ATONEMENT

—

LESSON 161

Atonement for sin can only be made by the Christ . the Christ

who hangs on the cross of suffering throughout a Maha yuga . a great

cosmic age-the cross made by the crossing of the fine of matter by the

~line of spirit. Atonement for personal sin is made by the soul . the

vehicle of the Christ . almost continuously throughout the earth lives

of the individual ego. When the desire of the soul for obedience to the.

Divine Law has overcome the desires of the body to break that Law

for the purposes of sense gratification an entire change has taken place

in the lower nature. The process of overcoming has resulted in an at-

one-ment of the individual soul with the Oversoul.

To atone means to blot out, and in the process of blotting out, or

atoning for an evil deed, there first occurs a neutralizing of the

currents of force which have been set up in the aura of the man by the

energy freed in the commission of the evil deed. As one chemical

[TT 404] may change the entire character of a substance composed of

several other chemicals, so the action of one high attribute may

neutralize or overcome the effects of the action of several low

qualities in the nature of man, thus changing the whole character of

the man, regenerating him, as it were.

No man can atone for the sin of another man, but he may be able

to gave such help to another in some life crisis as to enable that other

to throw open his closed heart to the call of his Higher Self, thereby

arousing the action of divine forces which in turn will reach in the

aura of the first man and thus make the latter a partaker in the good

effects resulting from the action of the divine forces which have been

brought into manifestation as a result of his helpfulness.

The Christ on the cross, of every human being, must descend into

Hades at some point of its evolution, in order to bring back to normal

conditions the soul that has been plunged therein as an effect of the

evil deeds of its lower self. In other words, Divine Love must reach

down into the heart of man, conquer and regenerate the man, before he

can appreciate the enormity of his offenses against Divine Law and

forgive himself for the sans committed against himself, and

forgiveness must be obtained to complete at-one-ment.

...

FRESH AIR

—

LESSON 162

No student of life and its various aspects can fait to observe the

cyclic action of its every phase of operation. In law, in ethics, in polity

and religion, action and reaction occur cyclically. Laws are made in

one period only to be repealed or ignored in a succeeding period. One

school of medicine, or architecture, one method of education, one

fashion gives way to another, and after a definite period returns

accentuated in some degree. One period of pronounced reform on

ethical lines will give way to indifference and license, and again there

will return a wave of excessive virtue. No matter how trivial any

phase of life may appear to observing eyes, the cyclic law governs its

advent, its obscuration, and again its appearance.

It is only within a comparatively short period of the present era

that the importance of fresh air in the cure and prevention of disease

has become universally accepted, and yet new discoveries in science

are now accountable for a reversal of some of the more generally

[TT 405] accepted ideas, in some degree ; and as the newer theories

gain ground, fear of the effects of impure or devitalized air will

decrease and other remedies for those diseases, now supposed to be

found only to gave way in their turn the apparent truth of later

scientific discoveries is a spiritual truth which may be discerned by

observing the law of correspondence and it will be found to be far

more reliable than any findings of modern science.

The preventative as well as the curative effects of pure fresh air

are primarily dependent upon the moisture in the air, which acts as a

vehicle for one of the finer forces of nature. Moisture is the result of

the combination of hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen ; the ultimate bases

of these Bases are magnetism and heat. In overheated air the moisture

is decreased and the magnetism and electric heat are inhibited to a

great degree upon which all physical life depends. You have only to

watch the drying up of material objects in an overheated apartment to

gain some ides of the effect of artificially superheated air on the

human body. An extra amount of the moisture of the body is drawn to

the surface and even if not apparent as sweat, under right conditions

may be seen a constant throwing off of minute particles-vehicles of

magnetic energy, whereby the very life principle is escaping the leash

of skin and mucous surfaces, thus rendering the whole body more

subject to the encroachment of disease germs and gradually destroying

its power of resistance.

The life principle is a fine electrical force by means of which the

magnetism and heat of the body are maintained and the Bases of

hydrogen and oxygen are combined in the fluids of the body. When

the air is unnaturally overheated or vitiated and therefore when the

normal temperature of the body is changed or interfered with as a

result of unnatural heat on or by the action of the germ noted, the

dispersal of the carboniferous deposits left in the brain and blond as

the result of the normal action of the burning up of the deleterious

elements or their by-products in the blond is interfered with and these

by-products cannot escape from the body. These carboniferous

deposits are sometimes so gross they may be seen by the naked eye

trained to distinguish them.

So much for the physical effects of unnatural heat and weighted

air but there remains a more important effect which is not so easily

modified or destroyed as is possible in the case of the air.

As before noted, the law of correspondence will furnish the wise

man a measure of knowledge not obtainable by those ignorant of the

[TT 406] action of the said law. You are doubtless aware of the effect

induced by excessive heat upon the mind. The processes of thought

are sadly interfered with during a period of even natural excessive

heat ; something approaching a comatose condition obtains in many

instances. The mental bodies of those so affected are robbed of their

life principle, the finer form of energy which in turn is the base of

bodily heat and magnetism, at the same time that the body is robbed

and weakened ; and the deliberate yielding of the body to conditions

which enervate and disease that body, is a species of suicide. The soul,

the vehicle of the spirit, may be thus compelled to cease its normal

action on the mental body, and the whole man, body and soul is thus

incapacitated to a greater or less extent.

You may say that similar results may be obtained by other means,

but I assure you any similar effect has been produced by similar

means no matter how far apart the original causes may seem to be.

The blood is the vehicle of the life principle, and the blood is entirely

dependent upon the vehicle of the finer forces . the air . for

purification, as the finer forces must have a vehicle for transmission.

Whatever the form of disease or injury the body may suffer, recovery

is dependent upon the degree of purity the blood is maintaining.

Excessive anger, hatred, and all their brood of devils also

superheat the blood and bring on conditions of body and mind similar

to those produced by ill . ventilated apartments or by the maintenance

of excessive heat within the same.

...

SOUND AND LIGHT

—

LESSON 163

Until some of the most important features of occult research are

possible of expression in words, inexperienced students will continue

to be confused by misleading or insufficiently expressed statements

given out by false or by misinformed teachers. Only the highly

developed, trained occultist can understand the difficulties in the way

of expressing such planes or states of matter and energy as have no

material correspondences. Such an occultist is in a similar position to

that of a musician who endeavors to give in words some idea of a tone

of higher or lower vibration than the tones now audible to the human

ear. When the etheric vibration which has produced a sound [TT 407]

has been raised to that of light it can be manifested by electric energy ;

but if one should try to express an idea of the intermediary vibratory

waves between those of sound and light he is handicapped by the fact

that there is no way of illustrating them by natural or mechanical

means on the material plane, and yet those intermediary vibrations or

planes, part sound, part light, are as real and necessary to the whole

scheme of creation as are those of higher vibration.

It is extremely difficult for the untrained psychic to distinguish

between or even to locate the sounds or words set free on the

intermediary planes and heard by the psychic ear, for unless the

instrument or voice is perfectly familiar and rightly located, words or

sentences may be easily confused with or lost in those uttered by other

persons on other intermediary planes than the one where the first

heard sounds were set free. It is this fact that gives rise to the wrong

impressions held by those who frequently hear single sentences by

means of the psychic sense of hearing . perfectly sane, intelligible

sentences . but followed by meaningless words of strange sounds

which have no connection with those first heard. Such experiences

naturally drive the unenlightened listener into the belief that he is

suffering from some hallucination or other mental disturbance. If he

knows that such phenomena are perfectly natural he is spared such

anxiety. He is in a similar position to that of a man located in one

room, and trying to catch the details of some story being told in

another room by other story tellers who are relating entirely different

tales. Under such circumstances he could only catch an occasional

sentence of the story he desired to hear, and in the intervals many

entirely different voices and sounds must fall on his ear, much to his

confusion. The trained occultist would know by the degree of energy

set free in the sounds which reached his inner ear exactly how far

distant from the speaker he was, and under what conditions the words

were spoken. He could shut off the sounds coming from other planes

so entirely by the interposition of will power that he would not lose

the continuity of the sentences to which he desired to listen.

One grievous mistake is frequently made by untrained psychics in

relation to sound and sight. Orthodox religious teachers make no

reference to more than two or at most three planes of existence, which

they name the Earth, Heaven and Hell, while there are in truth 49

planes and sub-planes. According to general belief, a sentence

psychically heard by a living person on this earth must come from

either Heaven or Hell, if it is not the result of incipient insanity.

The illustration previously given of the person hearing voices

from many rooms, when trying to applies equally to partial

conversations audible to the psychic ear when both speaker and

listener are on the earth plane. An actual psychic conversation may be

psychically held between two people living at the same time on this

earth plane, while no word of it be audible to others.

It is not generally understood that different etheric vibrations of

sound and light affect different organs of sight and hearing. The

sensory centers of the astral and Kama Manasic bodies record sights

and sounds which are invisible and inaudible to corresponding centers

of the physical body. A sudden impulse to action on the physical plane

may be, and often is due to a suggestion recorded in some interior

sensory centre and reflected back to the corresponding centre of the

physical body, while the person receiving and acting upon the said

suggestion may be totally unaware of its source.

The average untrained person is convinced that there is nothing

for him to learn on this subject, or is too indolent or hypercritical to

submit to the rigid training essential to real advance, so he goes on

from day to day seeing his hard won findings of one day contradicted

by some life experience the next day.

But occasionally there is some sincere, earnest student who is

able to grasp a half concealed truth of occultism and use it as a key to

open some wide vista of knowledge that will lead him to the feet of a

great teacher. To such an one "the path" will open.

...

THE CROSS OF BALANCE

—

LESSON 164

You would have no condemnation for a man who could not raise

a paralyzed arm to protect himself, or for the mentally over-balanced

man who was unable to give the right valuation to words spoken in

warning, so why be impatient with or condemn the psychically

paralyzed or overbalanced who willfully deride or ignore those

symbolic messages which the rapid vibratory action of modern life has

drawn forth from inner spheres, or the messages which the Elder

Brothers in anguish of soul are forced to deliver by action of the

higher law ; why turn into ridicule the words of the man who listens

and heeds, but who misinterprets or misrepresents those messages

because the psychic centers of his brain have been unduly under-

developed or over-developed, in other words one whose senses,

psychic and physical, [TT 409] are not perfectly correlated or

balanced, and consequently who sees or hears all psychic phenomena

from an exaggerated point of view ?

The perfectly balanced man or woman is an anomaly in the

present age and if you are at all acquainted with yourselves you will

know that the same is as true of yourselves as it is of your neighbor ; it

is only a matter of degree. The lace of balance is due to diseased or

abnormal organs of sense.

By even limited observation you cannot fait to see that there is a

large class of people who impatiently reject, deride and ridicule, or

who become wildly excited over prophecies of coming events and try

to frighten all they come in contact with into accepting their views of

the events foreshadowed. All of this class lose the advantages to be

gained by calm introspection and analysis of past events and present

indications. Sacred and profane history is full of accounts of the

climaxes in national and world-wide affairs, which cyclic law has

brought upon this planet repeatedly at set periods of time. The

repetition of such climaxes at the exact time of the closing of definite

periods of time surely supplies some basis for the belief that

corresponding climaxes must occur at the expiration of like periods of

time in the future, and therefore gives a reasonable basin for a fair and

unbiased examination of such messages as I have mentioned, no

matter how unreasonable or overdrawn they may appear to be at first

sight and hearing, as well as furnishes clues to the right interpretation

of the same.

Nature does not work by tremendous jumps from one state of life

to another. True growth is slow growth, and the character of great

crises or climaxes in the past is a good criterion for judging the

character of those to come.

The closing of a cycle in which one large continent was cast into

the depths of an ocean and a new one was upheaved brings to mind

the magnitude of the calamity prophesied to occur at the close of

another cycle of the same length of tune. Knowledge of the great law

of opposites would indicate the character of such calamity, as for

instance, a calamity occurring by water at one closing cycle would

give assurance of a corresponding calamity by fire at the close of

another period of the same length. By a knowledge of symbolism and

the law of cycles, every event, of individual, national or world wide

import, material or spiritual, may be safely predicted and consequently

may be prepared for.

The law of all laws . the law of balance, equilibrium . is of all

spiritual, as well as of physical laws, the most important. It is

irrevocable and all-wise ; upon it rests the stability of all life in

manifestation. [TT 410] It is the primal cause and the final effect of

the law of opposites, the law governing sex, and all forces in

opposition. Without its action there could be neither spiritual, psychic

nor material life in form.

The cross of balance represents the consummation, the

efflorescence, the final unity of all diversified life ; as for instance, the

disappearance of sex into sexlessness, the victory of the human soul

over all that has impeded its evolution. When a full realization of all

that may be represented by the symbol of the cross of balance dawns

upon the image . making center of the mentality of normal man, a

connection is made between the center and the center of the brain

through which the divine power of intuition manifests, and the

purpose, mode of motion, and incalculable importance of the action of

the law of opposites become clarified, as to the necessity of which the

mind has been hitherto confused.

As a general thing it is at such a moment in the life experience of

a man that a realization comes to him of the absolute necessity. of

attaining to a point of development where he cannot be swayed by the

opinions, experience or desires of any other being, human or spiritual ;

the necessity of forming a decided plan or object in life, and refusing

to be turned from or swayed against it. At a later is another equally

important point of attainment to be gained, without which the first

mentioned may become a lasting curse instead of the blessing it is

intended to be according to divine purpose.

To you, my children, you, who are of my own essence, I say

again and yet again, labor with a whole heart for the attainment of the

power of balance-never forgetting that there can be no rise which does

not spring from a level beneath, and that the level beneath holds in

itself the energy, the impulse, to rise. Take advantage of that energy

each time a lower level is struck instead of permitting yourselves to

sink lower down, and there will be for you higher and higher points of

attainment to be reached. The cross of balance will become the crown

of all knowledge and power when the balance is struck, the last point

of attainment won and held.

...

GENIUS VS. MADNESS

—

LESSON 165

That genius is allied to insanity in some mysterious way is

generally accepted although the intermediate degrees between genius

and [TT 411] insanity as these terms are understood, as well as the

line of demarcation between the two, may be differently construed. If

the law of balance is applied to any problem presented to the mind, as

may be done in this problem, at least some measure of solution may

be obtained.

A limit is fixed by natural law to the degree of evolution possible

of attainment by man during a predetermined cycle of time ; and if

this limit is exceeded, whether it is by a center of mind or of body, the

right balance between the constituent parts is disturbed and the over

developed center then becomes an abnormal center. In such an

instance some degree of insanity ensues, and this degree is governed

by the measure of loss sustained by the other constituent parts of the

mentality or body as the case may be. No composite form of matter,

no creature belonging to one ray or group soul can pass beyond the

point of development set for the matter or mind of all the constituent

creatures of that group soul by evolutionary law for a definite period

of time, without losing in the end.

The length of that period is determined by the strength and power

of the aspiration which gave the first impulse toward a specific end.

For instance, the indwelling elemental soul of a tree belonging to a

certain family group of trees could not change the form and

characteristics of that tree or force its evolution into any other

kingdom of nature during the period set by natural law for the

perfecting of the one division of trees to which it belonged without

breaking the law of evolution.

If it were able to do so the once natural tree would become a

monstrosity, neither a tree nor any other natural object ; yet if a higher

ideal actuated the elemental, and its own growth were commensurate

with that of the tree, at the commencement of another cycle of

evolution, when a new vibratory impulse had been given the whole

group to which both elemental and tree belonged, the more potent

forces set free would all tend toward the accomplishment of the

desired change in a natural and therefore more satisfactory manner.

There would then be a rise instead of a fall in the scale of its life.

The same laws obtain in the case of a genius . the result of an

over developed brain center. During some previous cycle of

incarnation the soul of such an one must have developed an

overweening desire or ambition in some one direction and the result

has been the unbalancing of all the brain centers of its vehicle in a

succeeding incarnation, for one center would be unnaturally

developed, while the others would be depleted. It should be

remembered that the Skandas . the effects of action . do not die with

the body, they await the soul on [TT 412] its return from Devachan

and become identified with the new personality. Here as elsewhere

may be seen the necessity for cultivating wisdom and knowledge, and

thereby dominion over the principle of desire, in other words,

cultivating the power to conform to the Divine Will as it is expressed

in the evolutionary law.

The command, "Thou shalt not steak" is first of all addressed to

the human soul, for the soul may commit a theft by inciting one brain

center to supernormal activity at the expense of another; and here may

be found the solution of the mystery behind the seemingly over-severe

punishment meted out to thieves in olden times, even death. The soul

that persisted in robbing many brain centers of needed power for their

development for the benefit of one center would literally compass the

final annihilation of the body, for in its last analysis death is the

dissociation of atoms, organs or states of consciousness.

Insanity being the negative pole of sanity, and primarily due to

lack or loss of balance, it would follow that the over-balancing of one

brain center by an unnatural increase of force at a period when only

sufficient force was available for the normal development of all the

brain centers, would result in disaster in some degree to the whole

entity.

...

LODGE AGENTS

—

LESSON 166

[The following is a Master's reply to a question concerning Lodge

Agents] :

You have been asked why you and others who have been placed

in positions similar to yours in the past should be compelled to fight

the demons poverty, ill health, slander and vilification.

There are three reasons based on karma, reincarnation and

compensation :

1st. To have reached a state of psychic and spiritual development

which would enable one to do the work expected of such an one,

he or she must have passed through and won out of every phase

of evil during many earth lives, thereby creating karma which

must be expiated, and that karma is not fully expiated until

manifestation in flesh is no longer absolutely required. The closer

that period of release approaches the fiercer grows the combat

'twixt good and evil, thus precipitating past karmic action more

rapidly. [TT 413]

2nd. Self protection has been the controlling power until the

revelation of the unity of life dawns on the soul. Subsequently,

responsibility for others, incessant labor in the cause of those

others becomes the dominant purpose, but with the taking up of

that burden the responsibility is divided and opportunity is then

given those who are being benefited to pay back some of their

own back karma.

3rd. Lodge Agents are not found among the physically perfect,

wealthy and powerful of the earth. Their time is not yet. They are

"testing stones" for those they are sent to help, as well as debtors

to still unexpiated karma. They are not yet Masters, but are farther

on the road to mastery than are the majority of mankind.

...

CONDENSATION AND DIFFUSION OF MATTER

—

LESSON 167

The method and process by which an architect drafts the design of

a house on parchment corresponds to the method by which nature

drafts and fixes the design or form of man, animal, plant or mineral on

the etheric substance of a world or a system of worlds.

The utensils used for the drafting in one case would appear to be

very different in character and form from those used in the other, but

if we were able to perceive the ultimate character of the substance

used in the drafting of the design, we would find it the same in both

proceedings.

Universal mind is the real architect, whether its differentiations

manifest in nature or in man. The base of the substance used in the

mere mechanical act or the natural process of recording the design,

whether the record be made on ether or parchment, is stored up pranic

energy, the vehicle of Light.

Gross matter as viewed from the heights of life is but the refuse

cast off from spiritual substance in its descent from the plane of pure

spirit. It is a well-known fact that the atomic base of every molecule of

matter which forms a physical body, sloughs off, changes, its outer

envelope-the epidermis of the molecule, so to speak, every seven

years.

In exact correspondence there is a sloughing off, a periodical

change, in the enveloping medium of every atom of the lower astral

body, and in the processes of each change there is either an expansion

and diffusion, or a condensation and refinement of such media,

according [TT 414] to whether the change be made in an evolutionary

or involutionary period of the cycle of manifestation, as is also the

case with all gross matter. These changes are precipitated by means of

the pranic force contained within such medium, and are directed by

the incarnated Egos of the period. During an evolutionary period this

sloughed off medium or substance reaches a slower rate of vibration

and becomes active as matter on the physical plane, as in the present

world period the refuse substance of a higher plane or state of

substance became the matter of our present physical world by means

of the action of the laws of expansion and diffusion.

What I have now said in no wise contradicts what I have

previously said on the subject of reflection, for it is by the power of

reflection that one state of matter or substance is conducted into

another state. A definite portion of the substance of your physical

body is used up by the energy of light each time a reflection of your

form is cast on any reflecting surface and chat reflection endures for a

definite period of time after the form which cast the reflection has

departed.

The power of the Initiate, by means of which he can form and

reform, can exude or withdraw any part or all of his astral form from

his physical body, has been won by him through his experience with

the phenomena of light and sound. The original design will persist in

the auric sphere of the Ego from the beginning to the end of the

manvantara in which the latter is periodically incarnating.

That design was originally made in the image of God, and the

same design is, metaphorically speaking, stamped within every

differentiated particle of substance, no matter how minute it be.

The Ego must build the substance contained in its auric sphere

into the requisite phase or part of the original design which requires

perfecting according to the race, kingdom and age in which that

particular portion of the design can develop.

Through the long ages passed during their descent into matter, the

incarnating Egos of the present manvantara have gradually recreated

the substance, the matter, now available for their use on the ascending

arc of the same cycle of manifestation. In other words, the action of

evolutionary energy impels the sloughing off, or changing of the

substance of the spiritual and astral vehicle of the Egos during each

period of their descent from spirit . pure energy . and that substance

has gradually become condensed, coarse enough to partake of the

nature of the animal, vegetable or mineral kingdoms.

Becoming reversed at the close of the evolutionary' period, the

involutionary aspect of the same energy came into action . the forces

of condensation and refinement-and from that period to the present ;

[TT 415] and as it will continue to act to the highest degree of the arc

of ascension . the top of the spiral round-matter has continued to

condense and refine and therefore to lose its grosser qualities, and

these processes will continue until the involutionary energy is

expended at the afore-mentioned top of the 'arc of ascension, when the

first mentioned processes of expansion and diffusion will again be

resumed, and a higher round of the cosmic spiral . a new manvantara

. will then commence.

During the period of involution the substance sloughed off from

the atomic bases of matter as before referred to, is condensing instead

of expanding as it has previously done, and the astral substance thus

re-created becomes lighter, more tenuous, and elastic. The elementals

formed of this substance become more active and persistent as time

passes, and the effect of their action on the human race of such a

period is more pronounced, and more difficult of control. It is partially

due to this fact that the sensual impulses, the temptations to extremes

in all fields of life, noticeable in the humanity of an involutionary

period, are so much stronger and more difficult to control than in the

humanity of an evolutionary period. Investigation will prove to you

that the sensual impulses, the acts of the humanity of even a few

hundred years ago were grosser in character and slower of execution,

the designs more massive in construction, than are similar impulses,

acts and designs of the present races of mankind, all of which are

largely influenced by the change in the character and substance of the

hosts of elementals embodied in the astral substance of all of nature's

kingdoms since the present involutionary period set in.

But little interest is felt by the second or third person to whom the

first person relates the vision of an astral visitant. Belief in the reality

of the same rapidly oozes out of the mentality of the former, if it ever

had admittance, and the seer of the vision also soon forgets or

disbelieves in the reality of the vision, unless he possesses the power

to visualize to physical eyes the form observed. If the process of such

visualizing were understood and the reality admitted as a scientific

possibility the power of faith would do much toward making such

phenomena very common, for the forces and methods used by nature

in expanding and diffusing spiritual energy in the first . or

evolutionary . period of a round of manifestation are in fact stored up

in the Ego of man. The highly developed Initiate has released those

stored up forces in himself, and therefore can condense or expand the

astral molecules which are the vehicles of the atomic bases-the sparks,

as these bases are termed in Oriental philosophy . at will, and can so

render his spiritual . Nirmanakaya . body perceptible [TT 416] even

to physical eyes, and can also make visible the astral foret of another

who is on the same line or circuit of life as himself, if it is necessary

for him to do so, although lie cannot hold that form in manifestation

for any great length of time in any given instance. But lie cannot

control the ego of another form without its consent. The Ego of the

form so called forth would remain quiescent in its own field of life

during the manifestation of the form, and so it would not be of much

more importance to draw forth such a form than it would to vivify a

picture and so reveal a presentment of a live person.

But the fact that the act itself is possible to man would

revolutionize modern science, for it would prove beyond power of

refutation the existence of a Fourth Dimension, which is at present a

subject for much controversy.

The truths that I have herein stated will be provable by the

scientist of another century, for the condensation and refinement of

matter is now proceeding so rapidly and methodically that

observations must inevitably be taken in some field where the changes

made in the constitution of matter will be so pronounced as to be

perceptible to the human eye under the microscope. And the general

acceptance of the facts thereby deduced must set at rest the present

uncertainty as to the persistence of life after the change termed death.

...

THE LAW OF RHYTHM

—

LESSON 168

The idea of connecting the law of rhythm with the law of cycles

would not occur to the average thinker, yet they are elder twin sons of

the universal Father-Mother-Motion. Every vibration of all the matter

of the four kingdoms of nature moves in perfect rhythm-in

unconscious devotion to divine law. However minute the atom,

molecule, cell or organ of force or substance the Fohatic energy which

has forced it into outer expression has set up a swing to and fro,

inward and outward, in exact measure at its ultimate centre. If that

measure is broken there is a change in the constitution of the force or

substance involved. If the measure is increased or decreased beyond a

certain marked degree an unnatural condition obtains, unnatural as far

as the object is concerned; for instance, if it were possible for man to

increase the mass motion common to the cells of the heart [TT 417]

beyond a certain definite degree that heart would disappear entirely

from the physical body as far as the physical senses are concerned. If

the motion was decreased the effect would be as pronounced, but

instead of the form of a heart being manifest to the psychic senses on

the higher astral plane, as would be the case in the first instance, it

would only be manifest to the same senses on the lower astral; and

what is true in relation to the heart is equally true of every atom of

matter.

One difference between the Cyclic law and the law of Rhythm

lies in the different directions-courses-taken by the energy or the

object in the accomplishment of a given purpose. The Cyclic law

directs certain forms of energy and matter in a circular course;

Rhythmic law impels the degrees of matter it acts within to a forward

and backward motion and sets the bounds of movement. Cyclic law

directs energy into required circular channels; the law of Rhythm

directs the course of force-and substance-within those channels.

In music we have the best illustration of the action of the law of

Rhythm. Cyclic law governs Time; the law of Rhythm governs the

length of the intervals between tones. Cyclic law determines the

length of the life of a man; Rhythmic law directs the qualities active in

the intervals between the definite changes in that life, as, for instance,

the direction of the changes occurring in the intervals between

infancy, youth, middle age, and old age. The Rhythmic law directs the

act of breathing by its to and fro action on the cells of the breath

centers; the Cyclic law directs the course of the constituents of the air

drawn into the lungs by breathing and the course of the blood stream

as it enters and leaves the heart, and it does so as completely as it

directs the course of the planets in their orbit around the sun.

These homely illustrations of the action of these two great

universal laws may be confusing to young students, but it is only by

bringing complex truth into concrete examples that it is possible to

give the mentality a form it is capable of cognizing and therefore

capable of using to solve some of the mysteries of the constitution of

matter from the interior as well as the exoteric standpoint. The

breathing of the advanced neophyte is purposely and intelligently

regulated by means of his knowledge of the action of Rhythmic laws,

for the accomplishment of a definite end. Once the mysteries of the

Cyclic and the Rhythmic laws are even relatively grasped the mystery

of the constitution of the substance-matter of the four lower of the

seven planes of life becomes less dense.

The slightly tinged sap of a sugar tree bears little resemblance to

the hard brown sugar formed by means of motion, imparted by

[TT 418] boiling. The consistency of the sap gradually changes

according to the intensity and time of the applied heat . vibration. The

various planes of matter are different degrees of condensation of the

ether . universal world sap ; condensed by means of the forty-nine

Fires into grosser or finer forms or degrees of substance, but all as

subject to the cyclic and rhythmic laws as are the objects of the before

given illustration.

You will find many more exact illustrations of these same truths

in other forms of literature, but when they are deprived of all

garnishment and technical terms they will convey the same basic

truths herein revealed.

It is not a difficult task to prove beyond cavil to one's own

consciousness the remarkable effect on the sense of feeling by

persistent use of a set form of rhythmic breathing, and thereby to gain

some concept of the effects produced by rhythm on a world or

universe which is constantly subject to the action of rhythm in every

atom of its form.

No matter how prolonged a sound may be there must occur an

interval between that sound and another sound of the same origin. If

your sense of sight is acute enough you will see the flash of light

which at once succeeds the sound and which fills the interval between

the two sounds. These flashes of light hold the key to the action of the

law of Rhythm. The ability to gauge the power of the energy Light .

thus precipitated and therefore to gauge the correct intervals . the

right rhythmic vibrations (when sound is to be used for accomplishing

some definite purpose by a trained occultist), gives the latter a

tremendous advantage over other men.

...

THE FOUR-FOLD WAVE MOTION OF MATTER, FORCE

AND CONSCIOUSNESS

—

LESSON 169

If not denied in toto by the materialist, the sights and sounds of

the astral and super-astral planes are mysteries and therefore

questionable and must remain so until such time as science will be

able to demonstrate their purpose and method of production.

Yet the key to such knowledge is attainable by, any earnest,

sincere student of life. That key lies in close observation of the action

of the law of correspondences. [TT 419]

Modern science now admits one fact which ancient science

demonstrated long ages agone, the fact that substance and force may

be conducted from one point to another in space by means of etheric

or atmospheric wave motion. Some day there will come an admission

and a demonstration of another fact, in effect, that the phenomena of

astral vision and hearing are governed by the same law as and are

transmitted by methods similar to, those which conduct the

phenomena of sight and hearing on the physical plane, namely, etheric

waves. If a piece of heavy metal is thrown into a body of water it will

sink to a depth commensurate with the weight and density of the

metal, and can only be cast upon the shore by a wave of tremendous

energy. If a piece of wood is cast on the same body of water it may be

floated to the shore by a light wave or ripple ; it will not sink to any

depth unless it is water soaked.

A reflection . a shadow or picture . cast upon the waves of the

etheric ocean by a predetermined act or thought takes a definite form

within a definite grade of substance. It will depend upon the density

and form, in other words, upon the degree of energy and the intensity

of concentration responsible for its creation as to which one of the

four planes, i. e., states of substance . that reflection will be finally

located in, and upon the force of its impact as to how long it will

remain fixed on that plane. The cyclic law which governs each wave

of matter, force and energy and therefore which governs the wave

motion of the Ether, decrees that by action of the law of repetition a

reflection of a first reflection . pictured form . shall be cast on the

crest of each outgoing or incoming wave according as the wave

travels to or from the Etheric plane. In other words, the form will be

repeated in other grades of substance on each one of the three planes

approaching to or receding from the physical, the manasic, or the

etheric planes.

With the development of psychic sight and hearing man

experiences, in some degree, conscious association with those

reflected forms when, metaphorically speaking, the hands of the

universal cyclic clock reach the came hour and minute the original act

was committed, in other words, when the energy set free in the

commission of the act reaches a similar degree of power again.

To simplify somewhat ; the form and the effects of an act

committed today at some particular moment or hour the interior senses

of the actor tomorrow, next years from now at a corresponding hour,

year, or which [TT 420] may observe a vision or hear language totally

unfamiliar to him in his waking hours. He may never again see or hear

a recurrence of the sight or sound in the one life cycle, yet if his soul

memory were awakened the scene of his vision and the words he has

heard would be perfectly familiar. He would know when and where he

had first contacted the people or scenes of his vision or heard the

sound. A vision of a scene, object or person may appear before the

interior eyes of a seer twenty-four hours after the original scene,

object or person on the physical plane has been observed. Possibly

some of the details, characteristics or objects may be changed, or new

ones introduced before the ending of the vision. In such instances

there has been a blending of two different scenes, an overlapping of

cyclic events. The nondescript character of the details, or the

grotesque or hideous malformations so frequently observed by

psychics are the results of just such cyclic overlappings, when, as it

were, differing scenes on the crests of two or more waves have come

into juxtaposition. In one respect such scenes correspond to the

composite pictures taken by photographers where the same negative

has been used for taking two or more exposures of different persons.

All these facts may be bewildering to the new student of

occultism, and all the more so if his philosophy has long been subject

to the ridicule of his friends ; but the earnest devotee will find many

clues to the language of symbolism in the foregoing paragraphs, the

substance of which has never been revealed to any other body of

western students. In particular I refer to the "four-fold wave motion of

matter, force and consciousness" herein partly revealed.

I have been asked why the visions of the night were so often

reproductions of the scenes witnessed during the day when there

seemed no reason or purpose for or in the same. The afore-mentioned

cyclic law controls the action of the substance of the astral plane as

well as that of the physical plane. The consciousness of the seer

becomes identified in some degree with the scene or object observed,

and in semi-consciousness or sleep he perceives the astral image of

the same by the interior sense of sight.

How such scenes or objects may become symbols for personal

application is a mystery until the student realizes that the identifying

of his consciousness with the scene or object by his observation of the

same in his waking hours, makes a definite astral connection between

himself and the scene or object, and as every thing or object in

manifestation in matter has a definite correspondence to every other

thing and object the one seen in vision bears a definite relation to

magnetic rapport with the scene or object at the moment of

identification by observation or contact. [TT 421]

It will invariably be found that the weight, i. e., the character and

motive of the act, will determine the depth . the place or plane within

which the effects of the cause . the act . are located, and therefore to

which plane the consciousness of the ego must ascend to witness or

reap the results of its action.

My main purpose in calling attention to these hitherto secret

details has been to help you to understand that height and depth,

weight and density are not confined to the phenomena of the physical

plane, therefore that the substance and force of the interior planes are

no more illusory than are material objects. What are termed the weight

and density of an object on the physical plane are increased or

decreased according to the rate of the vibratory action of the mass of

the object. A shadow is as truly a material thing as is the object which

cast the shadow, but it approaches in kind and character the matter of

the fourth dimension of space, which is without weight and density as

these terms are commonly understood on the plane of matter.

In its last analysis all matter and force is retarded motion, but so

long as the consciousness of man is fixed in matter of varying degrees

of mass motion he is dependent upon his knowledge of cause and

effect, method and purpose, in order to free himself from exterior

restraint and reach the wider consciousness.

...

THE TWELVE GATES

—

LESSON 170

Upon reading a description of the Temple built by Solomon,

according to a plan given in detail by Jehovah, the materialist would

give but little thought to the mystery of the Twelve Gates. To him they

are only entrances to a building, but to the Student of Occultism they

are duplicates, or correspondences, of the entrances to a living Temple

. the human body . as well as to a greater Temple on interior planes .

a Universal Temple. Each detail of the Temple holds the key to all the

mysteries of the division of life it represents and is. To no one detail

does more interest attach than to that of the Twelve Gates.

The Ego enters the first three of the Twelve Gates by means of

gross matter, form and lower mind. Through many incarnations in fact

up to the period when connection is made with the Soul – [TT 422]

Higher mind . the Pilgrim of Days gradually passes through the first

three gates of the Universal Temple. By means of instinct atone, the

reincarnating Monad makes its way through the three Kingdoms of

Nature until its form is ensouled in the third Root Race of Mankind

when, as a complete human being, he is prepared to enter the next

three gates. With a more refined body, increased brain capacity and a

soul, the passing of the next triad of gates fats him for Temple

Service. The first period of that service involves the development of

the latent qualities of ambition, endurance and devotion.

The third triad of gates is entered only by "the few" of any race .

the Prepared . for they are the teachers of the masses, and this must be

so until the cycle rolls around in which all of a Redeemed Humanity

may enter. This opportunity will be part of the heritage of the Sixth

Root Race. "They are of those who have passed through great

tribulations", great tests, and won.

The last three gates are only entered by the Perfected . the

Masters of the highest degrees of Life . the highly evolved

progenitors of the Seventh Root Race. These are the gates through

which come and go the Divine Builders of Worlds.

The above is but a rough outline of this vast subject. What you

and all humanity are now most greatly concerned with is the last gate

of the second triad of gates through which you are now striving to

pass. Unfortunately, as it would seem, you have loaded yourselves

with much rubbish which must be cast' aside, or changed, before it

will be possible for you to get entirely through the gate. You are not

yet sure what better be cast aside. You think you may need some of

that rubbish on the other ride of the gate and so are confronted with

the difficulty of fixing a right valuation upon it. You still have to learn

to put a right valuation upon things. You have to learn that it is not

necessary to cast away any useful thing, but that it may be necessary

for you to transmute the rubbish, to reduce much of it as the chemist

reduces gross matter to obtain the particular substance he needs for

some definite purpose.

"Without God nothing was made" and it is the God in that rubbish

which you must seek and fend, and when you have succeeded, the

mass will be so reduced in volume and character that you will find no

difficulty in passing through the gate, and once inside you will find

yourselves equipped for the necessary service.

These twelve gates have a certain correspondence to the Zodiac

and to every yearly cycle. April, May and June correspond to 'the first

three gates ; July, August and September to the second three ;

October, November and December to the third three ; and January,

[TT 423] February and March correspond to the last three. In terms of

time you are now about entering the last one of the second triad of

gates with the beginning of the month of January. The good

resolutions made, as a result of interior recognition of a new

beginning, a new impulse given to the life forces, is, figuratively

speaking, the soul's ticket of entrance to the gate you are about to

enter, the last, so far as a yearly cycle of time is concerned. It is

possible that it will open for some of your number upon the floor of

the Initiation Chamber of the Great Temple, on each side of which is

one of the four Thrones occupied by four of the Masters of the highest

Degrees. Each one of those Thrones combines the resident power of

the three of the twelve exterior gates.

As the Pilgrim of Days travels toward the Universal Heart . the

mathematical point . he finds that all exterior forms of life appear to

condense, coalesce and concentrate ; as before indicated, they are

reduced to their original elements and Experience has yielded the

power for such reduction.

The experiences of the Ego through a whole fine of incarnations

in evanescent form have yielded the power by means of which it has

passed the Gates of the Temple and won eternal life in form. When

any division of humanity has succeeded in passing one of the outer

gates there is great rejoicing among those who traverse the tessellated

floor of the Great Initiation Chamber.

While the above statements may only be accepted symbolically

by the many, there are those who know I speak truly . those who

KNOW that the Great Temple exists and who rejoice with the Masters

at the opening of every new life cycle which makes for the

development of the human race, even if it must open on conditions so

indescribably awful as to stagger the imagination of Man. After the

whirl-wind cometh the low, sweet Voice which speaks Peace to all

creatures ; out of travail cometh New Birth.