Quotes from A Treatise on White Magic on Inspired Writings – page 175
Such are some of the teachings concerning disciples and their recognitions and it is valuable for aspirants to ponder them. It should be realised that though good character, high ethics, sound morality and spiritual aspiration are basic and unalterable requirements, yet more is needed if the right to enter the Master's Ashram is to be granted.
To be admitted to the privilege of being an outpost of His consciousness requires an unselfishness and a self-surrender for which few are prepared; to be drawn within His aura so that the disciple's aura forms an integral part of the group aura presupposes a purity which few can cultivate; to have the ear of the Master and to earn the right to contact Him at will necessitates a sensitiveness and a fine discrimination which few would care to purchase at the price. Yet a door stands wide open to all who care to come, and no earnest, sincere soul, who meets the requirements, ever receives a rebuff.
There is no question at this time that those who are in any way advanced in evolution are having that evolution hastened as never before in the history of the world. The crisis is so grave and the need of the world so great, that those who can contact the inner side of life, who can even in a small way sense the vibrations of the senior disciples and the Elder Brothers of the race, and who can bring down the ideals, as known on the higher planes, are being very carefully, forcefully, yet strenuously trained. It is necessary that they should be enabled to act accurately and adequately as transmitters and interpreters.
I would like to point out certain factors and methods [Page 175] which should be borne in mind in connection with inspirational writing and mediumship, and which have a bearing on the writing of such books as The Secret Doctrine, the Scriptures of the world and those transmitted volumes which potently affect the thought of the race. The interpretation of the process arises from many causes; the status of the writers can be overestimated or not sufficiently appreciated; the terms used by the transmitter being dependent upon his educational status may also be incorrect or give rise to misinterpretation. It is necessary, therefore, that some understanding of the process should be found.
Some transmitters work entirely on astral levels and their work is necessarily part of the great illusion. They are unconscious mediums and are unable to check the source from whence the teachings come; if they claim to know that source, they are frequently in error. Some receive teaching from discarnate entities of no higher evolution, and frequently of lower, than themselves. Some are simply abstracting the content of their own subconsciousnesses, and hence we have the beautiful platitudes, couched in Christian phraseology, and tinctured by the mystical writings of the past, which litter the desks of disciples, working consciously on the physical plane.
Some work only on mental levels, learning, through telepathy, that which the Elder Brothers of the race and their own souls have to impart. They tap the sources of knowledge stored in the egoic consciousness. They become aware of the knowledge stored up in the brains of disciples on the same ray as themselves. Some of them, being outposts of the Master's consciousness, become also cognizant of His thought. Some use several of the methods, either consciously or unconsciously. When they work consciously, it is then possible for them to correlate the teaching given and, under the Law of Correspondences [Page 176] and through the use of symbols (which they see through mental clairvoyance), to ascertain the accuracy of their teaching. Those who work unconsciously (I refer not to astral psychics), can use only trust and discrimination until they are further evolved. They must accept nothing that contradicts facts imparted through the Lodge's great Messengers, and they must be ready to superimpose upon the modicum of knowledge which they possess a further structure of greater extent.
Each generation now should produce its seers. I like the word spelt "see-ers", for to see is to know. The fault of all of you is that you see not; you perceive an angle, a point of vision, a partial aspect of the great fabric of truth, but all that lies hidden behind is occult to your three dimensional vision. It is necessary for those who want to act as true transmitters and intermediaries between the Knowers of the race and the "little ones" that they keep their eyes on the horizon and seek thus to extend their vision; that they hold steadily the inner realization that they already have and seek to increase its scope; that they hold on to the truth that all things are headed towards the revelation, and that the form matters not. They must seek pre-eminently to be dependable instruments, unswayed by passing storms. They must endeavor to remain free from depression, no matter what occurs; liberated from discouragement; with a keen sense of proportion; a right judgment in all things; a regulated life; a disciplined physical body and a whole-hearted devotion to humanity. Where these qualities are present, the Masters can begin to use Their destined workers; where they are absent, other instruments must be found.
Some people learn at night and regularly bring over into their physical brain consciousness the facts they need to know and the teachings they should transmit. Many methods are tried, suited to the nature of the aspirant [Page 177] or chela. Some have brains that act telepathically as transmitters. I deal with safer and rarer methods which utilize the mental vehicle as the intermediary between the soul and the brain, or between the teacher and the disciple. Methods of communication on the astral level, such as the ouija board, the planchette pencil, automatic writing, the direct voice and statements made by the temporarily obsessed medium are not utilized as a rule by chelas, though the direct voice has had its use at times. The higher mental methods are more advanced and surer—even if rarer.
The true transmitters from the higher egoic levels to the physical plane proceed in one or other of the following ways:
1. They write from personal knowledge, and therefore employ their concrete minds at the task of stating this knowledge in terms that will reveal the truth to those that have the eyes to see, and yet will conceal that which is dangerous from the curious and the blind. This is a hard task to accomplish, for the concrete mind expresses the abstract most inadequately and, in the task of embodying the truth in words, much of the true significance is lost.
2. They write because they are inspired. Because of their physical equipment, their purity of life, their singleness of purpose, their devotion to humanity and the very karma of service itself, they have developed the capacity to touch the higher sources from which pure truth, or symbolic truth, flows. They can tap thought currents that have been set in motion by that great band of Contemplators, called Nirmanakayas, or those definite, specialized thought currents originated by one of the great staff of teachers. Their brains, being receptive transmitters, enable them to express these contacted thoughts on paper—the accuracy of the transmission being dependent upon the receptivity of the instrument (that is, [Page 178] the mind and the brain) of the transmitter. In these cases, the form of words and the sentences are largely left to the writer. Therefore, the appropriateness of the terms used and the correctness of the phraseology will depend upon his mental equipment, his educational advantages, the extent of his vocabulary and his inherent capacity to understand the nature and quality of the imparted thought and ideas.
3. They write because of the development of the inner hearing. Their work is largely stenographic, yet is also partially dependent upon their standard of development and their education. A certain definite unfoldment of the centres, coupled with karmic availability, constitutes the basis of choice by the teacher on the subtler planes who seeks to impart a definite instruction and a specialized line of thought. The responsibility as to accuracy is therefore divided between the one who imparts the teaching and the transmitting agent. The physical plane agent must be carefully chosen and the accuracy of the imparted information, as expressed on the physical plane, will depend upon his willingness to be used, his positive mental polarization, and his freedom from astralism. To this must be added the fact that the better educated a man may be, the wider his range of knowledge and scope of world interests, the easier it will be for the teacher on the inner side to render, through his agency, the knowledge to be imparted. Frequently the dictated data may be entirely foreign to the receiver. He must have a certain amount, therefore, of education, and be himself a profound seeker of truth before he will be chosen to be the recipient of teachings that are intended for the general public or for esoteric use. Above everything else, he must have learnt through meditation to focus himself on the mental plane. Similarity of vibration and of interests hold the clue to the choice of a transmitter. [Page 179] Note that I say; similarity of vibration and of interests and not equality of vibration and of interests.
This form of work might be divided into three methods: There is first the higher clairaudience that speaks directly from mind to mind. This is not exactly telepathy but a form of direct hearing. The teacher will speak to the disciple as person to person. A conversation is therefore carried on entirely on mental levels with the higher faculties as the focusing point. The use of the head centres is involved and they must both be vivified before this method can be employed. In the astral body the centres corresponding to the physical have to be awakened before astral psychism is possible. The work that I refer to here involves a corresponding vivification in the mental body counterparts.
Secondly, we have telepathic communication. This is the registry in the physical brain consciousness of information imparted:
a. Direct from Master to pupil; from disciple to disciple; from student to student.
b. From Master or disciple to the ego and thence to the personality, via the atomic sub-planes. You will note therefore that only those in whose bodies atomic sub-plane matter is found can work this way. Safety and accuracy lie in this equipment.
c. From ego to ego via the causal body and transmitted direct according to the preceding method or stored up to work through gradually and at need.
Thirdly, we have inspiration. This involves another aspect of development. Inspiration is analogous to mediumship, but is entirely egoic. It utilizes the mind as the medium of transmission to the brain of that which the soul knows. Mediumship usually describes the process when confined entirely to the astral levels. On the egoic plane this involves inspiration. Ponder on this explanation for it explains much. Mediumship is dangerous. [Page 180] Why is this so? Because the mental body is not involved and so the soul is not in control. The medium is an unconscious instrument, he is not himself the controlling factor; he is controlled. Frequently also the discarnate entities who employ this method of communication, utilizing the brain or voice apparatus of the medium, are not highly evolved, and are quite incapable of employing mental plane methods.
Some people combine the method of inspiration and of receiving instruction along various lines and, when this is the case, great accuracy of transmission is found. Occasionally again, as in the case of H. P. B. you have deep knowledge, ability to be inspired and mental clairaudience combined. When this is the case you have a rare and useful instrument for the aiding of humanity.
Inspiration originates on the higher levels; it presupposes
a very
a. He may use the brain of the appointed channel, throwing thoughts into it.
b. He may occupy his disciple's body, the latter standing aside, consciously, in his subtler bodies, but surrendering his physical body.
c. A third method is one of a temporary fusing, if I might so call it,—an intermingling when the user and the used alternate or supplement, as needed, to do the appointed work. I cannot explain more clearly.
4. They write what they see. This method is not of such a high order. You will note that in the first case [Page 181] you have wisdom or availability on buddhic or intuitional levels; in the second case you have transmission from the causal body, from the higher mental levels; in the third case you have sufficient development to enable the aspirant to receive dictation. In the fourth case, you have the ability to read in the astral light but frequently no ability to differentiate between that which is past, that which is, and that which will be. Therefore you have illusion and inaccuracy. This is a method, however, sometimes used but—unless directly used under stimulation applied by a Master—it is liable to be most misleading, as is its corollary, astral clairaudience. It is the method of mental clairvoyance, and requires a trained interpreting mind, which is rare indeed to find.
In all these cases that I have cited error may creep in owing to physical limitation and the handicap of words, but in the case of those who write from personal knowledge the errors in expression will be of no real moment; whilst in the second and third cases the errors will be dependent upon the point in evolution of the transmitting agent. If, however, he couples intelligence, devotion and service, with his capacity to receive and hear, he will soon correct the errors himself and his understanding will grow.
Later two new methods will be employed which will facilitate the transmission of truth from the inner side to the outer plane. Precipitated writing will be given to those who can be trusted, but the time is not yet for its general use. It will be necessary to wait until the work of the esoteric schools has reached a more definite phase of development. Conditions as yet are not appropriate, but humanity is urged to be ready and open-minded and prepared for this development. Later will come the power to materialize thought-forms. People will come into incarnation who will have the ability temporarily to create and vitalize these thought-forms, and [Page 182] so enable the general public to see them. The time, however, is not yet. There is too much fear, and not enough experience of truth in the world. More knowledge must be acquired as to the nature of thought and of matter, and this must be followed experimentally by those with acute trained minds, a high rate of vibration, and bodies built of the finest matter. The attainment of this will involve discipline, pain, self-abnegation and abstinence. See you to it.