sense of Human
Brotherhood--of human
relationship--gradually coming into
consciousness. He does not get these
things from his Instinctive Mind, nor
does his Intellect make him feel them.
Spiritual Mind does not run contrary to
Intellect--it simply goes beyond
Intellect. It passes down to the
Intellect certain truths which it finds
in its own regions of the mind, and
Intellect reasons about them. But they
do not originate with Intellect.
Intellect is cold-Spiritual
Consciousness is warm and alive with
high feeling.
Man's
growth toward a better and fuller idea
of the Divine Power does not come from
Intellect, although the latter reasons
upon the impressions received and tries
to form them into systems, creeds,
cults, etc. Nor does the Intellect give
us our growing sense of the relationship
between man and man--the Brotherhood of
Man. Let us tell you why man is kinder
to his kind and to forms of life below
him than ever before. It is not alone
because the Intellect teaches him the
value of kindness and love, for man does
not become kind or loving by cold
reasoning. On the contrary, he becomes
kind and loving because there arise
within him certain impulses and desires
coming from some unknown place, which
render it impossible for him to be
otherwise without suffering discomfort
and pain. These impulses are as real as
other desires and impulses, and as man
develops these impulses become more
numerous and much stronger. Look at the
world of a few hundred years ago, and
look at it to-day, and see how much
kinder and more loving we are than in
those days. But do not boast of it, for
we will seem as mere savages to those
who follow us and who will wonder at our
inhumanity to our brother-man from their
point of view.
As
man unfolds spiritually he feels his
relationship to all mankind, and he
begins to love his fellow-man more and
more. It hurts him to see others
suffering, and when it hurts him enough
he tries to do something to remedy it.
As time goes on and man develops, the
terrible suffering which many human
beings undergo to-day will be
impossible, for the reason that the
unfolding Spiritual Consciousness of the
race will make the pain felt so severely
by all that the race will not be able to
stand it, and they will insist upon
matters being remedied. From the inner
recesses of the soul comes a protest
against the following of the lower
animal nature, and, although we may put
it aside for a time, it will become more
and more persistent, until we are forced
to heed it. The old story of each person
having two advisors, one at each ear,
one whispering to him to follow the
higher teachings and the other tempting
him to pursue the lower path, is shown
to be practically true by the occult
teaching regarding the three mental
principles. The Intellect represents the
"I" consciousness of the average person.
This "I" has on one side the instinctive
Mind sending him to the old desires of
the former self--the impulses of the
less developed life of the animal or
lower man, which desires were all very
well in lower stages of development, but
which are unworthy of the growing man.
On the other side is the Spiritual Mind,
sending its unfolding impulses into the
Intellect, and endeavoring to draw the
consciousness up to itself--to aid in
the man's unfoldment and development,
and to cause him to master and control
his lower nature.
The
struggle between the higher and lower
natures has been noticed by all careful
observers of the human mind and
character, and many have been the
theories advanced to account for it. In
former times it was taught that man was
being tempted by the devil on the one
band, and helped by a guardian angel on
the other. But the truth is known to all
occultists that the struggle is between
the two elements of man's nature, not
exactly warring but each following its
own line of effort, and the ''I" being
torn and bruised in its efforts to
adjust itself. The Ego is in a
transition stage of consciousness, and
the struggle is quite painful at times,
but the growing man in time rises above
the attraction of the lower nature, and
dawning Spiritual Consciousness enables
him to understand the true state of
affairs, and aids him in asserting his
mastery over the lower self and in
assuming a positive attitude toward it,
while at the same time he opens himself
up to the light from the Spiritual Mind
and holds himself in a negative attitude
toward it, resisting not its power.
The
Spiritual Mind is also the source of the
"inspiration" which certain poets,
painters, sculptors, writers, preachers,
orators, and others have received in all
times and which they receive to-day.
This is the source from which the seer
obtains his vision--the prophet his
foresight. Many have concentrated
themselves upon high ideals in their
work, and have received rare knowledge
from this source, and have attributed it
to beings of another world--from angels,
spirits, from God Himself; but all came
from within-it was the voice of their
Higher Self speaking to them. We do not
mean to say that no communications come
to man from other intelligences--far
from this, we know that higher
intelligences do often communicate with
man through the channel of his Spiritual
Mind-but much that man has attributed to
outside intelligences has really come
from himself. And man, by the
development of his Spiritual
Consciousness, may bring himself into a
high relationship and contact with this
higher part of his nature, and may thus
become possessed of a knowledge of which
the Intellect has not dared dream.
Certain
high psychic powers are also open to man
in this way, but such powers are rarely
obtained by one until he has risen above
the attractions of the lower part of his
nature, for unless this were so man
might use these high gifts for base
purposes. It is only when man ceases to
care for power for his personal use that
power comes. Such is the Law.
When
man learns of the existence of his
Spiritual mind and begins to recognize
its promptings and leadings, he
strengthens his bond of communication
with it, and consequently receives light
of a greater brilliancy. When we learn
to trust the Spirit, it responds by
sending us more frequent flashes of
illumination and enlightenment. As one
unfolds in Spiritual Consciousness he
relies more upon this Inner Voice, and
is able more readily to distinguish it
from impulses from the lower planes of
the mind. He learns to follow Spirit's
leadings and to allow it to lend him a
guiding hand. Many of us have learned to
know the reality of being "led by the
Spirit." To those who have experienced
this leading we need not say more, for
they will recognize just what we mean.
Those who have not as yet experienced it
must wait until the time comes for them,
for we cannot describe it, as there are
no words to speak of these things which
are beyond words.
Toward
the close of this lesson we will give a
brief outline of some of the phases of
"Illumination" or awakening of Spiritual
Consciousness, which has come to some of
us and will come to all in this or
future phases of their unfoldment. We
must hasten on to a brief consideration
of that which can only be faintly
understood by any of us--the Seventh
Principle--Spirit.
(7) Spirit.
How
shall we approach this subject, which
even the most advanced minds in the
flesh to-day can but faintly comprehend?
How can the finite express or comprehend
the infinite? Spirit, man's Seventh
Principle, is the Divine Spark-our most
precious inheritance from the Divine
Power-a ray from the Central Sun-the
Real Self. Words cannot express it. Our
minds fail to grasp it. It is the soul
of the Soul. To understand it we must
understand God, for Spirit is a drop
from the Spirit Ocean--a grain of sand
from the shores of the Infinite--a
particle of the Sacred Flame. It is that
something within us which is the cause
of our evolution through all the weary
ages. It was the first to be, and yet it
will be the last to appear in full
consciousness. When man arrives., at a
full consciousness of Spirit, he will be
so much higher than man that such a
being is at present inconceivable to the
Intellect. Confined in many sheaths of
matter, it has waited through the long
and weary ages for even a faint
recognition, and is content to wait for
ages more until it is fully brought into
consciousness. Man will ascend many
steps of development-from man to
archangel-before Spirit will fully claim
its own. The Spirit is that within man
which closest approaches the Center-is
nearest to God. It is only in an
occasional precious moment that we are
aware of the existence of Spirit within
us, and in such moments we are conscious
of coming into the awful presence of the
Unknown. These moments may come when one
is engaged in deep religious
thought-while reading a poem bearing a
precious message from soul to soul in
some hour of affliction when all human
aid has failed us and when human words
seem but mockery in a moment when all
seems lost and we feel the necessity of
a direct word from a being higher than
ourselves. When these moments come they
leave with us a peace which never
afterward entirely escapes us, and we
are ever after changed beings. In the
moment of Illumination or the dawn of
Spiritual Consciousness we also feel the
real presence of the Spirit. In these
moments we become conscious of our
relationship with and connection with
the Center of Life. Through the medium
of the Spirit God reveals Himself to
Man.
We
cannot dwell longer on this subject-it
overpowers one, and mere words seem too
weak for use in connection with it.
Those who have felt the impulses of the
Spiritual Mind have been made faintly
conscious of the abiding sense of the
Spirit, although they cannot grasp its
full significance. And those who have
not experienced these things would not
understand us if we wrote volumes of our
imperfect and undeveloped conceptions of
the subject. So we will pass on,
trusting that we have awakened in your
minds at least a faint desire to be
brought into a closer communion and
contact with this, the highest part of
Self--Self itself. The Peace of the
Spirit abide with you.
Illumination or
Spiritual Consciousness.
With
many, Spiritual Mind unfolds gradually
and slowly, and, while one may feel a
steady increase of spiritual knowledge
and consciousness, he may not have
experienced any marked and startling
change. Others have had moments of what
is known as "Illumination," when they
seemed lifted almost out of their normal
state, and where they seemed to pass
into a higher plane of consciousness or
being, which left them more advanced
than ever before, although they could
not carry back into consciousness a
clear recollection of what they had
experienced while in the exalted state
of mind. These experiences have come to
many--in different forms and degrees, of
all forms of religious beliefs, and have
been generally associated with some
feature of the particular religious
belief entertained by the person
experiencing the illumination. But
advanced occultists recognize all of
these experiences as differing forms of
one and the same thing--the dawning of
the Spiritual Consciousness---the
unfoldment of the Spiritual Mind. Some
writers have styled this experience
''Cosmic Consciousness--which is a very
appropriate name, as the illumination,
at least in its higher forms, brings one
in touch with the whole of Life, making
him feel a sense of kinship with all
Life, high or low, great or small,
"good" or "bad."
These
experiences, of course, vary materially
according to the degree of unfoldment of
the individual, his previous training,
his temperament, etc., but certain
characteristics are common to all. The
most common feeling is that of
possessing almost complete knowledge of
all things---almost Omniscience. This
feeling exists only for a moment, and
leaves one at first in an agony of
regret over what he has seen and lost.
Another feeling commonly experienced is
that of a certainty of immortality---a
sense of actual being, and the certainty
of having always been, and of being
destined to always be. Another feeling
is the total slipping away of all fear
and the acquirement of a feeling of
certainty, trust, and confidence, which
is beyond the comprehension of those who
have never experienced it. Then a
feeling of love sweeps over one---a love
which takes in all Life, from those near
to one in the flesh to those at the
farthest parts of the universe---from
those whom we hold as pure and holy to
those whom the world regards as vile,
wicked, and utterly unworthy. All
feelings of self-righteousness and
condemnation seem to slip away, and
one's love, like the light of the sun,
falls upon all alike, irrespective of
their degree of development or
"goodness."
To
some thes eexperiences have come as a
deep, reverent mood or feeling, which
took complete possession of them for a
few moments or longer, while others have
seemed in a dream and have become
conscious of a spiritual uplifting
accompanied by a sensation of being
surrounded by a brilliant and
all-pervading light or glow. To some
certain truths have become manifest in
the shape of symbols, the true meaning
of which did not become apparent until,
perhaps, long afterwards.
These
experiences, when they have come to one,
have left him in a new state of mind,
and he has never been the same man
afterward. Although the keenness of the
recollection has worn off, there remains
a certain memory which long afterward
proves a source of comfort and strength
to him, especially when he feels faint
of faith and is shaken like a reed by
the winds of conflicting opinions and
speculations of the Intellect. The
memory of such an experience is a source
of renewed strength--a haven of refuge
to which the weary soul flies for
shelter from the outside world, which
understands it not.
These
experiences are usually also accompanied
with a sense of intense joy; in fact,
the word and 'thought "Joy" seems to be
uppermost in the mind at the time. But
it is a joy not of ordinary
experience--it is something which cannot
be dreamed of until after one has
experienced it--it is a joy the
recollection of which will cause the
blood to tingle and the heart to throb
whenever the mind reverts to the
experience. As we have already said,
there also comes a sense of a "knowing"
of all things--an intellectual
illumination impossible to describe.
From
the writings of the ancient philosophers
of all races, from the songs of the
great poets of all peoples, from the
preachings of the prophets of all
religions and times we can gather traces
of this illumination which has come to
them--this unfoldment of the Spiritual
Consciousness. We have not the space to
enumerate these numerous instances. One
has told of it in one way, the other in
another; but all tell practically the
same story. All who have experienced
this illumination, even in a faint
degree, recognize the like experience in
the tale, song, or preaching of another,
though centuries may roll between them.
It is the song of the Soul, which when
once heard is never forgotten. Though it
be sounded by the crude instrument of
the semi-barbarous races or the finished
instrument of the talented musician of
to-day, its strains are plainly
recognized. From Old Egypt comes the
song--from India in all ages--from
Ancient Greece and Rome--from the early
Christian saint--from the Quaker
Friend--from the Catholic
monasteries--from the Mohammedan
mosque-from the Chinese
philosopher--from the legends of the
American Indian hero-prophet-it is
always the same strain, and it is
swelling louder and louder, as many more
are taking it up and adding their voices
or the sounds of their instruments to
the grand chorus.
That
much-misunderstood Western poet, Walt
Whitman, knew what he meant (and so do
we) when he blurted out in uncouth verse
his strange experiences. Read what he
says--has it ever been better expressed?
"As in a
swoon, one instant,
Another sun, ineffable, full dazzles
me,
And all the orbs I knew, and brighter,
unknown orbs,
One instant of the future land,
Heaven's land."
And
when he rouses himself from his ecstasy,
he cries:
"I cannot
be awake,
For nothing looks to me as it did
before,
Or else I am awake for the first time,
And
all before has been a mean sleep."
And
wemustjoin with him when he expresses
man's inability to describe
intelligently this thing in these words:
"When I try
to tell the best I find, I cannot;
My tongue is ineffectual on its
pivots,
My breath will not be obedient to its
organs,
I become a dumb man."
May
this great joy of Illumination be yours,
dear students. And it will be yours when
the proper time comes. When it comes do
not be dismayed, and when it leaves you
do not mourn its loss--it will come
again. Live on; reaching ever upward
toward your Real Self and opening up
yourself to its influence. Be always
willing to listen to the Voice of The
Silence--willing always to respond to
the touch of The Unseen Hand. In the
little manual, "Light on the Path," you
will find many things which will now
perhaps seem plainer to you.
Do
not fear again, for you have with you
always the Real Self, which is a spark
from the Divine Flame, and which will be
as a lamp to your feet to show you the
way.
Peace be unto you.
