Letters on Occult Meditation

by Alice A Bailey

  The length of a pupil's stay in the school depends entirely upon the progress made, the inner powers of assimilation and the outer life of service. It depends therefore upon the point in evolution at which he enters the school. Those just entering the Path of Probation will be there for five to seven years and on occasion even longer; those who are old disciples and those who have taken initiation in earlier lives will be there but a brief time, pushing rapidly through the curriculum and simply learning to produce for use the knowledge earlier stored. The period of their stay will be anywhere from one to five years, usually about three. Their innate knowledge will be developed by encouraging them to teach the younger brethren. A pupil passes out of the school, not as a result of an exoteric examination but simply on the notification of the Head of the School, who bases his decision upon esoteric results in the bodies of the pupil, upon the clarity of his auric colours and upon the tone of his life and the key of his vibration. [328]

  b. Types of Work.

  First and foremost, the practice of meditation as laid down in these letters and as may be apportioned by the Head of the school. Once or twice a year the initiate Head of the school to which the preparatory school is allied will pass the pupils in review and in conference with the Head of the school will apportion specific meditation adjusted to the pupil's need. Once a year the Master responsible for both schools will likewise pass them in review and communicate to the Head any necessary adjustments. (I would here remind you that the relationship of a Master to a disciple is a private one and though He may be in constant touch with His pupil privately, this affects not His official review of the united auras of the school group.)

  Secondly, a graded scientific study of the microcosm, including the following subjects, using the microscope when needed:—

  The Microcosm.

  a. Elementary anatomy, physiology, biology.

  b. Ethnology.

  c. Study of the etheric body and its allied subjects of vitality and magnetism.

  d. Study of geology; of the vegetable kingdom, or botany; and of the animal kingdom.

  e. Study of the history of man and the development of science.

  f. Study of the laws of the microcosmic body.

  The Macrocosm.

  a. Study of the laws of electricity, of fohat, of prana, and of the astral light. [329]

  b. Study of astronomy and of astrology.

  c. Study of occult cosmogony.

  d. Study of the human hierarchy.

  e. Study of the deva evolution.

  f. Study of the laws of the solar system.

  g. Study of telepathy, mental creation, psychometry.

  The Mind.

  a. The study of the mental plane.

  b. The study of the laws of fire.

  c. The study of the causal body.

  d. The study of the fifth principle.

  e. The study of colour and of sound.

  Synthesis.

  a. The study of spirit-matter-mind.

  b. Study of numbers and of symbology.

  c. Study of higher mathematics.

  d. Study of the laws of union.

  e. Study of the laws of sex.

  Psychic Development.

  a. Study of practical occultism.

  b. Study of psychism.

  c. Study of the astral light and the akashic records.

  d. Study of mediumship and inspiration.

  e. Study of past lives.

  f. Study of the macrocosmic and microcosmic centres.

  Practical Work.

  a. Service to the race.

  b. Study of group work.

  c. Review work. [330]

  d. Work on the subtler bodies with the view to producing continuity of consciousness.

  e. Study of magic.

  f. Study of the seventh ray.

  You will see for yourself that when the pupil has completed the above curriculum he will be a potential magician, and will be a member of the Brotherhood of Light in embryo. He will be equipped and ready to pass into the advanced school, where he will be trained in using the knowledge already acquired, where his centres will be scientifically developed so that he will become a conscious psychic of the mental type, where he will be trained to contact and control the lesser evolutions and to co-operate with the other evolutions such as the deva, and where all his bodies will be so aligned and adjusted that he can at the end of a period—varying from two to three years—be ready to stand before the Initiator.

  c. Potencies becoming powers.

  This third type of work is based on the preceding curriculum and deals directly with individual development. It covers the following matters:—

  a. The aligning of the bodies with a view to egoic contact.

  b. The building of the antahkarana, and the development of the higher mind.

  c. The development of the intuition, and the definite spiritual awakening of the pupil.

  d. The study of the pupil's vibration, ray, color and tone.

  e. The conscious refining of all the bodies beginning with the physical. [331]

  When these matters are duly studied and all acquired knowledge put into practice, the inherent powers of the soul will become conscious powers. Above all, will the emphasis be laid upon the fact that the white magician is he who utilises all power and knowledge in the service of the race. His inner development must be expressed in terms of service before he is permitted to pass on into the advanced school.

  I have indicated enough to provide much room for interested speculation.

  LETTER X - THE PURIFICATION OF THE VEHICLES.

  November 7th, 1920.

  [333] The need arises these days for tested instruments. When Those Who guide human evolution at this period cast Their eyes over the race in the search for such instruments They see few as yet ready for the service required. But likewise They see some who, with a certain amount of training, will fill the need fairly adequately.

  As evolution proceeds the polarisation of the race changes. Men are polarised now principally in their emotional bodies,—the feelings, desires, the concerns of the personality sway them. The emotional body is the focal point for the personality. It acts as the clearing house for all that concerns it, and as the junction of the lower and the higher. It is like a busy railroad terminus, that receives cargo from all directions and empties it into the great city of the personal physical plane life. Then, as progress is made, the scene shifts higher, and the mental body becomes the focal point. Later the causal body becomes the important unit, and later still comes the ultimate sacrifice of even that, until the man stands bereft of all that vibrates to the three worlds, and all is over as regards the personal life,—nought remains but the life of the Spirit, and the voluntary giving of that life for the helping of the world.

  In the speeding up of evolution, certain things have to be brought about before the man can be used as a reliable instrument, true as tempered steel, for the helping of his race. Forget not that, as a rule, a man (when tested and tried) forms the best tool, because he comprehends [334] utterly the race consciousness, and because he enters into the problems of the day in a manner more thorough than an Ego from an earlier period. Hence the Masters desire to use those of you who live now to heal the wounds of the present suffering generation. What then has to be done? The matter I now give contains nothing very unusual, but it does hold thought for consideration by any who may desire to help.......In preparing a soul for service the Guides of the race have to deal with each of the bodies:—

  1 - The training of the Physical Body.

  This involves certain definite requirements:—

  The building in of matter of the higher subplanes and the elimination of the lower and coarser matter. This is needed because it is impossible for those with coarse bodies to contact high vibration. It is impossible for the Ego to transmit the higher knowledge and guidance through a coarse physical body. It is impossible for the loftier currents of thought to impact the little evolved physical bra
in. Hence the refinement of the physical body is an essential. It is effected in various ways, all of them reasonable and utilitarian.

  By pure food. This involves a vegetarian diet, chosen with wise discrimination; it requires the eating of only those vegetables and fruits that vitalise. Careful judgment shown in the choice of food, wise refraining from too heavy eating, and a little pure good food perfectly assimilated are all that a disciple requires. You ask what foods? Milk, honey, whole wheat bread, all the vegetables that contact the sun, oranges (above all, oranges), bananas, raisins, nuts, some potatoes, unpolished rice, and may I again reiterate, [335] just as much of all the above as to insure activity.

  By cleanliness. Much use of water, externally and internally, is vitally required.

  By sleep. This should be always between the hours of ten in the evening and five in the morning, and as much as possible out of doors.

  By sunshine. Contact with the sun should be much sought after, and the vitalisation that comes through its rays. The sun kills all germs and frees from disease.

  When these four requirements are attended to adequately a definite process of elimination proceeds, and in the course of a few years the whole physical body shifts its polarisation gradually up until ultimately you will have a body composed of atomic subplane matter......This may take several incarnations, but it should be borne in mind that at each fresh incarnation a body is taken of the exact quality (if I may so put it) as the one previously discarded at death. Hence time is never lost in building. Eventually two other methods will be available by which more rapid refining may be effected:—

  The use of coloured lights. These lights are played on the body of the disciple and effect a shaking-out process and a simultaneous stimulation of the atoms. This cannot be done till further information is given anent the Rays; when a man's ray is known, stimulation will come from the use of his own colour, a building-in will be brought about by the use of his complementary colour, and disintegration of unwanted matter will be brought about by the use of an antagonistic colour. This knowledge will later on be communicated to the great bodies that hold [336] custody of the Mysteries, the Church and the Masons. Wait, for the time is not yet. When the Mysteries are restored some of this information will be in the hands of the two bodies I refer to.

  The stimulation of music. Certain sounds shatter and break. Certain other sounds stimulate and attract. When the key of a man's life is known, when the sound he responds to is recognised, then comes the possibility of the utilisation of sound in refinement. All that is at present possible to those of you who seek to serve is to attend to the above essentials and to seek contact with high vibration.

  One more point I would like to give, and that is, that in the manipulation of electricity lies hid much that concerns the vivification of the bodies, especially just now of the etheric. The principal use the sun has is the vitalising of the etheric. The heat of the sun is electrical force adapted to the need of the great average majority in all the kingdoms of nature. As progress is made an intensification of this force will be possible in individual cases. Herein lies one of the secrets of initiation. In the old days the Rod of Initiation acted actually as a conductor of this force to the centres of the initiate; it was so constructed that it answered this purpose. Now, on a higher turn of the spiral, just the same need and purpose are served, though the method of application necessarily differs, owing to the change in the polarisation of the race. The polarisation is now no longer physical, but is either emotional or mental. The method of application differs in all three, and hence the safeguarding of the secret. It holds the mystery hid. [337]

  The refining of the etheric.

  This coincides with that of the physical body. The method consists principally of living in the sunlight, in protection from cold, and in the assimilation of certain definite combinations of vitamins which before long will be given to the race. A combination of these vitamins will be formulated and made into tabloid form, with direct effect upon the etheric body. This will not be until that etheric vehicle is recognised by science, and definitely included in the training offered by the faculty of medicine. The study of etheric diseases—congestion and atrophy—will ere long be a recognised study, and will lead to definite treatments and formulas. As before said, all that you can now do in sensitising the dual physical is to attend to the above rules, and allow time to bring about the remainder of the work.

  2 - The refining of the emotional body.

  Here the method of procedure is different. The emotional body is simply a great reflector. It takes colour and movement from its surroundings. It receives the impress of every passing desire. It contacts every whim and fancy in its environment; every current sets it in motion; every sound causes it to vibrate unless the aspirant inhibits such a state of affairs and trains it to receive and register only those impressions which come from the intuitional level via the Higher Self and therefore via the atomic subplane. The aim of the aspirant should be to so train the emotional body that it will become still and clear as a mirror, so that it may reflect perfectly. His aim should be to make it reflect only the causal body, to take on colour only in line with the great Law, and to move under definite direction and not just as blow the winds of [338] thought, or rise the tides of desire. What words should describe the emotional body? the words: still, serene, unruffled, quiet, at rest, limpid and clear, of a quality mirrorlike, of surface even, a limpid reflector,—one that accurately transmits the wishes, the desires, the aspirations of the Ego and not of the personality. How should this be accomplished? In several ways, some at the direction of the aspirant, and some at the direction of the Master.

  a. By the constant watching of all desires, motives and wishes that cross the horizon daily, and by the subsequent emphasising of all those that are of a high order, and by the inhibition of the lower.

  b. By a constant daily attempt to contact the Higher Self, and to reflect His wishes in the life. At first mistakes will be made, but little by little the building-in process proceeds, and the polarisation in the emotional body gradually shifts up each subplane until the atomic is reached.

  c. By definite periods daily directed to the stilling of the emotional body. So much emphasis is laid in meditation on the stilling of the mind, but it should be remembered that the stilling of the emotional nature is a step preliminary to the quieting of the mental; one succeeds the other and it is wise to begin at the bottom of the ladder. Each aspirant must discover for himself wherein he yields most easily to violent vibrations, such as fear, worry, personality desire of any kind, personality love of anything or anyone, discouragement, over-sensitiveness to public opinion; then he must overcome that vibration, by imposing on it a new rhythm, definitely eliminating and constructing. [339]

  d. By work done on the emotional body at night under the direction of more advanced egos, working under the guidance of a Master. Stimulation of vibration or the deadening of vibration follows on the application of certain colours and sounds. At this particular time two colours are being applied to many people for the specific purpose of keying up the throat and foremost head centre, namely, violet and gold.

  Remember that the work is gradual, and as the polarisation shifts up, the moment of transition from one subplane to another is marked by certain tests applied at night, what one might term a series of small initiations that eventually will be consummated in the second great initiation, that marks the perfection of the control of the body of the emotions.

  Four small initiations find their culmination in the initiation proper. These are the initiations on the emotional plane, called respectively the initiations of earth, fire, water and air, culminating in initiation the second. The first initiation marks the same point of attainment on the physical plane. Each initiation marks the attainment of a certain proportion of atomic matter in the bodies. The four initiations, prior to that of the Adept, mark respectively the attainment of a proportionate amount, as for instance:—At the first initiation one-fourth
atomic matter, at the second one-half atomic matter, and so on to the consummation. The intuition (or buddhi) being the unifying principle and thus welding all, at the fourth initiation the lower vehicles go, and the adept stands in his intuitional body, and creates from thence his body of manifestation. [340]

  3 - The refinement of the mental body.

  This is the result of hard work and discrimination. It necessitates three things before the plane of the mental unit is achieved, and before the causal consciousness (the full consciousness of the higher self) is reached:—

  Clear thinking, not just on subjects wherein interest is aroused, but on all matters affecting the race. It involves the formulation of thought matter, and the capacity to define. It means the ability to make thought forms out of thought matter, and to utilise those thought forms for the helping of the public. He who does not think clearly, and who has an inchoate mental body, lives in a fog, and a man in a fog is but a blind leader of the blind.