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
these
experiences
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
we
must
join
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.
