Spiritualism and Psychic Phenomena
by Trevor Barker

Our subject tonight: "Spiritualism and Psychic Phenomena," is one of a good deal of complexity, and we shall have to see whether, with the help of those who are met together here, and their interaction with the thought of the lecturer, we may gain some illumination and understanding of this very difficult and rather thorny problem. I have been greatly perplexed, as I was trying to prepare what I had to say to you, to know how best to tackle the subject, for the amount of teaching in The Mahatma Letters upon this subject is vast, and in a short hour we can only select a few passages and try to elucidate them.

The whole of the Theosophical philosophy rests on a few axiomatic propositions, and we will always be going astray and losing the very essence of the subject that we are trying to understand if we do not approach every branch and department of our Teachings by seeking the appropriate key in the shape of one of the Fundamental axioms, in order that in the light that this particular key gives us we can understand more clearly the whole problem. These Fundamental Propositions are a kind of frame of reference to which we relate every idea and teaching of the philosophy; and once you have made the effort to acquire at least some understanding of that framework, you will have a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction and far more profit in your studies.

I am going to read you those propositions, which seem to me an appropriate and essential part of our subject this evening. If you turn to the twelfth chapter of Isis Unveiled, Volume 11, page 588, you will find there the following:

6th. Mediumship is the opposite of adeptship; the medium is the passive instrument of foreign influences, the adept actively controls himself and all inferior potencies.
This Proposition goes right to the root of the problem of spiritualism and mediumship.

7th. All things that ever were, that are, or that will be, having their record upon the astral light, or tablet of the unseen universe, the initiated adept, by using the vision of his own spirit, can know all that has been known or can be known.
You see the significance of that: if everything and every event that has occurred in the world's history, has its record in the memory of nature itself, and that the unveiled spiritual perception of an Adept Seer can penetrate to it and read it, why you have the explanation of a large part also of the phenomena of spiritualism; for in the lower levels of this memory of nature -- the Astral Light as it is called -- it is possible for the uninitiated medium, by the extraordinary powers and perceptions that are inherent in the astral body of these people, to reflect -- it is true in a distorted way, but nevertheless to reflect -- a great deal that is stored in the Astral Light. Furthermore the astral body of the medium is capable of reading, or reflecting, the record that each man carries about in himself. Every one of us has an invisible magnetic sphere or aura, in which is recorded the whole of every incident and event through which we have passed during this earth-life. An ordinary clairvoyant can read, more or less accurately, most of the things that people go to spiritualistic seances to obtain some knowledge of.

8th. Races of men differ in spiritual gifts as in color, stature, or any other external quality; among some peoples seership naturally prevails, among others mediumship. Some are addicted to sorcery, and transmit its secret rules of practice from generation to generation, with a range of psychical phenomena, more or less wide, as the result.
Those are the Fundamental Propositions that I would ask you just to bear in mind as we proceed.

Note the distinction. The Theosophist is interested in spiritual Seership, or Mediatorship, which can only be evolved from above below, within without. The powers of the medium are developed from below, but these faculties of mediumship deleterious as they are, can be developed by almost anybody who is willing to pay the penalty of exchanging the spiritual, intellectual, and moral, for the psychic and material.

Is the Theosophical Movement absolutely opposed to the Spiritualistic Movement, or are there points of contact? What was the situation at the time the "Mahatma Letters" were written? You will find that there was to some extent a sympathetic "rapport" between at least the beginning of the work of H. P. B. and the Spiritualistic Movement, and the reason for that will perhaps be found in the following sentence taken from p. 35:

The only problem to solve is the practical one of how best to promote the necessary study, and give to the spiritualist movement a needed upward impulse.
There is no antagonism there. There is a recognition that the vast numbers and millions of human beings who make up what is called the Spiritualistic Movement are those at least who are not primarily interested in materialism as it is ordinarily understood. On the contrary they believe in forces and powers beyond the comprehension and the activity of the outward physical, objective, thinking man. They seek to explain the various phenomena which take place through mediums and Spiritualistic seances, in terms of the supposed communication between such mediums and those who have passed beyond physical life and entered the realm of the Beyond. They are our allies to the extent that they recognise survival as a fact in Nature. We on the other hand can philosophically and logically bring forward far more convincing evidence -- and indeed proof -- that survival is a fact, than any medium in any seance.

Where the Theosophist joins issue with the great majority of these psychic, and therefore materialistic, phenomena of the Spiritualistic Movement is in the enormous amount of harm that is done not only to those who produce them here, but to the far greater harm that it does to those entities who have left earth life and who are -- thousands of them -- drawn back into the vortex of the Spiritualistic seance when they should be left in peace to pursue their way according to the plan that Nature has evolved and laid down for their protection. It is in this fact that must be understood the real and powerful opposition of the Theosophical Movement to all those practices which may be called "The Worship of the Dead." This evocation of the phantoms of the departed is an evil practice. In the East they speak of it as "Bhuta worship" or Devil worship. Why? Simply because it is impossible, owing to the way the Inner Worlds are constructed, for anything other than the Kama-rupic shell to communicate through a medium with those it has left behind on earth. Because there is nothing spiritual in such an ex-human entity the practice is referred to as Bhuta-worship. No purely Spiritual entity is able to descend and communicate with the earth through a medium, because the spheres they inhabit are too far apart.

In other words the Inner worlds that we are dealing with in relation to this physical objective plane may be symbolized as an elliptical orbit of existence separated by two foci, as every ellipse is, and these two foci do not approach each other, and they are represented by Spirit on the one hand and physical matter on the other, and the intermediate connecting conscious link is missing.

Now you will say to me "But all this sounds rather too sweeping in view of the undoubtedly genuine communications that are received from Spiritualistic sources every day of the week. Does the Theosophist deny the truth of every communication that comes through Spiritualistic sources? Well, let me say at once we do not. We deal with facts -- or try to -- as they are. To show you what our attitude on this subject is, I am going to read you one or two passages that throw light on it. Listen to this, it comes from page 101 of The Mahatma Letters:

It is in this, during such a condition of complete Maya that the Souls or astral Egos of pure, loving sensitives, labouring under the same illusion, think their loved ones come down to them on earth, while it is their own Spirits that are raised towards those in the Deva-Chan. Many of the subjective spiritual communications -- most of them when the sensitives are pure minded -- are real; but it is most difficult for the uninitiated medium to fix in his mind the true and correct pictures of what he sees and hears.
Again on page 255 you will find the statement that "no self-tutored seer or clairaudient ever saw or heard quite correctly." Continuing:

Some of the phenomena called psychography (though more rarely) are also real. The spirit of the sensitive getting odylised, so to say, by the aura of the Spirit in the Deva-Chan, becomes for a few minutes that departed personality, and writes in the hand writing of the latter, in his language and in his thoughts, as they were during his life time. The two spirits become blended in one; and, the preponderance of one over the other during such phenomena determines the preponderance of personality in the characteristics exhibited in such writings, and "trance speaking." What you call "rapport" is in plain fact an identity of molecular vibration between the astral part of the incarnate medium and the astral part of the disincarnate personality.
There you have two passages showing that communication is possible under certain conditions, and you will note what those conditions are, viz., a pure, loving sensitive (not a paid medium). In another part there is a statement that the bond of love between the sensitive and the one that he seeks to communicate with is that which makes the communication possible, and more accurate and true; and so the consciousness of the sensitive has to be raised until it contacts the entity in its dream of bliss in the Devachan, and there he is in contact with the being that he loved in life, as distinct from the lower psychic and phenomenal contact with the spook of that departed entity which any medium in any kind of a Spiritualistic seance can evoke.

What are we coming to now? We are coming to the fact that the vehicles of consciousness through which a man expresses his lower thoughts, passions and desires are finally cast off by the ego in very much the same way as the body is thrown aside at death. These remains appear as a form bearing the exact shape of the man that you knew in life, and the medium, the clairvoyant, can see this kama-rupic shell. The more materialistic was the man, the more dense and perfect will be the form of the shell -- a strange fact, but it is true. Just as any person who has the faculty of psychometry can take a piece of stone from some ancient monument and can tell you incidents that took place around that monument -- in exactly the same way the medium can, by the peculiar faculty of the mediumistic temperament, galvanize into activity, just like an electric battery, the cells of memory inherent in the shell. Then, just like a phonograph record, it can be made to play, generally in terms of the personal recollections of his last life or existing in the mind of the sitters in the Spiritualistic seance, repeating the stories and incidents and so on that the personality had passed through. This, if you accept it, will explain the majority of the phenomena of Spiritualism in one shape or form or another.

Let me read you another passage (pp. 113-14), that will show you what our attitude to Spiritualism is on the sympathetic or favorable side:

Anyhow it may show her that it is not against trite Spiritualism that we set ourselves, but only against indiscriminate mediumship and -- physical manifestations, -- materializations and trance-possessions especially. Could the Spiritualists be only made to understand the difference between individuality and personality, between individual and personal immortality and some other truths, they would be more easily persuaded that Occultists may be fully convinced of the monad's immortality, and yet deny that of the soul -- the vehicle of the personal Ego; that they can firmly believe in, and themselves practice spiritual communications and intercourse with the disembodied Egos of the Rupa-Loka, and yet laugh at the insane idea of "shaking hands" with a "Spirit"!; that finally, that as the matter stands, it is the Occultists and the Theosophists who are true Spiritualists, while the modern sect of that name is composed simply of materialistic phenomenalists.
That again clears the ground as to what our attitude in this matter is.

Now I want to turn to an aspect of the problem that we have so far left out in the last lecture that was given on the life after death, and that is in connexion with the exceptions to the general rule. So far we have been considering the difficulty that the Spiritualistic phenomenalist will have in reaching to the real entity. There is no point whatsoever in communicating with the spook. You can do it if you want to, but what interest is there in speaking to an empty shell, a phonographic record? -- nothing. It is only the indwelling Spiritual flame of love and intelligence, and all the beautiful human qualities that you love in a man or woman. That is what we love, and it is that which is entirely lacking in the shell or spook, so why worry about it?

Are all entities necessarily so difficult to reach? Unfortunately not -- and I say that advisedly -- unfortunately not. There are two classes of entities that are relatively easy to reach, and those are the victims of suicide and accidental or violent death. This matter is dealt with in a particularly illuminating way on pp. 109-110 as follows:

. . . we have lost sight of: the suicides and those killed by accident. Both kinds can communicate, and both have to pay dearly for such visits. And now I have again to explain what I mean. Well, this class is the one that the French Spiritists call -- "les Esprits Souffrants." They are an exception to the rule, as they have to remain within the earth's attraction, and in its atmosphere -- the Kama-Loka -- till the very last moment of what would have been the natural duration of their lives. In other words, that particular wave of life-evolution must run on to its shore. But it is a sin and cruelty to revive their memory and intensify their suffering by giving them a chance of living an artificial life; a chance to overload their Karma, by tempting them into open doors, viz., mediums and sensitives, for they will have to pay roundly for every such pleasure. I will explain. The suicides, who, foolishly hoping to escape life, found themselves still alive, -- have suffering enough in store for them from that very life. Their punishment is in the intensity of the latter. Having lost by the rash act their seventh and sixth principles, though not forever, as they can regain both -- instead of accepting their punishment, and taking their chances of redemption, they are often made to regret life and tempted to regain a hold upon it by sinful means. In the Kama-Loka, the land of intense desires, they can gratify their earthly yearnings but through a living proxy; and by so doing, at the expiration of the natural term, they generally lose their monad for ever. As to the victims of accident -- these fare still worse. Unless they were so good and pure, as to be drawn immediately within the Akasic Samadhi, i. e., to fall into a state of quiet slumber, a sleep full of rosy dreams, during which, they have no recollection of the accident, but move and live among their familiar friends and scenes, until their natural life-term is finished, when they find themselves born in the Deva-Chan -- a gloomy fate is theirs. Unhappy shades, if sinful and sensual they wander about -- (not shells, for their connection with their two higher principles is not quite broken) -- until their death hour comes. Cut off in the full flush of earthly passions which bind them to familiar scenes, they are enticed by the opportunities which mediums afford, to gratify them vicariously. They are the Pisachas, the Incubi, and Succubi of mediaeval times. The demons of thirst, gluttony, lust, and avarice, -- elementaries of intensified craft, wickedness and cruelty; provoking their victims to horrid crimes, and revelling in their commission! They not only ruin their victims, but these psychic vampires, borne along by the torrent of their hellish impulses, at last, at the fixed close of their natural period of life -- they are carried out of the earth's aura into regions where for ages they endure exquisite suffering and end with entire destruction.
And on page 113:

And woe to those whose Trishna will attract them to mediums, and woe to the latter, who tempt them with such an easy Upadana. For in grasping them, and satisfying their thirst for life, the medium helps to develop in them -- is in fact the cause of -- a new set of Skandhas, a new body, with far worse tendencies and passions than was the one they lost. All the future of this new body will be determined thus, not only by the Karma of demerit of the previous set or group but also by that of the new set of the future being. Were the mediums and Spiritualists but to know, as I said, that with every new "angel guide" they welcome with rapture, they entice the latter into an Upadana which will be productive of a series of untold evils for the new Ego that will be born under its nefarious shadow, and that with every seance -- especially for materialization -- they multiply the causes for misery, causes that will make the unfortunate Ego fail in his spiritual birth, or be reborn into a worse existence than ever -- they would, perhaps, be less lavishing their hospitality.
And now, you may understand why we oppose so strongly Spiritualism and mediumship.

There you have the essence of the subject. We have to remember that Theosophic teaching is not an arbitrary system of thought based upon any one person's say-so, or the imagination of one or two clairvoyants, but on the contrary is the fruit of literally the experiences of thousands of generations of initiated Adept Seers -- not mediums -- and the truths that we have been discussing tonight, however imperfectly expounded to you, nevertheless are an attempt to explain the actual laws, the actual facts that underlie the whole vast question of psychic phenomena.

It would take days and weeks, I suggest, to endeavor to classify the innumerable classes and the extent of psychic phenomena. It is just endless. The general laws that have been stated are more than sufficient to cover the different categories, and I can truly say that I never yet heard of an example of Spiritualistic or psychic phenomena which could not be explained by one or other of the laws that we find in Theosophical teaching. Although these teachings were given round about 1880-1884, nevertheless they are just as true today as they were then. We do not have to retreat from our position. The only thing that we may like to do is to use more modern examples of what happens in the Spiritualist Movement, because that Movement is changing. The Theosophical Movement does not -- it only grows -- the genuine Theosophical Movement extends its membership and so on, but it does not alter its position. Why? Because it is rooted in the very laws of nature, and if it were not so rooted it would be a sham and a fraud and a farce, and that is a fact. If Theosophic truth is not more permanent than the findings of orthodox science it is useless. The latter constantly has to change its position, not only from century to century, but from decade to decade and less, as further researches prove that what they thought true yesterday is no longer true today. But note this: no living person (or dead one either) has ever been successfully able to challenge a single statement of H. P. B.'s Teaching; and when you think of the voluminous nature of her writings, it says something for the titanic intellect that she possessed, and it says something for the sublime system of thought that was able to be so consistent with all the guns of materialistic trained upon her work; with all the opposition of the vested interests of the orthodox religions when they came up against the living and dynamic truths of the Esoteric philosophy, not one of them has ever been able to prove her wrong in a single essential particular. Try to do it with an open mind; try to sink Blavatsky's philosophy; try to knock a hole in the bottom of it. I hope you will try, because it must end in your being won over, convinced by your own efforts of the truth of what she taught. There is no compromise possible in the attitude of genuine Theosophists, who are seeking to spread wider and wider the knowledge of these truths. At most we can say, "Here is the teaching that has brought us light and inspiration and an ever-growing knowledge; and those who want it can take it from us if they will accept it, free, gratis and for nothing; and for those who oppose it, who will not take it, who will do everything they can to show these teachings in a wrong light, I would ask them to listen to these few closing words, where Master K. H. shows what Their attitude is to the world as a whole in their Centennial effort to enlighten the Western races. He says, pages 50-1:

If, for generations we have "shut out the world from the Knowledge of our Knowledge," it is on account of its absolute unfitness; and if, notwithstanding proofs given, it still refuses yielding to evidence, then will we at the End of this cycle retire into solitude and our kingdom of silence once more. . . . We have offered to exhume the primeval strata of man's being, his basic nature, and lay bare the wonderful complications of his inner Self -- something never to be achieved by physiology or even psychology in its ultimate expression -- and demonstrate it scientifically. It matters not to them, if the excavations be so deep, the rocks so rough and sharp, that in diving into that, to them, fathomless ocean, most of us perish in the dangerous exploration; for it is we who were the divers and the pioneers and the men of science have but to reap where we have sown. It is our mission to plunge and bring the pearls of Truth to the surface; theirs -- to clean and set them into scientific jewels. And, if they refuse to touch the ill-shapen, oyster-shell, insisting that there is, nor cannot be any precious pearl inside it, then shall we once more wash our hands of my responsibility before human-kind. For countless generations hath the adept builded a fane of imperishable rocks, a giant's Tower of INFINITE THOUGHT, wherein the Titan dwelt, and will yet, if need be, dwell alone, emerging from it, but at the end of every cycle, to invite the elect of mankind to co-operate with him and help in his turn enlighten superstitious man. And we will go on in that periodical work of ours; we will not allow ourselves to be baffled in our philanthropic attempts until that day when the foundations of a new continent of thought are so firmly built that no amount of opposition and ignorant malice guided by the Brethren of the Shadow will be found to prevail.

Psychic Phenomena
by Trevor Barker

Friends: You heard tonight that the Theosophical Movement, of which this Society is an integral part, is an ethical and spiritual one; that it has existed all down the ages; and also that it has nothing but a feeling of friendliness, a feeling of brotherhood and fraternal sympathy, for all movements that strive according to their own methods and ways for the elevation, even to the smallest extent, of humanity. Therefore I want to say right at the beginning to those of our Spiritualistic brothers -- some of them I see here tonight -- who may or may not have come in contact with Theosophical teachings before: I want to say to them that we have much sympathy for them; but that we have furthermore the feeling that for them Theosophy has a very real message -- something of vital importance to them as individuals.

The first object of this Theosophical Society is to promulgate a knowledge of the laws inherent in the Universe. That means, of course, a statement of that knowledge of the inner constituents of Nature and man which exists in the keeping and in the knowledge of those who are called the Elect among mankind, those who have always preserved it, and who from time to time come to restate it in language comprehensible to the age in which it is particularly given. This being one of our main purposes, we have to study the problem of psychic phenomena in the light of that Ancient Teaching.

Psychic phenomena have always existed, and the fact that they play a very large part in the lives of an increasing number among an interested public means that the teachings that Theosophy has to give on this subject should fill some vital need in that public. One of the first statements is that there is no such thing as miracle; that that which looks to us like a marvelous and extraordinary and otherwise inexplicable happening or phenomenon is actually explainable in terms, if not of the physical Universe, then of the unseen and occult Universe, provided that you understand the laws involved. But many of the phenomena that we know of, from the New Testament down to our own age, especially those that are the constant happenings in Spiritualistic circles, do arouse in very many people a sense of wonder, if not of awe, and, friends, even of reverence for the powers which produce these mysterious phenomena. If we understand this, the great element of wonder is largely reduced as we look at the problems sincerely and say: "Well, now, there must be an explanation of this phenomenon." The Universe is a Universe of Law. Things do not happen fortuitously; and if we do not understand them, well then, the Theosophical Society provides another object amongst those which you have heard tonight, whereby in studying the laws and the powers innate in man we seek by an unfolding of those powers to understand what those hidden forces and hidden laws may be.

According to the Theosophical philosophy the Universe is guided, the Universe is evolved, under the direction of conscious and intelligent beings. The teaching is that every part of boundless Space is instinct with the life of the One Great Reality, the Great Breath of all existence, which pulses eternally throughout the heart of things, and throughout every living creature. Every one of the forces of Nature is actually the expression of the life-force of some group of beings that inhabit the inner spheres of Nature. The fact that we cannot see them matters not at all. That man is not the only conscious thinking being in this Universe does not need a great deal of substantiation possibly; but the Theosophical teaching is that beyond man, in an endless series of progression, are rank after rank, hierarchy after hierarchy, of still more exalted beings. Descending also in a progressive scale into the depths of matter, you get different types of entities even lower than man, who still act as some of the unseen but intelligent agents and forces of Nature.

Man himself is built upon the same plan as Nature. Just as Nature is not only the external appearance that we all see in all its phases -- some beautiful, some terrible -- so also has man within himself a thinking, conscious, intelligent, directing influence: that which we call Soul in man -- the real man as apart from his body. Man is not made up of merely that which we see. We have only to look inside ourselves to observe that we are made up, for example, of emotions, of passions, of thoughts, of a more or less material nature. Understand that to be the constitution of what you might call the animal-soul in man. Then you have what we call the Human Soul -- that which makes a man a human being. It is in the Human Soul that repose the capacities of man to think, to know himself as a god. It is in that capacity that he is distinguished from the beast creation. Over and above those three principles -- if you will and like to look upon them as such -- you will find a fourth: that over-brooding and Divine immortal principle in man, with which it is possible for the Human Soul to identify itself.

With that fourfold division you have sufficient for our evening's study as regards man, and you will find that the great community of the Spiritualistic movement do believe (I think I am right in saying this) that the inner realms of the Universe are guided by unseen and intelligent forces. It is that really which gives them the right to be termed 'Spiritualists' in contradistinction to that other section of the community (which happily is far less strong than it used to be in the early days of the last century, or shall we say in the middle of the last century?) the Materialists. Really the two words are the opposite of each other: one believes in the spiritual, energizing principles in Nature that we do not see but believe in, so to speak, if we cannot observe them. The other believes there is nothing beyond that which we can see and feel and touch.

The second great -- shall we say belief ? -- that distinguishes those who come under the category of Spiritualists from other thinking people, is the belief or conviction that it is possible to communicate, or have communication, between the living such as ourselves, and those who have passed over into the Great Beyond. It is their belief; and therefore arising out of that you get their own activities, which result in what we call 'psychic phenomena.' You have only to examine the daily newspapers towards the week-end, principally the Sunday papers, to discover that even in one city like London there is a great, a large, body of people who call themselves the Spiritualistic Community. There are a tremendous number of them. It is estimated that there are something like twenty million in all the world, and I should think that is probably a conservative estimate. There are twenty million people who to some extent believe in the possibility of communication with the dead, and who no doubt practise the various methods which they believe in to that end.

There is an enormous variety, an almost endless variety, of psychic phenomena that could be described and discussed; but so vast is the field that it would take not one lecture but many, many volumes -- days and weeks of time -- to describe all the possibilities of variety in psychic phenomena. They are indeed endless, and therefore tonight we shall have quite enough to do to examine that sphere or field of psychic phenomena which is possible for us all to examine somewhat; and I refer therefore principally to the field which has been brought to the notice of the world through the activities of these same Spiritualistic communities. That is the subject which we want to consider for a little while; and we want to understand, if we can, in the light of the Ancient Teachings, what is the real nature of these phenomena. We want to see whether the interpretation that is usually put upon them can possibly give place to a better interpretation -- to a different one, if you will -- and so let us consider really what is the purpose and the possible use of psychism and psychic phenomena today.

I will tell you that from the Theosophical point of view they have two possible uses, both of which are somewhat qualified by results. But two things this interest in phenomena has done. One is that many people have become convinced -- as we think, on quite insufficient evidence, but nevertheless convinced, in themselves -- that the survival of man's individuality, his Soul (call it what you will) is a fact. Now for those people no doubt it is useful if it has, as it were, raised their thoughts at any rate to the extent of believing or discovering that the material existence is not the only one. Probably that is the best that can be said of psychic phenomena. It is the object with which most people investigate, and I think that many Spiritualistic communities would tell you that their main purpose in carrying on their meetings and activities, is to give a demonstration, as they call it, of the facts of survival. Then you have a corollary of that, which is that many people who have lost those that are dear to them have sought comfort, if they were able to find it, in the revelations of the seance-room; and we are told on excellent authority that these people have felt comfort, that they have derived a great deal of satisfaction from the various messages and supposed communications that they have received from those who have passed on.

That is one aspect of it, and we want to go rather more deeply into these questions, and examine them, and discover their real nature, and to see whether in reality these people have received something by means of those psychic experiments which has led to nobler living; which has taught them, as they used to say, to die grandly; which has given them a philosophy of life that embraces the whole of Nature, leaving out no part of it; which has given them a strength for their inner spiritual needs that can only be regarded as the Bread of Life. Now we want to see. I mentioned those few words simply because if those experiments do not bring that result, well then, really, they are empty shells, husks, which do not feed the inner Spiritual Being in man at all.

Therefore let us first of all examine what is the nature of mediumship. There are no psychic phenomena, as we understand the term today, without mediums, and you will find the principal characteristic of mediums is that they make no bones about the fact that they have a peculiar, abnormal, and unusual faculty of, shall we say stepping aside, paralysing their mechanism of consciousness, their body and normal faculties, and that they are then taken possession of, or controlled by, some force or entity outside themselves. They speak of this familiarly as their 'guide' or their 'control.' This for them is a fact of considerable importance, and they consider that by the mere fact that they are being controlled and guided by this mysterious unseen entity, therefore the results of that activity will be more useful to their fellows than if they were doing it in some way by their own conscious direction. A medium, in other words, is a passive instrument of forces which control and guide him.

That is the definition of mediumship, and I want to show you for just a minute (I believe you will agree with me) how it is a misunderstanding of a very wonderful truth in Nature. There is always a light and a dark side to everything. If you see one side of a medal you can also see the other side. The medium has got something in his idea. He has got the notion that if he steps aside, so to speak, and lets something motivate and activate through him, he is going to be useful in some way.

Let us turn to what we Theosophists call the Light, the Wisdom-side of that picture, and what do we find? We find that the definition of the Adept in Arcane Knowledge is as different from the definition of a medium as light is from darkness. The Adept in Arcane Wisdom is one who is able, by the self-conscious powers of his own spirit, to do under the direction and control of his own will every single one of the phenomena -- and an infinitely greater series -- that the mediums do unconsciously to themselves. He knows how he does it and why he does it; he merely makes use of certain occult laws in Nature with which he has learned to cooperate by the understanding of the powers of his own being.

Take another further development of that idea, and you will find that those Adepts of Knowledge work in the world by means of certain disciples -- if you like to use the term -- certain individuals who are connected with them, under their instruction, and who at certain times are able to transmit to their fellows ideas of spiritual value. Possibly, if one had had a great acquaintance with Spiritualistic views and teachings, it might be thought when such Adepts in knowledge work through one of those individuals in the world who are their disciples, that they do it in a similar way to the medium and his guide or control; but, friends, it is not so; and this is where I am going to suggest to you that there is, so to speak, a shadow of truth in the idea that has perhaps given rise to the idea of the value of mediumship.

Actually a great Master of Wisdom will not permit himself to interfere with the conscious control of any individual who may be under his instruction. On the contrary, when such an individual is performing a task under the direction of a Master of Wisdom, what happens? Why, the inner spiritual nature of the disciple is so energized that the actual connexion between the inner spiritual real man and the body he works through is ten times, a hundredfold, stronger than in the ordinary man and woman of the world. Adeptship is in every way the opposite of mediumship. Such an individual is ten times more positive and non-mediumistic than his psychic brother. What he is taught is not to get out of his body, if he can, and give it up to some extraneous entity. On the contrary, he is taught to forget himself in the service of the race to which he belongs; and as he lays aside the personal idea of himself and raises his consciousness to the realization that the Great Soul -- the Great World-Soul as it is called in this philosophy -- is actually that of which he himself is an integral part; as he begins to manifest in his daily life the powers of that infinite Universe by forgetting himself, why! as he forgets himself, all power and knowledge and the infinite love and wisdom and compassion that lie at the heart of Nature itself, because of his self-forgetfulness, begin to manifest through him.

Do you see what a different picture it is; how entirely different that conception is from the idea of the medium who is negative and who allows some other entity to disinherit him of his divine potentialities?

What is it that those Ancient Teachers of the race have to say upon this whole question of psychic phenomena? We said that we should have to limit ourselves this evening to a very brief consideration of the phenomena attending a Spiritualistic seance; and in order to understand the problem I want, by a series of comparisons if possible, to make the Ancient Teaching clear to you simply for your consideration, to show which is more reasonable. Every psychic phenomenon that I have ever heard of is certainly susceptible of two explanations: one according to the accepted Spiritualistic theories, and the other the teaching of the Arcane Knowledge upon that particular fact in Nature. And get this one point clear: that no Theosophist, no occultist, no mystic, would ever deny the facts of Spiritualistic phenomena. He knows for a certainty that they happen, that they do exist.

You can go to the Queen's Hall, to the Grotrian Hall, you can go to a dozen places this very evening, and see demonstrations of these psychical happenings; and, now, in order to understand the comparisons which will be drawn, in a few moments let us very briefly consider what happens to man after the death of his physical body; because after all, friends, it all turns upon that.

If there is any reliable source of information to which we can go to find out what actually is the Law of Nature operating at the time of the death of the physical body, we can learn a lot and save ourselves a great number of mistakes; we can save our feet from wandering from the spiritual path altogether; and that teaching very briefly is this: in the case of the average normal individual who lives an ordinary, everyday life -- neither very good nor very bad -- such an individual comes to the natural term of his life say around about sixty or seventy years of age, and passes on. The body dies, and immediately the body, the framework upon which it was built, and the life which energized it, begin to fall to pieces. The body is either burnt under cremation, or it goes into the grave and begins to disintegrate. So much for the body.

Do you remember that a little earlier this evening it was mentioned that man consists not only of that body, but also of his emotional and passional nature, his lower thoughts and desires? Everybody has that constitution to a greater or less degree. Then you have the higher thoughts, the higher spiritual emotions and aspirations that go to make man what he is as a human being with a human soul: and over and above you have the immortal brooding Spirit. It is the human being in the man, the thinker, the conscious entity that we all love, that we have affection and reverence for. I think that you will all agree with me that it is not the animal part of our friend that we have any affection for. We say to ourselves, "Well, we are all human," and we just accept that as a necessary evil; but it is really the truly human-divine qualities which show through the outer casing that go to make up what we love in any human being; and therefore it will come as no shock to us at all when we realize that the animal nature is destined to immediate disintegration after the close of the earth-life.

As long as life persisted, the emotions, the passions, the lower thoughts, were all in a state of constant flux; but directly the life is closed, that inner, real man falls into a state of unconsciousness. Gradually that human soul is separated from its animal nature, and directly that separation is complete, the individual begins to regain his consciousness and wakes up to the ineffable bliss of that spiritual world wherein he will reap fruition of all those causes of a spiritual kind that he generated in the life that has just closed. Take that as a broad idea for the general run of humanity. There are certain exceptions, and we cannot touch upon them more than to say that the exceptions concern those who have been shot forth from this life as a result of accident, suicide, murder, or something of that kind -- anything which cuts short the life so that there is a premature death. Then the individuals concerned go into the Great Beyond in a state that is not really death. They retain their consciousness in a way that the average individual does not.

Now think just for a moment: you have that inner, real man in the ineffable bliss of that heaven which in the language of the Ancient Knowledge is spoken of as Devachan; you have in the region of what the Roman Catholics call Purgatory (the region of Kama-loka as they call it in the East) the material remnants of the being that was, disintegrating, but still for a considerable period hanging together -- remnants or characteristics of the material man that was, in life. This is a tremendously important thing to remember, because in terms of the gross living of the departed entity will be the persistence and longevity of the remnants of his material life in the shape of his passions, his desires and his lower thoughts.

Let us turn to an examination, very briefly, of the phenomena that take place at the Spiritualistic seances. You get a tremendous number of supposed messages from the individuals whom you have known who have departed this life. According to the Ancient Teaching it is quite impossible for a normal average human being to communicate with this earth's sphere once he has passed into the state of unconsciousness and entered the bliss of that period which lasts between earth-lives, and it is impossible for a particular, definite and beneficent reason. It is mechanically impossible from a psychical point of view; but let us look at it from the moral point of view.

Which, friends, do you consider is wiser, grander, more just in every way, to the being that was? He has done his day's work, has he not? He has passed through the tribulations of earth-life. He has 'done his job,' and of necessity that human soul needs rest, needs peace, needs spiritual refreshment before taking tu the toil of earth-life again. What kind of rest would it be to you if you were forced to look down from a purely mythical heaven and see the sorrows, the trials and tribulations of those that you had left behind -- if the bonds of sympathy and love were very great? I do not need to pile illustration upon illustration, but I think that you can recognise for yourselves that it certainly would not be a period of unalloyed rest and bliss; and this is quite a sufficient reason to understand that Nature in her great mercy does not permit such a disturbance of the peace of the soul that has passed on.

Actually where do these messages emanate from? They are sufficiently genuine, they are sufficiently accurate, they bear what is called 'evidential value' of their source; so much so that if you have ever attended a Spiritualistic seance you will always find a number of people who will immediately testify to the fact that what the clairvoyant or the medium has told them -- the description that has been given them of their father, or their mother, or their sweetheart, or something of that kind -- is perfectly just and accurate; that moreover the medium described characteristics that were so peculiar to that individual that they could not possibly doubt. Then where have these come from?

The mediums have a faculty, by virtue of their peculiar constitution, of doing a number of interesting things; and one of the faculties of the mediumistic nature is that they have a power of attracting the remnants, the left-off clothing if you like to call it so, of the emotional nature of the beings that were -- to attract them: that is all. They can get it, so to speak, into the sphere of their own magnetic influence; and having done so, that bundle of memories, of thoughts and feelings, of emotions, is galvanized into a state of activity, very much as a gramophone record is made to play an old tune, and the tune it will play will be in accordance with the particular memories evoked by the thoughts and memories in the mind of the individual in the audience at a seance with whom they are connected; and therefore since those molecules and atoms which compose those bodies contain a complete record or memory of all the incidents that happened in that past life, they are able to say a whole lot of things which only that person knows about. One of the peculiar characteristics of the evidence which they always advance is: "It was such a remarkable thing that that medium said to me, because I had never been there before, she did not know who I was, and yet she said that particular thing that I knew about." Precisely, that was why the medium was able to tell them.

Friends, not only does Nature herself have a great and marvelous record and memory, a great picture-gallery preserving the record of every event that ever was; but each individual one of us has what is called an 'atmosphere' -- a surrounding aura or sphere in which is recorded every slight thought and feeling and action that we have ever done. Is it not natural that those we have loved -- ay, and those we have hated, too -- will have left a clear imprint and picture, not only in our own atmosphere but in the corresponding memory of Nature? Again, the mental and emotional relics that we leave behind us when we pass on will also bear that same connexion with the memory of Nature and with the magnetic sphere surrounding our friends that we have left behind.

It is a fact that a competent, good medium is able to read the magnetic sphere that surrounds us all. He is able to read there all that took place between you and the departed entity, tell you the names, give you an accurate description, because they are all in front of the medium -- he can see them there. Do not think that by that statement I mean to suggest that the medium is in any way deceiving you. Not at all. Mediums do not know how they get their results, and one of the most curious phenomena is that of the photograph -- of what is called a 'spirit-photograph,' when an extra face appears upon the photographic plate in the background. You have all heard or seen illustrations of it. It is a very interesting fact. What is called a 'photographic medium' gets to work and takes your photograph, and sure enough there on the plate you have a picture of somebody you have lost.

Lady Conan Doyle in today's Sunday Despatch gives a description of how a scientific friend went to the British College of Psychic Science -- and he went with a perfectly open mind to see what he could find out about the 'spirit-photograph,' as they call it. The medium was leaving the ball when he arrived, but he asked him to come back and take a photograph for him and he did, and to his (the friend's) great delight he found a perfectly accurate representation of a daughter he had lost, a far better photograph than had been done in life. Well, friends, where did it come from? You can understand that anybody who had not a knowledge of the ancient teachings, the ancient laws inherent in Nature itself, would be deceived by such a phenomenon. He would say, "That girl is alive, conscious, and I have not lost her at all; survival is a fact," never dreaming that it was possible by means of that peculiar characteristic of mediumship to evoke from the memory of Nature or from the memory of the individual, or however you like to put it, the exact image, to densify that image and produce what is tantamount to a materialization that it is possible to photograph; but that is the process.

Do they question it? Not at all. They are mediums. It 'just happens,' from their point of view. For them it is a wonderful power, and it is a remarkable faculty -- you cannot get away from it -- and to them it is a very spiritual and significant event in their lives.

I will give you one other illustration that Lady Conan Doyle gives in this same journal. It shows this more clearly yet. As you know, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle died some considerable time ago -- I do not know when: possibly it was not so very long ago -- and since then they have been holding Spiritualistic seances, and Lady Conan Doyle is completely satisfied and convinced that her husband is communicating with her definitely and in fact. She gives one illustration which she says is a very homely one, but she considers it very comforting. I will tell you what it is and you shall judge for yourself what this thing is, stripped of its sentimental value.

These were the facts: just before her husband died she had put into their country-house a new sort of glass in the windows. It was that particular kind of glass which does not interfere with the ultraviolet rays of the sun. She did it as a gift to him, hoping it would strengthen him when he went down there in the summer. He never lived to see what she had done; he never knew anything about it in fact. Now they had a communication from an excellent medium. She said the late departed Sir Arthur took control of the medium and had communication, and among other things said that he was constantly in the house and benefitting from the ultra-violet rays that came through the windows! ! Now she said, "The critical will say 'How trivial!' but," she adds, "it is very comforting to think that he knew about it."

Well, friends, what is the explanation, the interpretation, from the Theosophical point of view, from the point of view of facts in Nature? That had made a very great impression on Lady Conan Doyle's mind, the record was there in her own mentality; and it was the simplest thing in the world, and perfectly natural, for that medium quite unconsciously to reflect that fact from her consciousness, and it appears in conjunction with the literary remains of Sir Conan Doyle in the form of a 'spirit message' which to her is very convincing. But, friends, has it any real spiritual value at all? I think we must admit, since we have no sentimental connexion with this case, that it has no value at all. It is a very interesting psychic happening, and that is about all you can say for it.

Every one of the different psychic phenomena that occur -- I do not care what they are -- is susceptible of a different interpretation from the one that is put upon it. I am not going to take time to illustrate for you the innumerable instances that have occurred in the fifty years since the coming of Madame H. P. Blavatsky. They are almost endless, but if anything you have heard has stimulated your interest to the point of realizing that after all there may be another side to the question, then, friends, I say, Go to work with a book and learn for yourselves what are these laws in Nature, and you will develop a background of knowledge for your investigation of the hidden powers of Nature which you will never get in any of your Spiritualistic seances.

I want to leave one main idea with you, and it is this: in going to work in the particular way that the Spiritualist does he actually denies himself the power of direct spiritual perception. He denies to himself the grand realities of the priceless knowledge of himself as he essentially and divinely is in his own innermost nature. Try to get at the meaning of that state, because Spiritualists are people who in the majority of cases are tremendously sincere; they want something more than they can materially contact and get from the materialistic point of view, and because of their past Karman, if you will, perhaps owing to a slight development of mediumistic faculties in past lives -- I do not know what it might be -- they are led to believe that the next stage in their spiritual development is to open that back door of their consciousness into these unseen realms of Nature. Remember that they are opening the door into the realms of the emotional and the passional nature, the realms inhabited by nature-spirits, by elementaries, by spooks, by ghosts, by the relics of all that we have loved and lost, as we think. By stepping aside from the conscious control of their own mechanism of consciousness they are actually turning their back upon the light that lighteth every man in the world if he will only look for it in the right place.

That is a very terrible thing. It is a mighty serious one, too, believe me, friends, because an increasing number of human souls are being drawn into the vortex of mediumship and psychism.

The whole object of the Theosophical Movement, and the work that we are doing here, is to state over and over again, in different ways, in differing aspects, that at the heart of every living thing the Divine Light exists, pulsing, burning brightly, and if you look and search into the innermost depths of your being it is possible to discover that Light. Not only that, but in the discovery, provided your motive is selfless, true and sincere, you will find that those Great Beings who have passed along the path of human evolution ahead of us, are there waiting, watching, for every single one of us who lights the Divine flame in his own heart by that search for truth, by sincerity, and by his desire to place his whole being, his whole nature, at the service of the human race, once he has discovered that Light and that it is a matter for him of conscious knowledge. Have no fear; once the Light is seen by those distant watchers, friends, it will not be allowed to go out -- it might flicker but it will not be allowed to go out. It will be tended and helped and made to burn steadily and more brightly according as we act in terms of that higher nature within us, and provided we do not abdicate to any agency outside of ourselves. That is the message of Theosophy upon this great subject.

From Theosophia Fall 1978


THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPIRITUAL AND PSYCHIC VISION
Phoebe D. Bendit

[Lecture delivered at the 84th International Convention at Adyar, 23 December, 1959.]

This is not a simple subject and there are no easy answers. I would like to state at the very beginning, having spent the whole of this incarnation in experience and study of this particular subject, that there are many things I do not know and many more I do not understand. I am only sure of one thing, and that is, I do not know.

Clairvoyance is very much misunderstood both in the East and in the West. It means literally "clear seeing," but this does not mean that one understands what one sees. We possess five physical senses but what we do not realize is how misleading those five physical senses are. We are always making mistakes about what we perceive at the physical level. You have only to go into a court of law and listen to the witnesses of a car accident, and you will find how their perception, their vision, their judgment, and all else differ, so that there are many difficulties in sorting out the evidence. If that is true at the physical level, then it is even more true at the invisible level of life, where the material is so finely graded, shifting, changing, altering, in shape, color, design, texture, qualities and a thousand other things at every moment. So there are many difficulties in obtaining reliable and steady psychic vision.

There are some basic difficulties which affect every clairvoyant, from the lowest order to the highest rank. Firstly, there is no possibility of making true pictures of what we see in other terms than those of the language of the physical plane. We are translating what we see into terms of things about which we know something physically and the images are of necessity distorted. If on the physical plane we meet an object we have never seen before and we have no conception of its purpose, we relate it to the nearest familiar object and hence we are apt to give it a false value. Psychic objects are even more unlike known physical objects. So this imaging and the using of words of the physical plane is one of the fundamental difficulties. Another difficulty which has to be understood is that every clairvoyant, again from the lowest to the highest, has to perceive and translate his perception through the coloring of his own auric field; that is, through the complexities of the personal outlook. Environment, emotional bias, the trend of our mind, color the auric field the whole time, and there is no hope of translating what we see except through that field. So the good clairvoyant needs to learn something of his psychological make-up in order that he may realize what is called in science his margin of error, and allow for it in the vision that he sees and expresses. Thirdly, there is the quality and type of clairvoyance which we possess. This does not depend upon this incarnation alone. It is something that has been projected with us when we arrived into life for a fresh piece of work. It depends on our training in the past and varies according to the type and temperament of person that we happen to be in this life.

In the main, there are two principal types of clairvoyants in the world. There are those whom we call the reactive or negative type of clairvoyants who very largely use the solar plexus and sympathetic nervous system as the mechanism of perception. They are the people who nearly always depend upon conditions which suit the personality that they are using. They demand certain things, and unless those things are supplied they are not able to see. Their work is apt to be personal, and they are often extremely sensitive to any kind of criticism or even objective analysis. Their feelings are very easily hurt and they are very much the victims of their own sensitivity. They usually cannot control their clairvoyance and this makes their life very difficult. We are not particularly concerned with that type of work in this meeting, but it is the precursor at some time or other in the history of the individual of that which can follow after. It is a stage along the road to a more positive and objective form of clairvoyance.

In Theosophy the thing that we should be seeking is the control of the personal life, the development of the inner man, so as to be able to see life as it truly is. In clairvoyance this leads to another type of work altogether. The first type very often depends upon dropping the censorship of the clear waking mind and falling back into a half-way state which is neither in the world nor out of it. This produces sometimes some slight degree of semi-trance. But the other type of worker uses another mechanism altogether, the cerebro-spinal system and the Ajna, or Pituitary and Brahmarandhra (or Crown) chakras, and, in advanced degrees of clairvoyance, a psychic centre which is in the aura of the individual above the head front which there is a straight transmission of direct vision to the brain. These people, if they have their capacity well under control and integrated into daily life, do not on the whole demand special conditions. A great deal of their work can be done anywhere, provided there is not too much noise or movement. They do this in full self-consciousness.

There is apt to be much confusion in the work of the first type of person. He is very often truly clairvoyant, but it is difficult for him to realize that actual clairvoyance mingles with intuition, telepathy, and various other aspects of psychic sensitivity, and it is not easy to differentiate between them. He sees but he does not always know what it is that he is seeing, nor how. He does not know instantaneously the difference between a person out of the body, asleep, or under all anesthetic, a dead person, a person in trance, or a thought form. Yet these are very different. An illustration will help to show this. A friend of mine went to a clairvoyant who had given her with great accuracy and detail a description of two people and asked whether she knew them. She said she did, and asked the clairvoyant whether she was sure that they were "dead" people. The clairvoyant said she was perfectly sure. They had waited a very long while to bring messages to her. These she proceeded to give. As usual, they were of no importance whatever. The thing that was important was that those descriptions were perfectly accurate, but one was an exact picture of the man who had sat on her left hand at dinner the night before and who was very much alive; and the other was an equally clear one, both as temperament and type, of the hero of her new novel which was half written. They were not "dead" people at all.

From the Theosophical aspects of the work the question arises as to how one can make practical use of clairvoyance, if it is sufficiently trained and at one's command. There are many avenues in which it can be useful. In the field of education, if we had people with trained sensitive perception (and there are other forms of perception besides actual clairvoyance), many of the more difficult problems of children might be either avoided altogether, or dealt with positively and intelligently. There are nowadays many quick reincarnations. Children come back with mature and powerful mental and emotional equipment, and those are too much for the little delicate bodies. Hence arise problems which a more sensitive approach would realize. Moreover, psychic perceptivity helps to differentiate between the child who is physically defective from lack of brain development, the potential psychotic, and the one who is primitive and only "defective" because born in a civilized community. The educative field would be a fine field in which to use this particular faculty.

Another use is in medicine and surgery. Trained clairvoyance can be and has been used to avoid unnecessary operations, to lessen the horrors of vivisection, to trace obscure medical problems, to help the medical person to determine whether the disorder be psychological or physiological, and so on. It is easy from one point of view and difficult front another to count the beat of the heart, to observe the blood-stream, the lymph glands, the structure of the spinal column, the lay-out of any given organ, to find out whether there are stones in the kidney, gall-bladder, and so on, or whether the problem is psychological rather than physiological.

There is also another of its uses, in art, where the artist is unable to express his vision because he gets confused with himself. I would like to say categorically that I have never yet found a fine psychic who was not very artistic, and I have never found a good artist who was not definitely psychic. But they get confused, because the clarity of the concept they are trying to embody in their work becomes lost in the mass of psychological associations which gather round it. If one can explain to them the difference between their actual vision and their mental and emotional memories, it helps them to analyze what belongs to their more-than-personal inspiration and what is purely the product of their personal minds. The true artist, because of his sensitivity, is usually quick to seize upon these things and he is also one of the quickest people to make use of them and to change his way of working.

True and deep perception is of remarkable value also in the ordinary understanding of life. We all know the feuds, the difficulties, the hatred, that religion, politics and many other avenues of work produce. If we had the perceptive quality so developed that we could put our consciousness into that of the other person and look at his difficulties, his ideas, and his expression of them as they really appear to himself, we should be able to discover some common ground where we can meet and produce a union instead of a clash. That is extremely necessary, especially in the religious life of the West.

In spite of all this, clairvoyance must never be confused with spiritual vision. No form of clairvoyance gives clear spiritual vision. But Spiritual vision and understanding may, if trained in that direction, lead to true and accurate clairvoyance. The trained clairvoyant as he goes on, uses Buddhi manifesting through Manas and reflected upon a steady, controlled, lower mind. But though true clairvoyance is partially spiritual, it is not purely so and must never be thought of as such. Spiritual vision is another order altogether. It cannot be conveyed in picture symbols, neither can it be conveyed in any form of words. You cannot come and tell me about it and I cannot come and tell you about it, because if you can communicate it in words it is not spiritual vision. It may be near it, but it is not the pure thing which can only be exchanged by a form of silent communion and recognition. You know and I know that we have had the same experience, we are unified, we are together in it. There is a wholeness, there is no kind of argument at any level whatsoever. Spiritual vision moreover changes a person, and he can never be the same afterwards as he was before. But even the higher forms of clairvoyance do not necessarily change the clairvoyant. He can still be as personal, as stupid, as silly and as self-important as ever. For clairvoyance unsupported by deep spiritual insight, into oneself as much as into others, belongs to the personality, and indeed tends to make that personality feel more important than ever, because it feels superior to the ordinary people around it.

Spiritual vision unifies all the time. It never divides. The simplest person can be possessed and often is possessed of it. He understands that the mud under his feet, the stars in the heavens, the relationship to the person he loves, to an animal, a flower, even to the ugliness, the dirt, the drudgery of life, are all one. They are part of the unity of the world below when seen from above. And there we have an entirely different vision from that of mere clairvoyance. It behooves the student of Theosophy to realize this and not to try to develop siddhis. They will come anyway to the one on the Path who is truly seeking the integration of the personality. They come alongside of the training of the lower mind, the reaching of the lower self into the realm of the higher Self, and as the two become united. We should never bother about the development of the psychic powers, because at some time or another they are inevitable. They come with our progress in understanding and our growing perception.

There is one great need both in the East and in the West. It is that we perceive the spiritual stature of man, that he is a spirit emanating from the mind of God, bringing with him unique qualities. That is the important thing and that is where we as members of the Theosophical Society should be standing today, because the danger of the world is not in the progress of the outer and material aspects of life. These may have their dangers, but the great danger lies not in any of the things that affect the life of man at the lower level, but in losing sight of the dignity of man as a spirit incarnate. That realization is the only thing that is going ultimately to deflect war into peace. It is the only thing which is going to give us the understanding of other people, other purposes, other races, and all else which alone can bring peace and happiness to this troubled world.

Nicholas,

I found a quote which is quite on-topic:

The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett
by Trevor Barker

Letter 38

"The situation is this: men who join the Society with the one selfish object of reaching power making occult science their only or even chief aim may as well not join it — they are doomed to disappointment as much as those who commit the mistake of letting them believe that the Society is nothing else. It is just because they preach too much "the Brothers" and too little if at all Brotherhood that they fail. How many times had we to repeat, that he who joins the Society with the sole object of coming in contact with us and if not of acquiring at least of assuring himself of the reality of such powers and of our objective existence — was pursuing a mirage? I say again then. It is he alone who has the love of humanity at heart, who is capable of grasping thoroughly the idea of a regenerating practical Brotherhood who is entitled to the possession of our secrets. He alone, such a man — will never misuse his powers, as there will be no fear that he should turn them to selfish ends. A man who places not the good of mankind above his own good is not worthy of becoming our chela — he is not worthy of becoming higher in knowledge than his neighbour. If he craves for phenomena let him be satisfied with the pranks of spiritualism. "

TRUE PROGRESS
By W. Q. Judge, under the pen-name of Bryan Kinnavan

Perhaps those who have engaged in discussions about whether it is more advisable to become acquainted with the Astral Plane and to see therein than to study the metaphysics and ethics of theosophy, may be aided by the experience of a fellow student. For several years I studied about and experimented on the Astral Light to the end that I might, if possible, develop the power to look therein and see those marvellous pictures of that plane which tempt the observer. But although in some degree success followed my efforts so far as seeing these strange things was concerned, I found no increase of knowledge as to the manner in which the pictures were made visible, nor as to the sources from which they rose. A great many facts were in my possession, but the more I accumulated the farther away from perception seemed the law governing them. I turned to a teacher, and he said:

"Beware of the illusions of matter."

"But," said I, "is this matter into which I gaze?"

"Yes; and of grosser sort than that which composes your body; full of illusions, swarming with beings inimical to progress, and crowded with the thoughts of all the wicked who have lived."

"How," replied I, "am I to know aught about it unless I investigate it?"

"It will be time enough to do that when you shall have been equipped properly for the exploration. He who ventures into a strange country unprovided with needful supplies, without a compass and unfamiliar with the habits of the people, is in danger. Examine and see."

Left thus to myself, I sought those who had dabbled in the Astral Light, who were accustomed to seeing the pictures therein every day, and asked them to explain. Not one had any theory, any philosophical basis. All were confused and at variance each with the other. Nearly all, too, were in hopeless ignorance as to other and vital questions. None were self-contained or dispassionate; moved by contrary winds of desire, each one appeared abnormal; for, while in possession of the power to see or hear in the Astral Light, they were unregulated in all other departments of their being. Still more, they seemed to be in a degree intoxicated with the strangeness of the power, for it placed them in that respect above other persons, yet in practical affairs left them without any ability.

Examining more closely, I found that all these "seers" were but half-seers -- and hardly even that. One could hear astral sounds but could not see astral sights; another saw pictures, but no sound or smell was there; still others saw symbols only, and each derided the special power of the other. Turning even to the great Emanuel Swedenborg, I found a seer of wonderful power, but whose constitution made him see in the Astral world a series of pictures which were solely an extension of his own inherited beliefs. And although he had had a few visions of actual everyday affairs occurring at a distance, they were so few as only to be remarkable.

One danger warned against by the teacher was then plainly evident. It was the danger of becoming confused and clouded in mind by the recurrence of pictures which had no salutary effect so far as experience went. So again I sought the teacher and asked:

"Has the Astral Light no power to teach and, if not, why is it thus? And are there other dangers than what I have discovered?"

"No power whatever has the astral plane, in itself, to teach you. It contains the impressions made by men in their ignorance and folly. Unable to arouse the true thoughts, they continue to infect that light with the virus of their unguided lives. And you, or any other seer, looking therein will warp and distort all that you find there. It will present to you pictures that partake largely of your own constitutional habits, weaknesses, and peculiarities. Thus you only see a distorted or exaggerated copy of yourself. It will never teach you the reason of things, for it knows them not.

"But stranger dangers than any you have met are there when one goes further on. The dweller of the threshold is there, made up of all the evil that man has done. None can escape its approach, and he who is not prepared is in danger of death, of despair, or of moral ruin. Devote, yourself, therefore, to spiritual aspiration and to true devotion, which will be a means for you to learn the causes that operate in nature, how they work, and what each one works upon."

I then devoted myself as he had directed, and discovered that a philosophical basis, once acquired, showed clearly how to arrive at dispassion and made exercise therein easy. It even enables me to clear up the thousand doubts that assail those others who are peering into the Astral Light. This too is the old practice enjoined by the ancient schools from which our knowledge about the Astral Light is derived. They compelled the disciple to abjure all occult practices until such time as he had laid a sure foundation of logic, philosophy, and ethics; and only then was he permitted to go further in that strange country from which many an unprepared explorer has returned bereft of truth and sometimes despoiled of reason. Further, I know that the Masters of the Theosophical Society have written these words: "Let the Theosophical Society flourish through moral worth and philosophy, and give up pursuit of phenomena." Shall we be greater than They, and ignorantly set the pace upon the path that leads to ruin?

SHALL WE TEACH CLAIRVOYANCE?
A NOTE OF WARNING

MY attention has been arrested by the address delivered in the Adyar course by Dr. Daly and reported in the September Theosophist. It is entitled "Clairvoyance."

Coming out in the Adyar course, it has a certain flavor of authority which will appeal to many members of the Society and may cause them to adopt the suggestions for practice given in the latter part of the address. Yet at the same time it is very true that the Theosophical Society is not responsible for the utterances of members in their private capacity.

The fact that clairvoyance is a power sought after by many persons cannot be disputed, but the questions, Is it well to try to develop clairvoyance? and Shall we teach it? have not yet been definitely decided. Hence I may be permitted to give my views upon them.

At the outset I desire to declare my personal attitude on these questions and my beliefs as to facts. In using the term "clairvoyance" I intend to include in it all clear perception on that plane.

I. I have for many years been convinced by proofs furnished by others and from personal experience that clairvoyance is a power belonging to man's s inner nature; and also that it is possessed by the animal kingdom.

2. This faculty is either inherited or educed by practice.

3. Those who have it by birth are generally physically diseased or nervously deranged. The cases where clairvoyance is shown by a perfectly healthy and well-balanced person are rare.

4. The records of spiritualism for over forty years in America conclusively prove that clairvoyance cannot be safely sought after by persons who have no competent guide; that its pursuit has done harm; and that almost every medium to whom one puts the question "Am I able to develop clairvoyance?" will reply "Yes."

5. There are no competent guides in this pursuit to be found here or in Europe who are willing to teach one how to acquire it without danger.

6. The qualifications such a guide should possess render the finding of one difficult if not impossible. They are: the power to look within and see clearly the whole inner nature of the student; a complete knowledge of all the planes upon which clairvoyance acts, including knowledge of the source, the meaning, and the effect of all that is perceived by the clairvoyant; and last, but not least, the power to stop at will the exercise of the power. Evidently these requirements call for an adept.

Who are the teachers of clairvoyance, and those who advise that it be practiced? In the main, the first are mediums, and any investigator knows how little they know. Every one of them differs from every other in his powers. The majority have only one sort of clairvoyance; here and there are some who combine, at most, three classes of the faculty. Not a single one is able to mentally see behind the image or idea perceived, and cannot say in a given case whether the image seen is the object itself or the result of a thought from another mind. For in these planes of perception the thoughts of men become as objective as material objects are to our human eyes. It is true that a clairvoyant can tell you that what is being thus perceived is not apprehended by the physical eye, but beyond that he cannot go. Of this I have had hundreds of examples. In 99 out of 100 instances the seer mistook the thought from another mind for a clairvoyant perception of a living person or physical object.

The seers of whom I speak see always according to their inner tendency, which is governed by subtle laws of heredity which are wholly unknown to scientific men and much more to mediums and seers. One will only reach the symbolic plane; another that which is known to occultists as the positive side of sound; another to the negative or positive aspects of the epidermis and its emanations; and so on through innumerable layer after layer of clairvoyance and octave after octave of vibrations. They all know but the little they have experienced, and for any other person to seek to develop the power is dangerous. The philosophy of it all, the laws that cause the image to appear and disappear, are terra incognita.

The occult septenary scheme in nature with all its modifications produces multiple effects, and no mere clairvoyant is able to see the truth that underlies the simplest instance of clairvoyant perception. If a man moves from one chair to another, immediately hundreds of possibilities arise for the clairvoyant eye, and he alone who is a highly trained and philosophical seer - an adept, in short - can combine them all so as to arrive at true clear-perception. In the simple act described almost all the centres of force in the moving being go into operation, and each one produces its own peculiar effect in the astral light. At once the motion made and thoughts aroused elicit their own sound, color, motion in ether, amount of etheric light, symbolic picture, disturbance of elemental forces, and so on through the great catalogue. Did but one wink his eye, the same effects follow in due order. And the seer can perceive but that which attunes itself to his own development and personal peculiarities, all limited in force and degree.

What, may I ask, do clairvoyants know of the law of prevention or encrustation which is acting always with many people? Nothing, absolutely nothing. How do they explain those cases where, try as they will, they cannot see anything whatever regarding certain things? Judging from human nature and the sordidness of many schools of clairvoyance, are we not safe in affirming that if there were any real or reliable clairvoyance about us now-a-days among those who offer to teach it or take pay for it, long ago fortunes would have been made by them, banks despoiled, lost articles found, and friends more often reunited? Admitting that there have been sporadic instances of success on these lines, does not the exception prove that true clairvoyance is not understood or likely to be?

But what shall theosophists do? Stop all attempts at clairvoyance. And why? Because it leads them slowly but surely - almost beyond recall into an interior and exterior passive state where the will is gradually overpowered and they are at last in the power of the demons who lurk around the threshold of our consciousness. Above all, follow no advice to "sit for development." Madness lies that way. The feathery touches which come upon the skin while trying these experiments are said by mediums to be the gentle touches of "the spirits." But they are not. They are caused by the ethereal fluids from within us making their way out through the skin and thus producing the illusion of a touch. When enough has gone out, then the victim is getting gradually negative, the future prey for spooks and will-o'-the-wisp images.

"But what," they say, "shall we pursue and study?" Study the philosophy of life, leave the decorations that line the road of spiritual development for future lives, and practice altruism.


WILLIAM Q. JUDGE
The Path, December, 1890

Illusion regarding this world is accepted by all spiritual paths as an obstacle that must be overcome. Illusion with regard to the psychic world is not accepted by many paths. Especially is it the case with someone who has some degree of awareness in the psychic realm.

Here is WQ Judge giving reasons why psychic delusion is as big, if not bigger, an obstacle to spiritual living, as is delusion in this ordinary world.

From Communications from "Spirits"

Wow. Interesting. Was Judge speaking about H.P.B. pointedly, or all other psychic/mediums except H.P.B. and H.S.Olcott, the founders of the Theosphical Society, ... or they and we?

PS: I just realized, we have to question Leadbeater and Bessant too. So many, if not just about all involved in the early formation of the Society, and those who established its foundation and principles, seemed to be psychics, mediums, clairvoyants and some this's and that's I don't even recognize. Is he dissing all the early Theosophists, or is this one of those "except present company" kind of statements?

Christian

Delusional?

It's a shame Judge did not quite learn there are great distinctions between the many sub-levels of the Astral Plane --even their gradients--, yet another paramount fact that could help shape his writings.

And too, that he did not live long enough to see, experience and understand modern Mediumship where the focus is just the upper Astral, at best, and more often with the goal towards reaching any and all levels of the lofty Mental Plane. Come to think of it, I don't even think the term "Inspirational Mediumship" had been coined yet, or fully accepted. What an amazing difference in tone and substance his admonitions, writings and commentary might have taken.

I guess, like his views on how one should entertain Theosophy, we well need to take his admonitions with a grain of salt; or grin and bear it.

What a lucky dude, too. He got in under the wire before the Board guideline #1; ... delusional indeed:
"1. Do not disparage the beliefs of other people."

Do any of the rest of us qualify under the Grandfather Clause?

Christian Myst

Gosh. This whole thread seems so one-sided. How un-cool is that?

Still, this thread has a somewhat amusing underlying presumption, that psychism is not a part of spiritualism. :rolleyes: Actually, the post headings and content get rather explicit in this regard. Psychism, and/or medimship and/or clairvoyance, ... probably telepathy too, that is going to shunt out angel communion, and any connection to Jesus and prophets right away. If its spiritualism vs. psychism, I wonder where it would be recommended we place psychism? Under religion, philosphy, law, ... what?

Our forum guideline #1 is sure going to paradoxical. Something like, we can disparage in one direction, but not the other.

This brings up an interesting question. Is there a difference in how the spirit of Theosophy says we should adjudge this approach to beliefs, and how it does in practice?

Christian Myst

Judge was referring to any psychic untrained to avoid or see through the delusory possibilities. HPB was trained - the rest - I do not know.

Judge, Barker, and Bendit seem good authors, but Nicholas, could you summarize these articles or give your opinion? Right now I would rather read what is on my reading list (posted in 'What Are You Reading?' board) since it will take at least a few years.

Note spiritual vs. psychic is in 2 different languages. It is clearer to say pneum[a[t]]ic vs. psychic (but preferably the correct Greek) or spiritual vs. soulful. The so-called 'astral' world ('plane') and the mental--1 and 2 worlds above material-ethereal, respectively (though the term 'astral plane' contradicts Einsteinean physics' Minowski space in which temporal is one up from material and astral is two up) are described as emotional (Gr. 'thymotic',) and mental (Gr. 'noetic' or 'phrenic,') not psychic. Let us use term sets, not a popular spirit[ual]ist-originated vernacular mix.

Consciousness on each/any plane has senses. Prepending 'clair' to senses in French does not make it supernatural let alone dangerous. A reason Western science is so materialist is it typically rejects higher senses, and this is as bad as so-called 'psychism' (thymism and phrenism--phren: lower mind.) We may not be able to define all higher senses (not meaning the 2 beyond the 5, but 5 equivalents on higher planes) and I think most lists of them are odd, and there is not much point in prepending 'clair' to a sense--monistically it is the same, and if one can naturally use senses they should--self-discipline is important, not senses themselves.

I do think the [likely even upper] 'astral' has much delusion, actually it all has glamour--usually the mental plane is defined to have delusion and illusion. It is common to consider pleasure most important astrally, but one must realize it and pain usually distract, sort of like fancy and incorrect thoughts, according to Patanjali. Focusing on pleasure & fancy with 'astral' or mental senses could be problematic, including pleasure & fancy in mass entertainment and media just as much as 'astral' or mental things--focusing on pleasure & fancy using material-ethereal senses is just as bad: Dharmis such as Yogis and Jains go to extremes avoiding any sensualism (even material-ethereal.)

Consciousness above mind is usually not defined as being a body, but any consciousness vehicle has senses. Vehicles and senses neither have nor lack particular inherent value, but if one operates in vehicles that have the faculty of reasoning (such as ones more formless than bodily) it is better. Spirit[ual]ists and mediums are no better or worse than much of the rest of the masses of humanity, though what any of these people sense should not be depended on. If someone operates in a vehicle that has the faculty of reason there should be no major problem from any senses.

(1) Oh. What would those senses of the highest Planes be, …and what, do you suppose is it that performs "the sensing," …and by what empowerment? Perhaps just my rhetorical musings, --- I am asking myself this question as I read the post.

(2) Not sure that I have ever accepted there being a valid spiritual vs. psychic “context”; although this tangent has been frequently and easily suggested within these frames. To me (and many outside this privileged sanctum) “the spiritual” encompasses “the psychic.” It is not an exception, an extraction, a contradiction, a competition, an opposition nor a variation. “Psychic” is a fact part and parcel to “spiritual”; …absolutely inseparable and wholly necessary. To me, and I alone ride this lone horse it seems, consider separating the two absurd. Can either exist or be at all, or in any way, without the other?

Me thinks this a sort of politic to ensure or shore up a current and society imposed doctrine component to Theosophy. Such should be oxymoronic.

Higher plane senses are defined as:

2 as yet undeveloped senses (according to HPB,)
clairaudience ('clear hearing,')
clairvoyance ('" sight,')
clairsentience ('" touch,')
clairgustance ('" taste,')
clairalience ('" smell.')

As for 'what performs sensing and by what empowerment,' that is more of a topic for the 'Concepts: consciousness/intelligence/spirit, principles of/in humanity' (board: topic.) I would say any consciousness senses: how about you hazard a guess there?

I agree to an extent: if atma/cheybi/chayah/pneuma/spirit is incarnate in buddhi/bai/neshamah/psyche/soul then they are inseperable as you say, however not all spirit is incarnate on the Buddhic/psychic/soulful--such as certain higher 'vestures' a Master may take. Otherwise one might similarly say all vitality/ether in 3 dimensions is subtle but simultaneously solid, liquid, or gas.

--Bro. David