part in its evolution. As the conscious-

ness working in the physical body begins slowly 10 recognise aii external world,
r86 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
these impacts from the astral — gradual classified under the five senses as are 1 impacts from the physical — -mingle with those from the physical plane and are not distinguished as being different from them in origin. This recognition is the lower clairvoyance, that which precedes the great evolution of mind. So long as the sympathetic system is acting as the dominant apparatus of consciousness, so long will the origin, astral or physical, of impacts remain as the same to con- sciousness. Even the higher animals — in whom the cerebro-spinal system is well developed, but in whom it is not yet, .save in its sense-centres, the chief mechanism of consciousness — fail to distinguish between physical and astral sights, sounds, etc. A horse will leap over an astral body as though it were a physical one ; a cat will rub herself against the legs of an astral figure ; a dog will growl at a similar appearance. In the dog and the horse there is the dawning of an uneasy sense of some difference, shown by the fear of such appearances often manifested by the dog, and by the timidity of the horse.
FIRST HUMAN STEPS. 187
The nervousness of the horse — despite which he can be trained to face the dangers of a battle -field, and even, as with Arab mares, learn to pick up and carry away his fallen rider through all the alarming surroundings — seems chiefly due to his confusion and bewilderment as to his environment, and his inability to distinguish between what later he will learnedly call "objective realities," against which he can injure his botly, and "delusions," or "hallucinations," through which his body can pass unscathed. To him they are all "real." and the difference of their behaviour alarms him ; in the case of an exceptionally intelligent horse the nervousness is often greater, as he evolves a dawning sense of difference in the phenomena themselves, and this at first, not being understood, is yet more disquieting.
The savage, living more in the cere- bro-spinal system, distinguishes between the physical and the astral phenomena, though the latter to him are as "real" as the physical : he relates them to another world, to which he relegates
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
all thi
ngs
that do not behave in
way he considers normal. He does know that, with regard to these, he is conscious through the sympathetic and not through the cerebro-spinal system ; he is conscious of them — that is all. The Lemurians and early Atlanteans were almost more conscious astrally than they were physically. Astral impacts, throwing the whole astral sheath into waves, came through the sense-centres of the astral to the sympathetic centres in the physical body, and they were vividly aware of them. Their lives were dominated by sensations and passions more than by intellect, and the special apparatus of the astral sheath, the synipatlietic system, was then the dominant mechanism of consciousness.
As the cerebro-spina! system became elaborated, and more and more assumed its peculiar position as the chief apparatus of consciousness on the physical plane, the attention of consciousness was fixed more and more on the external physical world, and its aspect of activity, as the concrete mind, was brought into greate
KIRST HUMAN STEPS. I
I and greater prominence. The sympathetic system became subordinate, and its indica- tions were less and less regarded, sub- merged under the flood of the coarser and heavier physical impacts from without. Hence a lessening of astral consciousness and an increase of intelligence, though there still remains in almost every one a vague sense of non- understood impressions received from time to time.
At the present stage of evolution this lower form of clairvoyance is still found among human beings, but in persons of very limited intellect ; they have little Idea as to its rationale, and little control over its exercise. Aiiempts to increase it are apt to cause nervous disturbances of a very refractory kind, and these attempts are against the law of evolution, which works ever forward towards a higher end, and does not move backwards. As the law cannot be changed, attcmjiLs to work against it only cause disturbance and disease. We cannot revert to the con- dition in which the sympathetic system was dominant, save at the cost of health, and of tile higher intellectual evolution.
igo A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
Hence the serious danger of following many of the directions now published broadcast, to meditate on the solar plexus, and other sympathetic centres.
The practices, a few of which havai come over to the West, are systematisedl into H^tha Yoga in India. Control over] the involuntary muscles is regained, so that a man can reverse peristaltic action, inhibit the beating of the heart, vomit at will, and so on. Much time and trouble must be wasted ere the perform- ance of such feats becomes possible, and at the end the man has only brought back to the control of the will muscles which have long since been handed over by it to the sympathetic system. As that handing-over was done by a gradual turning away of attention, so is it by a concentration of attention on the parts concerned that the earlier achievement is reversed. As such performana impose upon the ignorant, who regai them as evidences of spiritual greatnesSjJ they are often practised by men whod desire power, and are unable to obtainj it in a more legitimate way. MoreoverJ
FIRST HUMAN STEPS. I9I
they are the easiest form of HStha Yoga, and are more easily cuhivated. and cost far less suffering, than holding an arm extended till it withers, or lying on a bed of spikes.
When the cerebro - spinal system is thrown temporarily into abeyance, the impulses from the astral sheath through the sympathetic system make themselves fell in consciousness. Hence " lucidity" in trance, self-induced or imposed, the power of reading in the astral by the use of crystals, and other similar devices. The partial or complete suspension of the action of consciousness in the higher vehicle causes it to direct attention on the lower.
It may be well to add here, to prevent misconception, that the higher clairvoy- ance follows, instead of preceding, the growth of mind, and cannot appear until the organisation of the- astral body, in con- tradistinction to the astral sheath, has been carried to a considerable height. When this is effected by the play of intellect and the perfecting of the physical iniellectual apparatus, then the true astral senses
192
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
before mentioned, called the chakras. or wheels, from their whirling appearance, are gradually evolved. These develop on the astral plane, as astral senses and organs, and are built and controlled from the mental plane, as were the brain-centres from the astral. Consciousness is then working on the mental plane and building its astral mechanism, as before it worked on the astral plane, building its physical mechanism. But now it works with far greater power and greater understanding, having unfolded so many of its powers. Further, it shapes centres in the physical body from the sympathetic and cerebro- spinal systems, to act as physical plane apparatus for bringing into the brain consciousness the vibrations from higher planes. As these centres vivified, knowledge is "brought through,^!^^ i.e., is available for the use of conscious- ■ ness working in the physical nervous system. This, as said, is the higher clair- voyance, the intelligent and self-directed exercise of the powers of consciousness in the astral body.
in this upward - climbing, then,
FIRST HUMAN STEPS. 1 93
powers of consciousness are awakened on the physical plane, and are then severally awakened on the astral and the mental. The astral and mental sheaths must be highly evolved ere they can be farther developed into the subtle body, acting independently on the higher planes, and then building for itself the necessary apparatus for the exercise of these higher powers in the physical world. And even here, when the apparatus is ready, built by pure thought and pure desire, it must be vivified on the physical plane by the fire of Kundalini, aroused and directed by the consciousness working in the physical brain.
CONSCIOUSNESS.
For an riod of time —
throughout the later vegetable and the animal evolution, and throughout the evolution of normal humanity up to the present time — the astral, or desire, sheath is, as we have seen, subordinate to the physical, so far as the workings of con- sciousness are concerned. We have now to trace the unfolding of the conscious- ness, of the life becoming aware of its surroundings. While the nervous system is truly said to be created from the astral plane, it is none the less created for the expression of consciousness on the physical plane, and for its effective working thereon. It is there that con- sciousness is first to become Self- consciousness.
CONSCIOUSNESS & SELF -CONSCIOUSNESS. I95
When the vibrations of the outer world play on the physical sheath of the infolded infant Self, the Jivdlma, the Ray of the Monad, they at first cause responsive thrills within that Self, a dawning con- sciousness within itself, a feeling, unrelated by that Self to anything outside, though caused by impacts from outside. It is a change outside the enveloping film of the Self, clothed in sheaths of denser matter, which outside chang'c causes a change within that envelope, and this change causes an act of consciousness — conscious- ness of change, of a changed condition. It may be an attraction, a drawing towards, exerted by an external object over the sheaths, reaching to the envelope of the Self, causing a slight expansion in the envelope, following an expansion in the sheaths, towards the attractive object ; and this expansion is a change of condition, and causes a feeling, an act of conscious- ness. Or it may be a repulsion, a driving away, again everted by an external object against the sheaths, reaching to the enve- lope of the Self, causing a slight shrinking in the envelope, following the shrinking
196 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
away of the sheaths from the repellei object ; and this shrinking is also a change of condition, and causes a corresponding change in consciousness.
When we examine the conditions of the enveloping sheaths under an attraction and a repulsion, we find they are entirely different. When the impact of an external object causes a rhythmical vibration in these envelopes — that is, when 'their materials are made to arrange themselves in undulating regular lines of rarefaction and densification^this arrangement of the enclosing matter permits an interchange of life between the two objects that have come into contact, and in proportion to the correspondence of the rarefactions and densifications in the two is the fulness of the interchange. This interchange, this partial union of two separated Lives through the separating sheaths of matter, is " pleasure," and the going out of the Lives towards each other is " attraction " ; however complicated pleasure may become- herein lies its essence ; it is a sense i "moreness," of increased, expanded Itf^ The more fully developed the Life,
CONSCIOUSNESS * SEI.F-CONSCIOUSNESS. I97
greater the pleasure in the realisation of ihis moreness, in the expansion into the other Life, and each of the Lives thus uniting gains the moreness by union with the other. As rhythmical vibrations and corresponding rarefactions and densifica- tions make this interchange of life possible, it is truly said that " harmonious vibrations are pleasurable." When, on the contrary, the impact of an external object causes a jangit! of vibrations in the envelopes of the im|)acted object— that is, when the materials are made to arrange themselves irregularly, moving in conflicting directions, striking themselves against each other — the contained Life is shut in. isolated, its normal outflowing rays are checked, inter- cepted, even turned back on themselves. This check to normal action is " pain," increasing with the energy of the in- driving, and the result of the driving-in process is " repulsion." Here, also, the more fully developed the Life, the greater the pain in this violent reversal of its normal action, and in the sense of frustra- tion that accompanies the reversal. Hence, i^in, " inharmonious vibrations are pain-
198 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
ful." Be it observed that this is true of a the sheaths, ahhough the astral sheati becomes specialised as the recipient of the class of sensations later called pleasurable and painful. Constantly, in the course of evolution, a general life-function thui becomes specialised, and a particular orgi is normally used for its exercise. Th^j astral body being the vehicle of desires..! the need for its special susceptibility toj pleasure and pain is obvious.
To return from this brief digression int the state of the envelopes to the germ consciousness itself : we shall find important to notice that there is herein no-^ " awareness " of an external object, no such awareness as is ordinarily conveyed by the use of the word. Consciousness, as yet. knows nothing of an outer and an inner, of an object and a subject ; the divine germ is now becoming conscious. It becomes consciousness with this chan^ of conditions, with this movement in 1 sheaths, this expanding and contracting, for consciousness exists only in, and by, change. Here, then, for the separated divine germ is the birth of consciousness j
CONSCtOUSNESS & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. I99
it is born of change, of motion ; where and when this first change occurs, there con- sciousness, for that separated germ, is bom. The mere clothing of this germ with successive envelopes of matter on succes- sive planes gives rise to these first vague changes within the germ that are the birthing of consciousness ; and none of us may count the ages which roll on as these changes become more defined, and as the envelopes become mare definitely shaped by the ceaseless impacts from without, and the no less ceaseless responsive thrillings from within. The state of consciousness at this stage can only be described as one of " feeling," feeling becoming slowly more and more definite, and assuming two phases, pleasure and pain— pleasure with expansion, pain with contraction. And, be it noted, this primary stale of con- sciousness does not manifest the three well-known aspects of Will, Wisdom, and Activity, even in the most germinal stage ; " feeling " precedes these, and belongs to consciousness as a whole, though iji later stages of evolution it shows itself so much in connexion with the W'ill-Desire aspect
200 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
as to become almost identified with it ; in the plural, as feelings, indeed, it belongs to that aspect, which is the first to arise as a differentiation within consciousness.
As the states of pleasure and pain become more definitely established in consciousness, they give rise to the three aspects : with the fading away of pleasure there is a continuance of the attraction in consciousness, a memory, and this becomes a dim groping after It, a vague following of the vanishing feeling, a movement — too indefinite to be called an effort — to hold it, to retain it ; similarly with the fading away of pain there is a continuance of the repulsion in consciousness, again a memory, and this becomes an equally vague movement to push it away. These states give birth to : Memory of past pleasure and pain, indicating the germination of the Thought-aspect ; longing to experi- ence again pleasure, or avoid pain, the germination of the Uesire-aspect ; this stimulating a movement, the germination of the Activity-aspect. Thus Conscious- ness is differentiated into its three aspects from its primary unity of Feeling, repeatingu
I CONSCIOUSNESS ft SELF- CONSCIOUSNESS. 20I
[in miniature the kosmic process in which I the triple Divinity ever arises from the
One Existence. The Hermetic axiom is ' here, as always, exemplified : " As above,
so below."
§ 3. Sklf-Consciousness.
Desire, thus germinated, gropes after pleasure, not, as yet. after the pleasure- giving object ; for consciousness is as yet limited within its own kingdom, is conscious only in the within, is conscious only of changes in that within. It has not yet turned its attention outwards, is not yet conscious even that there is an outwards. Meanwhile that outwards of which it is not aware is continually hammering at its vehicles, and most vehemently at its physical vehicle, the vehicle most easily affected from outside, and with most difficulty from within. Gradually the persistent and violent shocks from outside draw its attention in their direction ; their irregularity, their un- expectedness, their constant assaults, their unrelatcdness to its slow, groping move-
202 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
ments, their unexplained appearances and disappearances, are in opposition to its dim sense of regularity, continuity, of being always there, of slow surges of change rising and falling within what is not yet to it "himself"; there is a consciousness of difference, and this grows into a sense of a something that remains within a changing hurly - burly, a sense of a "within" and a "without." or, to speak more accurately, of a " without " and a " within," since it Is the hammering outside that causes the difference of "without" and "within" to arise in consciousness. " Without " comes first, if only by a fraction of time, because its recognition alone makes possible and inevitable the recognition of " within." So long as there is nothing else, we cannot speak of "within"; it is every- thing. But when " without " forces Itself on consciousness, " within " rises up as its inevitable opposite. This sense of a "without" arises necessarily at the points of contact between the continuing con- sciousness and the changing hurly-burly ; that is, in its physical vehicle, its physical
CONSCIOUSNESS & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 203
body. Herein is slowly established the awareness of " others," and with the
of this
others
i the
estabhshment of establishment also of "I," over against them. He becomes conscious of things outside instead of being conscious only of changes, and then he comes to know that the changes are in "himself," and that the things are outside himself. Self- consciousness is born.
This process of perceiving objects is a complex one. It must be remembered that objects contact the body in various ways, and the body receive* some of their vibrations by the parts differentiated to receive such vibrations. The eye, ihe ear, the skin, the tongue, the nose, receive various vibratory waves, and certain cells in the organs affected vibrate similarly in response. The waves set up pass to the sense-centres in the brain. and thence to the knowledge -senses in the astral sheath ; there the changes in consciousness take place which corres- pond with them, as explained in Chapter II., and they are sent on as these [i changes, the sensations of colour, out-
A STUDY IS CONSCIOUSNESS.
line, sound, form, taste, smell, etc., still as separate sensations, to consciousness working in the mental sheath, and are there combined by it into a single image, unified into a si ngle perception of an object This blending of the various streams into one, this synthesis of sensa- tions, is a specialty of the mind. Hence, in Indian psychology, the mind is often called "the sixth sense," "the senses, of which mind is the sixth."' When we consider the five organs of action in relation to the mind, we find a reverse process going on ; the mind pictures a certain act as a whole, and thereby brings about a corresponding set of vibrations in the mental sheath ; these vibrations are reproduced in the motor senses in the astral sheath ; they break it up, analyse it into its constituent parts, and these are accompanied with vibrations in the matter of the motor centres ; these, in turn, are repeated in the motor centres in the brain as separate waves ; the motor centres distribute these waves through the ner- vous system to the various muscles thai ' J3Aagavaii-GUd. xv. 7.
CONSCIOUSNESS & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 205
I must co-operate to produce the action. Regarded in this double relation the mind becomes the eleventh sense. " the ten senses and the one."'
§3. Real and Unreal.
With the change of consciousness into Self-consciousness comes the recognition of a difference which later, in the more evolved Self-consciousness, becomes the difference between the objective or "re;d" — in the ordinary western sense of the word — and the subjective or "unreal." and "imaginary." To the jelly-fish, the sea- anemone, the hydra, waves and currents, sunshine and blast, food and sand touching the periphery or the tentacles, are not "real," are registered only ;is changes in consciousness, as in truth they are also to the body of the human infant ; 1 say registered, not recognised, since no mental observation, analysis, and judgment are possible in the lower stages of evolution. These creatures are not yet sufficiently conscious of "others," to be conscious of ' Ihii. »ii. s.
2o6 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
"themselves ;" and they only feel changes as occurring within the circle of their own ill -defined consciousness. The external world grows into " reality " as the con sciousness, separating itself from it. realises its own separateness, changes from a vague. "am" into a definite "'/ am."
As this self-conscious " 1 " graduallyi gains in clearness of self-identification, of separateness, and distinguishes between^ changes within himself and the impact of external objects, he is ready to take the next step of relating the changes within himself to the varying impacts from outside. Then follows the develop- ment of Desire for pleasure into definite desires for pleasure-giving objects, followed by thoughts as to how to obtain them : these lead to efforts move after them when in sight, search for them when absent, and consequent slow evolution of the outer' vehicle into a body well -organised for movement, for pursuit, for capture. The desire for the absent, the search, the success or failure, all impress on the developing consciousness the difference
i
CONSCIOUSNESS & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 20?
between his desires and thoughts, of which he is, or can be. always conscious, and the external objects which come and go without any reference to himself, and with disconcerting irrelevance to his feelings. He distinguishes these as " real," as having an existence which he does not control, and which affects him without any regard to his likings or objections. And this sense of "reality" is first established in the physical world, as being the one in which these contacts between the "others" and the "I" are first recognised by consciousness. Self- consciousness begins its evolution in and through the physicat body, and has its earliest centre in the brain.
The normal man, at the present stage of evolution, still identifies himself with this bniin-centre of Self- consciousness, and is hence restricted to the waking consciousness, or consciousness working in the cerebro-spinal system, knowing himself as "I," distinctly and consecutively, only on the physical plane, that is. in the waking state. On this plane he is definitely self-conscious, distinguishing
2o8 A STUnV IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
between himself and the outer world, between his own thot^hts and outside appearances, without hesitation ; hence on this plane, and on this plane only, external things are to him " real," "objective," "outside himself."
On other planes, the astral and mental, he is, as yet, conscious but self-conscious ; he recognises changes within himself, but does not yet dis- tinguish between the self-initiated changes and those caused by impacts from without on his astral and mental vehicles.' To him they are all alike changes within himself. Hence all phenomena of consciousness occurring on super-physical planes— planes on which Self-conscious- ness is not yet definitely established — the normal, average man calls " unreal," " sub- jective," " inside himself," just as the jelly- fish, if he were a philosopher, would designate the phenomena of the physic plane. He regards astral or mental phena mena as the result of his " imagination/^ i.e., as forms of his own creating, and noi as the results of impacts upon his astral c mental vehicle from external worlds, subdei
CONSCIOUSNESS & SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. 209
indeed, but as ** real " and ** objective " as the external physical world. That is, he is not yet sufficiently evolved to have reached self-realisation on those planes, and thus to have become capable of objectivising there the external worlds. He is only conscious there of the changes in himself, the changes in consciousness, and the external world is consequently to him merely the play of his own desires and thoughts. He is, in fact, an infant on the astral and mental planes.
The Sub-Consciousness.
We have already noticed the fact that many activities of consciousness, once purposive, have become automatic, and have gradually sunk below the "threshold of consciousness." The processes which maintain the life of the body — such as the beating of the heart, the expansion and contraction of the heart, the processes of digestion, etc. — have all fallen into a region of consciousness on which the attention of consciousness is not fixed. And there are innumerable phenomena, not directly connected with the mainte-
' Much on these states will be found in the writer's published lectures on Theosophy and tlu New Psytlio- logy.
HUMAN STATES OP CONSCIOUSNESS. 211
nance of bodily life, which also inhabit this dim region. The sympathetic system is a storehouse of traces left by long-past events — events not belonging to our present hfc at all, but events that passed hundreds of centuries ago. that occurred in long-p;ist lives, when the JivaimS which is our Self was abiding in savage human bodies, and even in the bodies of animals. Many a causeless terror, many a midnight panic, many a surge of furious anger, many an impulse of vindictive cruelty, many a rush of passionate revenge, is flung up from the depths of that dark sea of the sub-conscious which rolls within us, concealing many a wreck, many a skeleton of our past. Handed down by the astral consciousness of the time to its physical instrument for putting into action, the ever-sensitive plate of the permanent atom has caught and photographed them, and has registered them in the recesses of the nervous system, life after life. The con- sciousness is off guard ; or a strong vibra- tion from anotlier strikes us ; or some event reproduces circumstances that start vibrations that arouse ; in one way or
2 12 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
another, the slumbering possibilities are awakened, and hurling itself upwards into the light of day comes the long-buried passion. There too hide the instincts which oft overpower reason, instincts that were once life-preserving efforts, or thfl- results of experiences in which our bodji*, of the time perished, and the soul regis- tered the result for future guidance.' Instincts of love for the opposite sex, out- come of innumerable unions. Instincts of paternal and maternal love, poured out in many generations. Instincts of self- defence, developed in countless battles. Instincts of taking undue advantage, offspring of numberless cheatings and intrigues. And yet again there lurk there many vibrations that belong to events, and feelings, and desires, and thoughts of our present life, experienced and forgotten, but lying near the surface, ready for upcall. Time would fail to enumerate the contents of this relic- chamber of an immemorial past, con- taining old bones fit only for the dust-bin,' side by side with interesting fragments earlier days, with tools still useful for our
I
F present needs. Over the door of the relic-chamber is written : " Fragments of the Past." For the sub - consciousness belongs to the Past, as the waking - con- Sciou!iness to the Present, as the super- consciousness to the Future.
Another part of the sub-conscious in us is composed of the contents of all the consciousnesses that use our bodies as fields of evolution — atoms, molecules, cells of many grades. Some of the queer spectres and dainty figures that arise from the sub-conscious in us do not belong to us at ail, but are the dim gropings, and foolish fears, and pretty fancies, of the Units of consciousness at a lower stage of evolution than our own, that are our giicsts, inhabiting our body as a lodging- house.
In this part of the sub-conscious go on the wars, waged by one set of creatures in our blood against another set, which do not enter our consciousness, save when their results appear as diseases.
Human sub-consciousness, working on ihc physical plane, is thus composed of very varied elements, and it is necessary
214 A STUDV IN CONSCIOUSSESS.
thus to analyse and to understand it. in order to distinguish its workings from those of the true human super-conscious- ness, which resembles the instincts in its sudden irruptions into consciousness, but differs entirely from them in its nature and place in evolution, belonging to the future while they belong to the past. These two differ as atrophied vestigial organs, record- ing the history of the past, differ from germinal rudimentary organs, indicatji the progress of the future.
We have also seen that consciousnesSf working on the astral plane, built up and is still building the nervous system for its instrument on the physical plane ; but this also does not form part of what is called the normal waking consciousness at this stage of evolution. In the average man, con- sciousness, working on the mental plane, is now building up and organising the astral body as its instrument in the future on the astral plane ; but this again does not form part of the waking-conscious- ness. What then is the human waking- consciousness ?
31
2. The Waking Consciousness.
Wll
1 ins
The waking-consciousness is conscious- less working on the menial plane and on iJie astral, using mental and astral matter as its vehicle, seated in the physical brain as Self-consciousness," and using that brain with its connected nervous system as its instrument for willing, knowing, and ting on the physical plane. In waking- Consciousness the brain is always active, always vibrating ; its activity may be stimulated as a transmitting organ from outside through the senses, or it may be stimulated by the consciousness from the inner planes ; but it is ceaselessly active, responding to the without and the within. In the average man, the brain is the only part in which conscious- ness has definitely become Self - con- .sciousness, the only part in which he feels himself as "1," and asserts himself
' See Cha)>tcr IX., ^ i, i, Tur the dilTeiiMict; between consciousness and Self Vt-, S 5, foi the exposition of Ihc physical conscious- nen, which muW not lie confused with waking-con-
2l6 A STUnV IM COVSCIOUSSESS.
as a separate individual uniL in all the rest of him consciousness is still vaguely groping about, answering to external impacts but not yet defining them, con- scious as to changes in its own con- ditions, but not yet conscious of "others" and "myself." In the more advanced members of the human family, consciousness, working on the astral and mental planes, is very rich and active, but its attention is not yet turned out- wards to the astral and mental worlds in which it is living, and its activities find their outer expression in Self-conscious- ness on the physical plane, to which all the outer attention in consciousness is turned, and into which is poured as much of the higher workings as it is capable of receiving. From time to lime, powerful impacts on the astral or mental plane create so violent a vibration in conscious- ness, that a wave of thought or emotion surges outwards into the waking con- sciousness and throws it into such furious motion, that its normal activities are swept away, submerged, and the man is hurried into action which is not directed
cted or coiti^^f
HUMAN STATES OP CONSCIOUSNESS. H?
trolled by Self-consciousness. We shall , consider this further when we come to the super-physical consciousness.
Waking - consciousness may then be defined as that part of the total conscious- ness which is functioning in the brain and nervous system, and which is definitely Self-conscious. Wc may conceive of consciousness as symbolised by a great light, which shines through a glass globe inserted in a ceiling, illuminating the room below, while the light itself fills the room above, and sheds its radiance freely in every direction. Consciousness is as a great egg of light, of which only one end is inserted into the brain, and that end is the waking - consciousness. As con- sciousness becomes Self-consciousness on the astral plane, and the brain dcvelopes sufficiently to answer to its vibrations, astral consciousness will become part of ' the waking -consciousness. Later still, when consciousness becomes Self- con- sciousness on the mental plane, and the brain developes sufficiently to answer to its vibrations, the waking - consciousness will include mental consciousness. And
ai8 A STUDY III COSSCIOUSSESS.
so on, until all tbe consciousness on our five planes has evolved to waking - con- sciousness.
This enlarging of waking - conscious- ness is accompanied with development in the atoms of the brain, as well as with the development of certain organs in the brain, and of the connexions between cells. For the inclusion of the astral Self- consciousness, it is necessar)- that the pituitary body should be evolved beyond its present condition, and that the fourth set of spirillae in the atoms should be perfected. For the inclusion of the mental, the pineal gland must be ren- dered active, and the fifth set of spirillse brought into thorough working order. So long as these physical developments remain unaccomplished, Self - conscious- ness may be evolved on the astral and mental planes, but it remains super- consciousness and its workings do not express themselves through the brain, and thus become part of the waking- consciousness.
Waking - consciousness is limited and conditioned by the brain so long as a man
OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 219
possesses a physical body, and any injury I to the brain, any lesion, any disturbance, I at once interferes with its manifestation. However highly developed may be a man's consciousness, he is limited by his brain so far as its manifestations on the physical plane are concerned, and if that brain be ill -formed or ill-developed, his waking - consciousness will be poor and restricted.
With the loss ol the physical body, the connotation of waking-consciousness changes, and that which is here said of the physical conditions is transferred to the astral. Wc may therefore enlarge our original definition to the general state- ment : waking-consciousness is that part of the total consciousness which is work- ing through its nutermost vehicle, that is. which is manifesting on the lowest plane ihen touched by that consciousness.
In the earlier stages of human evolution, there is little activity in consciousness on the inner planes except as stimulated from ihc outer ; but as Self - consciousness grows more vivid on the physical plane, it enriches with ever-increasing rapidity the
220 A STUDY IK COXSCIOUSlfESS..
content of consciousness on the inner ; consciousness, working upon its content,
rapidly evolves, until its internal powers far outstrip the possibilities of their mani- festation through the brain, and the latter becomes a limitation and a hindrance instead of a feeder and a stimulator. Then the pressure of consciousness on its physical instrument becomes at times perilously great, causing a nervous tension which endangers the equilibrium of the brain, unable to adapt itself with sufficient rapidity to the powerful waves beating gpon it. Hence the truth of the saying : "Great wits to madness near allied." Only the highly and delicately organised brain can enable the "great wits" to manifest themselves on the physical plane ; but such a brain is the one most easily thrown off its balance by the strong waves of these same " great wits," and this is "madness." Madness— the incapacity of the brain to respond regularly to vibra- tions — may indeed be due to lack or arrest of development, lack or arrest of brain organisation, and such madness is not allied to "great wits"; but it is a
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 221
significant and pregnant fact that a brain in advance of normal evolution, developing new and delicately balanced combinations for the enriched expression of conscious- ness on the physical plane, is the brain of all others that may most easily be disabled by the throwing out of gear of some part of its mechanism not yet sufficiently established to resist a strain. To this again we must return in considering the super-physical consciousness.
jj, Thk SupsR-PHirsiCAi. Consciousness.
Psychologists in the West have lately betaken themselves to the study of states of consciousness other than the waking ; these arc variously designated as " abnor- mal," "sub-conscious." " inconscient." and often as "dream-consciousness" — because the dream is the most generally recognised and universal form of other-consciousness. At first there was a tendency to regard these states as the result of disordered brain conditions, and this view is still largely held ; but the more advanced psychologists are out-growing this narrow
I
222 A STUDY rN CONSCIOUSNESS.
idea, and are beginning to study such states as definite manifestations of con- sciousness under conditions not yet un stood, but not necessarily disorderly ; som definitely recognise a " larger consciouSJ^ ness," a part only of which can find expression in the brain as at present evolved. In the East, this state of other- consciousness has for long ages been regarded as higher than the waking state, as that of the consciousness set free from the narrow limits of the physical brain, and acting in a subtler and more plastic and congenial medium. Dream has been regarded as one phase of this super- physical activity, and as a touch with higher worlds ; and means have been taken to arouse Self-consciousness in the dream-world, to set Self- consciousness, clothed in its higher vestures, free from the physical body at will ; so that, instead of the vague and confused answers to im- pacts from higher worlds in undeveloped dream states, Self-consciousness may be established therein with clear and definite vision. To effect this, Self-consciousness in its higher vehicles must be at first
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 223
removed from the physical body and made active on the astral plane ; for until it 1 knows itself out of the dense body, cannot separate out in the "dream" the extra-physical experiences from the chaotic fragments of physical experiences mixed up with them in the brain. As clear water poured into a muddy bucket becomes mixed up with the mud. so does an astral experience, poured down into a brain full of fragments of past physical happenings, become blurred, confused, incongruous.' Ea.stern psychology hence sought after methods of separating the Self-conscious- ness from its physical vehicle, and it is interesting to observe that these methods, wholly different as they are from those used in the West, and directed to the intensifying of consciousness, reduce the body to the same state of quiescence as that induced by physical methods in (he West, when the western psychologist betakes himself to the -study of other- consciousness.
Super -consciousness includes the whole ''Vhc xludcnl will do well to read carefully Mr. C W. Leadbeatct'i useful book on Vrtams.
224
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
of the consciousness above the waking- consciousness ; that is, all on the higher planes that does not express itself on the physical plane as Self-consciousness working through the brain. It Is therefore a great complexity, and covers a large number of phenomena. Dream, as said, is part of it ; so are all the workings of the astral consciousness asserting themselvi as premonitions, warnings, visions of hap^ penings distant in space or time, vague touches from other worlds, sudden intui- tions as regards character or events ; also all the workings of the mental conscious- ness, lower or higher, that appear as intuitive grasp of truths, sudden insight into causal connexions, inspirations — mental or moral— flashes of genius, visions of high artistic beauty, etc., etc. These irruptions of the super-consciousness into the physical plane have the character of unexpectedness, of conviction, of imperious authority, of lack of apparent cause. They are unrelated, or only indirectly related, to the contents of the waking-consciousness^; and do not justify themselves to it, bi simply impose themselves on it.
HUMAN STATES OK CONSCIOUSNESS. 225
To bring the super-consciousness into manifestation on the physical plane, it is necessary — in the early stages — to reduce the brain to inactivity, to render the sense-organs unresponsive to physical impacts, and, by expelling the conscious entity from the body, reduce that body to the state called trance. Trance is but the sleep-state, artificially or abnormally induced ; whether produced by mesmeric, hypnotic, medicinal, or other means, the result is the same, so far as the physical body is concerned. But the result on the other planes will depend entirely on the evolution of conscioustvcss on those planes, and a highly evolved consciousness would not permit the use of h3rpnotic or medicinal means — unless, peHnfH, of an anaesthetic for an operation — though such a one might allow, under exccptionaJ circumst«uu:cs, the use of roes- merism in producing the trance state: Trance may alio be produced by action from the higher planes, as by intense cooccntratioo uS thot^^ or by rapt Gontcmplitiaa of an object of devocioa, ■ d uring CKUMf. These are the mcaai
used from time immemorial by the R4ja Yogis of the East, and the exstasy of the Saint in the West is produced by this rapt contemplation ; the uance is indistinguishable from that produced by the means above referred to in the Sal- petri^re and elsewhere. The H4tha Yogis also reach this same trance condition, but by means much resembling the last named — by staring at a black spot on a white ground, at the point of the nose, and other similar practices.
But when other than physical vision and physical tests are used, how great is the difference between the super- physical con- ditions of consciousness in the hypnotised subject and in the Yogt. H. P. Blavatsky has well described this difference : " In the trance slate the Aura changes entirely, the seven prismatic colours being no longer discernible. In sleep also they are not all ■ at home.' For those which belong to the spiritual elements in the man, vis., yellow, Buddhi ; indigo, Higher Manas; and the blue of the Auric Envelope, will be either 1 hardly discernible or altogether missing; ^ The Spiritual Man is free during sleep,.]
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 2ZJSi
and though his physical memory may not i become aware of U. lives, robed in his ] highest essence, in realms on other planeSi ' in realms which are the land of reality, called dreams on our plane of illusion. A good clairvoyant, moreover, if he had an opportunity of seeing a Yogi in the trance state and a mesmerised subject side by side would learn an inijjortant lesson in Occultism. He would learn to know the difference between self-induced trance and a hypnotic state resulting from extraneous influence. In the Yogi, the "principles' of (he lower quaternary disappear entirely. Neither red, green, red-violel. nor the auric blue of the body are to be seen : nothing but hardly perceptible vibrations of the golden-hiied PrAna principle, and a violet rtame streaked with gold rushing upwards from the head, in the region where the Third Eye rests, and culminat- ing in a point. If the student remembers that the true violet, or the extreme end of the spectrum, is no compound colour of red and blue, but a homogeneous colour with vibrations seven times more rapid than those of the red, and that the golden
3 2S
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.'
hue is the essence of the three yellow lines from orange-red to yellow - orange and yellow, he will understand the reason why; he [the Yogi] lives in his own Auric Body, now become the vehicle of Buddhi-Manas. On the other hand, in a subject in an ■ artificially produced hypnotic or mesmeric • trance, an effect of unconscious when not of conscious Black Magic, unless produced by a high Adept, the whole set of the principles will be present, with the Higher Manas paralysed. Buddhi severed from it through that paralysis, and the red-violet Astral Body entirely subjected to the Lower Manas and K^ma ROpa."'
This difference in the appearance of the entranced person, as seen by the clear- seeing eye, is connected with a difference of immense importance in the after out- come of the trance. The Yogi, who thus | leaves the body, leaves it in full Self- consciousness, visits the higher worlds in full possession of his faculties, and, on returning to the dense body, imprints on the evolved brain the memory of his experiences. The little evolved person, 'TS? Seertt Doetn'ne. iii. 479, 480.
HUMAN STATES OT CONSCIOUSNESS. 339
entranced, " loses consciousness " ; when his Self-consciousness is not developed on the higher planes, his awareness is not there turned outwards ; he is practically as much asleep there, in the astral and I mental worlds, as he is in the physic^ I plane, and on awaking from the trance I he knows nothing of what has occurred ' during its continuance, either here elsewhere.
If. however, the subject be sufficiently evolved, as most people are at this stage of evolution, to be Self-conscious on the astral plane, then others may be profited by questioning him while entranced. For in the artificially induced trance state, wherein the brain is cut off from the normal action and reaction between itself and its environment, it becomes an instrument, however inadequate, of the super - physical consciousness. Isolated from its physical environment, rendered incapable of rcs[x)nding to its accustomed stimuli from outside, cut off from its lower attachments while remaining united to its higher, it continues to answer to the i impacts from above, and can do this the J
230
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
more effectively since none of its energi are running out into the physical plai This is the essence of the trance state. In the forcible closure of the avenues of the senses, through which its forces pour out into the external world, these forces remain available as servants of the super- physical consciousness. In the silence thus imposed on the physical plane, the voices of the other planes can make them- selves heard.
In the hypnotic trance, a quickening of the mental faculties is observed : memory is found to embrace a far larger area, for the faint pulsings left by far-off events become audible when the stronger pulsings from the recent are temporarily stilled ; people forgotten in the waking state are remem- bered in the trance ; languages known in childhood, but since lost, reappear; trivial events re-arise. Sometimes the perceptive powers range over a larger area ; distant occurrences are seen, vision pierces through physical barriers, far-off speech becomes audible. Fragments of other planes are also occasionally glimpsed, much mi.xed up with the thought-forms
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 23I
of waking hours. A whole literature exists on this subject, and can be studied i by the investigator.
It has also been found that the results i of deeper trance are not identical with those of the more superficial. As the trance deepens, higher strata of tlie super - physical consciousness manifest themst-'Ives in the brain. The famous case of Lconie 1., 11. and III. is well- known ; and it should be observed that L(5onic I. knew nothing of L^onic 1 1. and III.; that L^onie II. knew Ldonie 1. but did not know L^onie HI.; that L^onie III. knew both L^onie I. and It. That is, the higher knows the lower, while the lower does not know the higher — a most pregnant fact.
In the mesmeric trance, the higher phenomena are more ea.sily obtained than in the hypnotic, and. in this, very clear statements may be had of the phenomena of the astral and even of the mental plane— where the " subject " is well -developed — and sometimes glimpses are gained of past Itves.
When we see that the exclusion of
Q
232 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
the physical plane is the condition for these manifestations of the super-physical consciousness, we begin to understand the rationale of the methods of Voga, practised in the East. When the methods are physical, as in Ha(ha Yoga, the ordinary hypnotic trance is most often obtained, and the subject, on re-awakening, remembers nothing of his experiences. The method of the R4ja Yoga, in which the consciousness is withdrawn from the brain by intense concentration, leads the student to continuity of consciousness on the successive planes, and he remembers his super-physical experiences on his return to the waking state. Both in the West and in the East, the same cessation of waking-consciousness is aimed at, in order to obtain traces of the super- physical consciousness, or as the western psychologist would say, from the un- conscious in man. The eastern method, however, with thousands of years of experience behind it. yields results in- comparably greater in the realms of the super- physical consciousness, and estab- lishes, on the sure basis of reiterato
MESS. 233
expenences, ihe independence of con- sciousness as regards iLs physical vehicle. The exstiLsy and the visions of Saints, In all ages and in all creeds, afford another
I example of the irruptions from the "unconscious." In these, prolonged and
I absorbing prayer, or conttmplation, is the means for producing the necessary brain -condition. The avenues of the senses become closed by the intensity of the inner concentration, and the same Slate is reached spasmodically and involuntarily which the practiser of RSja Yoga seeks deliberately lo attain. Hence we find that devotees of all faiths ascribe their visions to the lavour of the Deity worshipped, and not lo the fact that they have produced in themselves a passive brain-condition, which enables the super - physical consciousness to imprint on that brain the sights and sounds of the higher worlds.
Prof. William James, in his Variflits of Religious Experience, points out that some of the most striking of these irruptions from the "unconscious" are cases of "sudden conversions." in which
234 A STUDV IK COKSCIOUSNESS.
a sudden thought, or vision, or voice, has changed at once and completely the whole course of a man's waking life. He rightly argues that a force, sufficiently powerful to produce such effects, cannot be lightly waved aside, or contemptuously ij(nored, by any serious student of human consciousness. This whole class of psychical phenomena demands careful and scientific study, and promises a rich harvest of results, as to the super-physical consciousness, to repay the serious investi- gator.
As against this view, however, it is urged that these facts are observed in connexion with morbid nervous states, and that the subjects are hysterical, over-excited persons, whose experiences are vitiated by their condition. In the first place, this is not always true ; the eastern Rdja Yogis are persons distin- guished for their calmness and serenity, and some of the cases of conversion have been those of worldly and capable men. Let it be granted, however, that in the majority of cases the nervous condition is morbid, and the brain ovi
vous I
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 3^5
' Strained, what then ? The normal brain is admittedly evolved to the point of resp physical world, and of transmitting these upwards, and of transmitting downwards mental and astral vibrations connected with these, from the higher vehicles. It not yet evolved to the point of receiving without disturbance very violent vibrations from the higher planes, nor of rcs[x>tiding at ail to the- vibrations set up in the subtler vehicles by the external phenomena of their own planes. Very
' violent emotions of joy, pain, grief terror, often prove too much for the normal brain, causing severe headache, hysteria, and even nervous collapse. It is, therefore, no wonder that the very violent emotion which causes what is called a conversion should often be accom|)anicd by similar nervous distress. The important point is, that when the nervous upset has passed, the effect — the changed attitude towards life — remains. The nervous disturbance
I is due to the inade([uacy of the physical brain to bear the violent and rapid vibra- tions dashing down upon it ; the perma-
236 A STfDV IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
nently changed aicttude is due to the steady pressure of the super- physical conscious- ness, continuously exerted. Where the super- physical consciousness is not suffi- dently developed to exert this continuous pressure, the converted person " falls from grace " as the surge of emotion ebbs away.
In cases of visions, and like phenomena, we have already seen that they may occur when a form of trance has been produced. But without this, such pheno- mena may occur, in cases where the brain is in a state of tension, either from some temporary cause, or from the fact that its evolution has gone beyond the normal. Strong emotion may increase the nervous tension to the point where response to direct astral vibrations becomes possible, and thus an astral happen i ng becomes visible or audible. The reaction from the strain will probably show itself as nervous disturbance. When the brain is more highly evolved than the ordinary brain, has become more complicated and more sensitive, astral happenings may be felt constantly, and this strain may well be
^ \
MAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 237 '
somewhat greater than the nervous system is quite fitted to bear, in addition to bear- ing the ordinary wear and tear of modern civilisation. Hence, again, hysteria and other forms of nervous distress are likely to accompany the visions.
But these facts do not take away from the importance of the experiences, as facts in conscioustuss. Rather, perhaps, do they increase their importance, as showing the way in which evolution works in the action of the environment on an organism. The reiterated impacts of external forces stimulate the growing organism, and ver)' often temporarily overstrain it ; but the ver)' .strain forces forward Its evolution. The crest of the evolu- tionary wave must always consist of abnormal organisms ; the steady, normal, safe, average organisms follow on behind ; they are most respectable, but per- haps not so interesting as the pioneers, and most certainly not so instructive as regards the future. As a matter of fact, the forces of the astral plane are constantly playing vigorously on the human brain, in order that it may dcvclopc as a fuller ,
A STUDY IN COMSCIOUSNESS.
vehicle of consciousness, and a sensitive brain, in the transitional state, is apt to be thereby thrown a little out of gear with the world of its past. 1 1 is probable that a good many activities to which thought is at present directed will, the future, be carried on automatically, J and will gradually sink below the thres- hold of the waking consciousness, as have done various functions, once performed purposively.
As these changes go on, the subtler vibrations must inevitably show themselves in an increasing number in the most deli- cately equilibrated brains, those which are noi normal, inasmuch as these — on the crest of evolution — will be those most'J capable of responding. Dr. Maudsleyi writes : " What right have we to believej Nature under any obligation to do herJ work by means of complete minds only? She may find an incomplete mind a more suitable instrument for a particular pur- pose."' And Prof James himself remarks : " If there were such a thing as inspiration
' Quoted in Prof. James's book, mentioned above, I), 19. For "mind" read '
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSN ESS. 2 39 -1
from a higher realm, it might well be that the neurotic tempemment would fiirnish the chief condition of the requisite recep- i tivity.""
When we once recognise that forces subtler than the physical must necessitate for their expression a more refined vehicle than the brain organised for the reception of the physical, we shall cease to be troubled or distressed when we find that the super-physical forces often find their readiest expression through brains that are more nr less t»ut of gear with the physical plane. And we shall understand that the abnormal physical symptoms ac- companying their manifestations in no way derogate from the value of these energies, nor from the importance of the part they will play in the future of humanity. At the same time the wish must naturally arise to find out some methtxl whereby these forces may be enabled to manifest themselves without risking the destruction r physical instrument.
This
way
has been found in the East
in the practice of K&ja Yoga, whereby the 'IM. P. 15.
240 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
safe exercise of the higher consciousness is sought by intense concentration. This concentration, in itself, developes the brain as an instrument for the subtler forces, working in the brain-cells in the manner already described in connexion^ with thought.' Moreover, it slowly opetij up the set of spirillse of the atom, next in order to those now in activity, and thus adds a new organ for the higher functioning. This process is necessarily a slow one, but it is the only safe way of development ; and, if its slowness be resented, it may be suggested as a reason for patience that the student is endea- vouring to ante-date the atomic develop- ment of the next Round, and he can hardly expect to accomplish this with rapidity. It is, however, this slowness of the Raja Yogic practices which renders them somewhat unacceptable to the hurrying West ; and yet there i other way to secure a balanced develop menl. The choice lies between this and the morbid nervous disturbances which accompany the irruptions of the super- 'SeeChapter VII. Si.
HUMAN STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 24 1
physical consciousness into an unpre- pared vehicle. We cannot transcend the laws of Nature ; we can only try to understand, and then to utilise them.
Let us now consider tne work of the Monad in the shaping of his vehicles,
when h(; has, as his representatives-- as himself on the third, fourth, and fifth planes — Atin4- Buddhi - Manas, with the causal bcxiy as the receptacle, the treasure- house, of the experiences of each incarna- tion.
At the close of each period of life, that is to say, at the end of each devachanic existence, he must stimulate into renewed activity the three successive nuclei of the bodies he is to wear during his next life-period. First, he arouses the mental nucleus. This arousing consists in increasinfj the flow of life through the spirilla:. It will be remembered that when the permanent units " went to
THB MONAD AT WORK.
life
243
the
sleep." the normal fl' spirillx lessened, and, during the whole period of repose, this flow is small and slow.' When the time for reincarnation arrives, this flow is Increased, the spirillae thrill with life, and the permanent units, one after another, behave as magnets, attracting round themselves appropriate matter. Thus when the mental unit is stimulated, it begins to vibrate strongly, according to the vibratory- powers^the results of past experiences — stored up therein, drawing towards and arranging round itself appropriate matter from the mental plane. Just as a bar of soft iron becomes a magnet when a current is sent through a wire encircling it, and as matter within its magnetic field will at once arrange itself round that magnet, so is it with the permanent mental unit When the life-current encircles it. it becomes a magnet, and matter within the field of its forces arranges itself round it and forms a new menial body. The matter attracted will be according to the complexity of the permanent unit. Not
' Se
8 4. i.
244
, STUDY IN CONSCIOUSMESS.
coarser natter be attracted, but the matter must also vary in the development of the atoms which enter into the formation of its ag^regalic lecules attracted
will be comf s the vibratory
energies of ' ^tical with, or
approach ne; e in tune with,
those of t unit Hence,
according of evolution
reached by the man, ■ be the develop- ment of the matter of his new mental vehicle. In this way, incarnation after incarnation, a suitable mental body is built up.
Exactly the same process is repeated on the astra] plane in the building of the new astral body. The a.stral nucleus — the astral permanent atom — is similarly vivi- fied, and acts in a similar way.
The man is thus clothed with new mental and astral bodies which express his stage of evolution, and enable what- ever powers and faculties he possesses to express themselves duly in their own worlds.
But when we come to the shaping of the body on the physical plane a new
RE MONAD AT WORK.
element appears. So far as the Monad is concerned, the work is the same. He vivifies the physical oucIl-us — the physical permanent atom — ^nd it acts as a magnet like its fellows. But now it is as though a man interfered with the attraction and arrangement of matter within a magnetic field ; the Elemental, charged with the duty uf shaping the etheric double after the model given by the Lords of Karma, steps in and takes contml of the work. The materials, indeed, may be gathered together, as a workman might carry bricks for the building of a house, but the builder takes the bricks, accepts or rejects, and sets them according to the plan of the i architect.
The question arises : Why this differ- ence .' Why, on reaching the physical plane, where we might expect a repetition of the previous processes, should an alien pf)wer take the control of the building out of the hands of the owner of the house ? The an-swer h'es in the working of the law of karma. On the higher planes, the sheaths express as much of the man as is developed, and he is not there working
24"^ A STCDV IN C0NSC10USNES.S.
out tV '. results of his past relations with others. Each centre of Consciousness, on those )lanes. is workinir within its own circle ; its directed towards
its own v( nly so much uf
them as is sed through the
physic ctly upon others.
These thers complicate
his lu i J plane, and the
particular physical it,, i that he wears durint; a particular life-period must be suitable for the working out of this com- plicated karma. Hence the need for the adjusting interference of the Lords of Karma. Were he at a point of evolution at which he entered into similarly direct relations with others on other planes, similar limitations of his power to shape his vehicles on those planes would appear. In the sphere of his external activities, whatever it may be, these limitations must present themselves.
Hence the shaping of the physical body is done by an authority higher than his own ; he must accept the conditions of race, nation, family, circumstances, demanded by his past activities. This
HE MONAD AT WORK.
limiting action of karma necessitates the building of a vehicle which is but f>artial expression of the working con- sciousness — partial, not only because of ] the shutting off of power by the coarse- ness of the material itsdf. but also because of the external limitations above referred to. Much of his consciousness, even I though ready for expression on the physical plane, may thus be excluded, i and only a sm;ill part of it may appear | on the physical plane ;is waking - con- sciousness.
The next point in connexion with this , building that we must consider is the special work of organising the vehicles as expressions of consciousness, leaving ' apart the general building by desire and thought, with which we are so familiar. We arc concerned here with details, rather than with broad outlines.
We know that while qualities are im[)arted to matter during the descent of the Second Logos, the arrangement of these specialised materials into relatively permanent forms belongs to His ascenL When the Monad, through his reflexion
24»
as t i Spiritual Mao. assumes some direc 'e power over bis vehides. be finds ^ "' "' ^ •" —— — *ioa of a form in whidi tcT\'ous system ts
fAayh it, and in which
the c v sot yet assumed
predi have to work up
a nur g links between
this r i which he inherits
and the centres wnicn iie must organise in his astra! body, for his future inde- pendent functioning therein. But before iiny in'I vehicle is [Kjssible, it is necessary to carry it to a fairly high point as a iransmilling vehicle, that is a vehicle through which he works down to his Iw)dy on the physical plane. We must distinguish between the primary work of the organisation of the mental and astral vehicles that fits them to be transmitters of part of ihe consciousness of the Spiritual Man, and the later work of developing these same vehicles into independent bodies, in which the Spiritual M an will be able to function on their respective planes. Hence there are two
THE MONAD AT WORK.
249 I
tasks to be performed : first the organisa- tion of the mental and astral vehicles as transmitters of consciousness to the physical body ; secondly, the organisation of these vehicles into independent bodies, in which consciousness can function without the help of the physical body.
The astral and mental vehicles, then, must be organised in order that the Spiritual Man may use the physical brain and nervous system as his organ of consciousness on the physical plane. The impulse to such use comes from the physical world by imjjacts upon the various nerve-ends, causing waves of nervous energy to pass along the fibres to the brain : these waves pass from the dense brain to the ctheric, thence to the astral, thence to the mental vehicle, arousing a response from the conscious- ness in the causal body on the mental plane. That consciousness, thus roused by impacts from without, gives rise to vibrations, which How down in answer from the causal body to the mental, from the mental to the astral, from the astral to the ethcric and dense physical ;
1
}
250 A STVDV m COKSCVXSXtSS^
the waves set up electric currents in the etheric brain, and these act on the dense matter of the nervous cells.
AI] these vibratory actions gradually organise the first inchoate clouds of astral and mental matter into vehicles which serve as effective fields for these constant actions and re-actions. This process goes on during hundreds of births, started, as we have seen, from below, but gradually coming more and more under the control of the Spiritual Man ; he begins to direct his activities by his memories of past sensations, and .starts each activity under the impulse of these memories stimulated by desire. As the process continues, more and more forcible direction comes from within, and less and less directive power is exercised by the attractions and repulsions of external objects, and thus the control of the buildin;; up of the vehicles is largely withdrawn from the without and is centred in the within.
As the vehicle becomes more organised, certain aggregations of matter appear within it, at first cloudy and vague, then
more and more definitely outlined. These " are the future chakras, or wheels, the sense-centres of t he astral body, as distinguished from the astral sense-centres connected with the sense-organs and centres of the physical body.' But nothing is done to vivify these slowly growing centres for immense periods of time, and the connexion of ihem with the physical body is often delayed, even after they are functioning on the astral plane : for this connexion can only be made from the physical vehicle, wherein the fiery force of Kundalini resides. Before Kun^alini can reach them, so that they can pass their observations on to the physical body, they must be linked to the sympathetic nervous system, the large ganglionic cells in that system lieing the points of contact. When these links are made, the fier)' current can How through, and observations of astral events can be transmitted fully to the physical brain. While they can only be thus linked with the physical vehicle, the building of them as centres and the gradual organisation . ' S«c Chapter vii. 9 s.
252 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSMESS.
of them into wheels, can be begun from any vehicle, and will be begun in any individual from that vehicle which repre- sents the special tj'pe of temperament to which he belongs. According as a man belongs to one typical temperament or another, so will be the place of the greatest activity in the building up of all the vehicles, in the gradual making of them into effective instruments of consciousness to be expressed on the physical plane. This centre of activity may be in the physical, astral, lower, or higher mental body. In any of these, or even higher still, according to the temperamental type, this centre will be found in the principle which marks out the temperamental type, and from tliat it works " upwards " or " downwards," shaping the vehicles so as to make them suitable for the expression of that tem- perament.
g 2. An Evoi.vmc Man.
A special case may be taken to facili- tate the understanding of this process — a
)
THE MONAD AT WORK.
aS3
temperament in which the concrete mind predominates. We will trace the Spiritual Man through the third, fourth, and fifth Root Races. When we look at him at work in the third Race, we find him very infantile mentally, even though the mind is the predominant note of his type. The surging life around him, that he can neither understand nor master, works strongly upon him from outside, and powerfully affects his astral vehicle. This astral vehicle will be retentive of impres- sions, in consequence of the temperament, and the desires will stimulate the infantile mind to efforts directed lo their satis- faction. His physical constitution differs from that of the fifth Race man : the sympathetic system is stil! dominant, and the cerebro ■ spinal system subordinate, but parts of the sympathetic system are beginning to lose much of their effective- ness as instruments of consciousness, belonging, as such instruments, to the stage below the human. There are two bodies in the brain especially connected with the sympathetic system in their inception, although now forming part of
254 A STOW SM
the c ebro-spinal — the pineal gbnd and the I iitary- bodjr. They fflostiate the way in ^fci*4i « •■— • «f the body may functi K an early stage,
may use and function
little, if k later stage of
evolu RMtmiilated by a
hightr rfi win give it a
new use l a higher stage
of evolution.
The development of these bodies befongs to the invf.-rtebrat*; rather than to the vertebrate kin[(dom, and the "third eye" is spoken of by bioiofjists as the "invertebrate eye." It is, however, still friiind, as an eye among vertebrates, for a snake was lately found in Australia which showi^d on the top of the head a peculiar arrangement of semi-trans- parent scales ; when these were cut away a complete eye was found under- neath --- an eye complete in its parts although not functioning. That third eye was functioning among the Lemurians in the vague and general way characteristic of the lower stages of evolution, and specially characteristic of the sympathetic
system. As our man advanced from the Lemurian into ihe Atlantean Race, the third eye ceased to function, the brain developed round it. ;ind it became the appendage now called the pineal gland. As a Lemurian, he had been psychic, the sym])aiheiic system being largely affected by the surgings of the undeveloped astral body. As an Atlan- tean. he gradually lost his psychic powers, as the sympathetic system became sub- ordinate and the cerebro- spinal grew! stronger.
The growth of the cerebro-spinal system J would be more rapid in this Atlantean than in those of other temperaments, because the main activity would be in the concrete mind, and would thus stimu- late and fjishion it ; the astral Ixjdy would lose its predominance sooner, and would become more rapidly a transmitter of | mental impulses to the brain. Hence, when our man piissed on into the fifth Race, he would be peculiarly ready to take advantage of its characteristics : he would build a large and well-proportioned . brain ; he would utilise his astral chiefly
256 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
as a transmitter, and would build his chakras from the mental plane.
%$. The PrTUJTARV Body and Pineal GLAHSbl
To return to the second of the two bodies mentioned above — the pituitary body. This is regarded as developed from a primeval mouth, in direct con- tinuity with the alimentary canal of the invertebrates. It ceased to function as a mouth in the vertebrates, and became a rudimentary organ ; but it has retained a peculiar function in connexion with the growth of the body. It is active during the normal period of physical growth, and the more actively it functions, the greater the growth of the body, In giants it has been found that this organ is peculiarly active. Moreover, the pituitary body sometimes again begins to function in later life, when the bony framework of the body is set. and then causes abnormal and monstrous growth at the free points of the body, hands, feet, nose, etc., giving rise to disfigurement of a most distressing kind.
THE MONAD AT WORK.
257
As the cerebro-spinal system became dominant, the earlier function of these two bodies disappeared ; but these organs have a future as well as a past. The past was connected with the sympathetic system ; the future is connected with the cerebro- spinal system. As evolution goes on. and the chakras in the astral body are vivified, the pituitary body becomes the physical or)|;an for aslnU. and later, for mental clairvoyance. Where too great a strain is made upon the ;isirai faculty of sight, while in the physical bo(Jy, inHammation of the pituitary body sometimes results. This organ is the one through which the knowledge gained by astral vision is trans- mitted to the brain ; and it is also used in vivifying the points of contact between the sympathetic system and the asiraJ body, whereby a continuity of consciousness is established between the astral and physical planes.
The pineal gland becomes connected with one of the chakras in the astral body, and through that with the mental body, and serves as a physical organ for the transmission of thought from one brain '
258 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
to another. In thought transmission the thought may be flashed from mind to mind, mental matter being used as the medium for transmission ; or it may be sent down to the physical brain, and by means of the pineal gland may be sent, via the physical ether, to the pineal gland in another brain, and thus to the receiving consciousness.
While the centre of activity lies in the dominant principle of the man, the con- nexion of the chakras with the physical body must be made, as said, from the physical plane. The object of this con- nexion is not to make the astral vehicle a more efficient transmitter to the physical body of the energies of the Spiritual Man. but to enable the astral vehicle to be in full touch with the physical. There may be different centres of activity for the build- ing up of transmitting vehicles, but it is necessary to start from the physical plane in order to bring the results of the activities of bodies functioning on other planes within the waking - consciousness. Hence the high importance of physical purity in diet and other matters.
icai J
THE MOKAO AT WOKK.
259
People often ask : How does knowledge gained on higher planes reach ihe brain, and why is it not accompanied by a memory of the circumstances under which it was acquired ? Anyone who practises meditation regularly knows that much knowlcdgtr that he has not gained by study on the physical plane appears in the brain. Whence comes it? It comes from the astral or mental plane, where it was acquired, and reaches the brain in the ordinary way above described ; the con- sciousness has assimilated it un the mental plane directly, or it has reached it from the astral, and sends down thought-waves as usual. It may have been communicated by some entity on the higher plane, who has acted directly on the menuU body. Bui the circumstances of the communication may not be remembered, for one uf two reasons, or for both. Most people arc not what is technically called "awake" on the astral and mental planes ; that is, their faculties are turned inwards, are occupied with mental processes and emotions, and arc not engaged in the observation of the externa] phenomena of those planes.
260
A STUDY IN CONSCIOOSHESS.
They may be very receptive, and their astral and mental bodies may easily be thrown into vibration, and the vibrations convey the knowledge which is thus given, but their attention is not turned to the , person making the communication, evolution goes on, people become mart and more receptive on the astral and mental planes, but do not therefore become aware of their surroundings.
The other reason for the lack of memory is the absence of the connecting links with the sympathetic system before mentioned. A person may be "awake" on the astral plane and functioning actively thereon, and he may be vividly conscious of his surroundings. But if the connecting links between the astral and physical systems have not been made, or are not vivified, there is a break in con- sciousness. However vivid may be the consciousness on the astral plane, it can- not, until these links are functioning, bring through and impress on the physical brain the memory of astral expriences. In addition to these links, there must be the active functioning of the pituitary body,
THE MONAD AT WORJ
which focusses the astral vibrations much as a burning glass focusses the rays of the sun. A number of the astral vibrations are drawn together and made to fall on a I)articular point, and vibrations being thus set up in dense physical matter, the further propagation of these is easy. All this is necessary for "remembering."
§4. Thk Paths or Consciousness.
The question arises : Does conscious- ness always travel along the same path to reach its physical vehicle ? Transits, we know, are sometimes made directly through the atomic sub-planes from plane to plane, and sometimes by passing through each sub-plane from the seventh to the first before reaching the atomic sub- plane next below. Which of these [laths does consciousness follow? In its normal working, in the ordinar)' process of think- ing, the wave comes steadily down through each successive sub-plane, from the mental through the seven astral sub-planes to the physical etheric, and so to the dense ner- vous matter. This wave sets up electrical
262
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
curren s in the etheric matter, and these affect Jie protoplasm of the grey cells. But w den the peculiar flashes of con- lashes of genius, tive ideas which a flash as comes n out of a great :nly springs forth law — then the
puurs A'nward through
the atomic sub - planes only, and thus reaches the brain. This is the illuminative idea which justifies itself by its mere appearance, like the sunli gain ill compelling power by any process of reasoning. Thus reasoning comes to the brain by the successive sub-planes ; authoritative illumination by the atomic sub-planes only.
SCIOUSI
1 c
or as
51
flash ..,
tl:
to the
mass (
the ui
'U
consciousness