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- Herausgeber: Booksell-Verlag
- Kategorie: Ratgeber
- Sprache: Englisch
In "A Treatise on White Magic: Fifteen Rules," Alice Bailey presents a profound exploration of esoteric philosophy, illuminating the intricate relationship between the spiritual and the practical aspects of life. The book is structured around fifteen rules designed to guide individuals on the path of white magic, emphasizing ethical living, the development of one's spiritual consciousness, and the cultivation of the inner self. Bailey's literary style is both accessible and thought-provoking, reflecting her extensive background in theosophy and spiritual teachings, which contextualizes her work within a broader dialogue on metaphysics and moral philosophy. Alice Bailey (1880-1949) was a pivotal figure in the early 20th-century esoteric movement, co-founding the Arcane School and writing numerous influential texts. Her experiences as a disciple of the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul deeply influenced her work, shaping her understanding of the spiritual laws that govern human existence. Her writings synthesize Eastern and Western spiritual traditions, providing a unique perspective that resonates with seekers of truth and initiates alike. "A Treatise on White Magic" is essential reading for anyone interested in the transformative power of spiritual principles in everyday life. This book not only serves as a practical guide for aspiring practitioners of white magic but also offers a holistic framework for understanding one's role in the greater tapestry of existence. For readers seeking to deepen their spiritual practice and ethical awareness, Bailey's insights are both enlightening and inspiring. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes. - The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists. - A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing. - A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings. - Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life. - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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A Treatise on White Magic: Fifteen Rules
Table of Contents
Introduction
Uniting disciplined thought, clarified motive, and selfless service into a single path of practice, A Treatise on White Magic: Fifteen Rules advances the central idea that the inner life—when aligned with the soul—becomes a responsible, beneficent power that can rightly direct energy, refine character, and contribute to constructive change within human affairs.
Written by Alice A. Bailey and situated within the esoteric, instructional genre, this work emerged from the early twentieth-century wave of occult and spiritual studies, with first publication in the 1930s through Lucis Publishing (Lucis Trust). Bailey presented it as part of a larger body of teachings she produced between 1919 and 1949, framing it as guidance for aspirants on the path of discipleship. Rather than a narrative with a physical setting, the book is set in the training ground of inner development and group service, where psychological discipline, ethical intention, and spiritual aspiration are treated as the primary field of action.
The premise is straightforward yet demanding: fifteen rules outline a path by which an aspirant can cultivate mental clarity, moral steadiness, and practical service, thereby transforming aspiration into steady, purposeful living. The reading experience is rigorous and meditative, with a formal, didactic voice that invites study rather than passive consumption. Expect layered definitions, recurring terms, and a sustained effort to place personal development within a larger, impersonal context. The mood is sober, encouraging patience and incremental progress. For readers comfortable with contemplative texts, its methodical pace and cumulative argument foster a workshop-like atmosphere of disciplined inquiry.
Key themes include the integration of personality and soul, the ethical use of thought, the practice of harmlessness, and the shift from individual striving to cooperative, group-centered service. The book emphasizes responsibility for one’s inner states as causal agents in the wider world, asking readers to consider how intention and attention shape outcomes. It argues for a persistent refinement of motive, tying character formation to practical usefulness. In doing so, it reframes creativity as a governed, ethical act rather than a purely spontaneous impulse, encouraging readers to align insight, feeling, and action with an inclusive good that transcends personal preference.
While the title evokes magic, the text treats magic as a disciplined science of consciousness rather than ritual display, focusing on training the mind, purifying motive, and aligning with impersonal laws as the basis for constructive influence. The rules function as operational principles, not ceremonial prescriptions, and they are repeatedly related to everyday choices, habits of thought, and the quality of speech and action. The book’s framework presents a lawfully ordered universe in which energy follows thought and motive determines results, guiding readers to exchange impulsive reactivity for careful observation, intelligent adaptation, and sustained, ethically oriented practice.
For contemporary readers, its relevance lies in the convergence of attention training, ethical intention, and service. In an age of information overload and heightened social interdependence, the insistence on clarity of motive, disciplined thought, and cooperative effort speaks directly to personal integrity and collective responsibility. The language reflects its period, yet its call to examine the consequences of thinking and speaking before acting remains timely. Approached as a contemplative manual, it offers practical scaffolding for anyone seeking to ground aspiration in steady conduct, whether one accepts its metaphysical assumptions or simply engages it as a rigorous curriculum for character and focus.
To enter this book is to adopt the apprentice’s stance: reading slowly, testing principles in lived experience, and allowing reflection to be as important as study. It rewards attention with a coherent map of inner development oriented toward tangible usefulness in the world. Without disclosing the specific content of the rules, it is fair to say that they build a disciplined bridge between inner poise and outer service. The result is a demanding but dignifying journey, inviting readers to treat thought as a craft, motive as a compass, and daily choices as the arena in which a higher, more humane creativity takes form.
Synopsis
A Treatise on White Magic: Fifteen Rules presents Alice Bailey's exposition of spiritual creativity as an exact science, framed for aspirants and disciples. The book defines white magic as the lawful activity of the soul, working through the mind to build forms that express intelligent love and serve the general good. It establishes foundational premises: the human being as a triune entity; the soul as the true magician; and thought as an energy that organizes subtle substance. Bailey arranges fifteen rules with extended commentaries, interwoven with discussions of common difficulties. The sequence moves from orientation and motive to method, obstacles, and responsible application.
It opens by contrasting white magic with personal psychism or coercive will, insisting on harmlessness, purity of motive, and group consciousness. Early instruction stresses alignment with the soul, stabilization of the emotional nature, and control of speech. The disciple is urged to cultivate silence, watchfulness, and non-attachment, so that the mind can hold steady in the light. The text clarifies that magical work begins only when the soul impresses the mind, and personality ambition subsides. Ethical discipline precedes technique; no shortcuts are offered. With this groundwork, the rules are approached as safeguards as much as methods, protecting both the worker and others from misdirected force.
The initial rules map the conditions for constructive thought-form building. The soul's intention must be sensed; the mind must be rendered a clear, receptive focus; and the lower nature must be coordinated yet quiescent. The concept of the Solar Angel, or indwelling soul, is used to describe the source of the creative impulse, while the lunar lords symbolize the elemental lives that compose the personality. The aspirant learns to assume the stance of the Observer, establishing alignment before any projection of energy. Right timing, right motive, and a balanced rhythm are emphasized as prerequisites for initiating the creative process without generating glamor or friction.
The treatise then details the magical sequence by which ideas become effective forms. It describes the stages of brooding upon an impression, defining purpose, constructing the form on mental levels, and carefully vitalizing it with controlled desire and pranic energy. The disciple guards the nascent thought-form from distortion, neither over-stimulating nor prematurely releasing it. When matured, it is sent forth on its mission with clear limits and a specific field of service. Throughout, detachment from results is counseled, and any misguided creation is to be recognized and withdrawn. The process is portrayed as rhythmic, cyclic, and governed by law rather than by personal will.
Attention shifts to the management of forces within the human mechanism. The book outlines the interplay of centers, or chakras, and the prudent transference of energy from lower to higher expressions, often depicted as raising the fires from one triangle of centers to another. Meditation, visualization, and rhythmic breathing are presented as means to steady the mind and redirect energies, yet the text consistently warns against forcing techniques or stimulating centers prematurely. It also introduces the cooperation of deva or elemental lives in form-building, clarifying the magician's role as coordinator and server rather than controller, and insists that character, harmlessness, and steady service are the safest protectors in energy work.
Considerable space addresses obstacles that beset aspirants: glamor, illusion, and maya. The analysis distinguishes intellectual error from emotional glamor and from physical-plane entanglement, prescribing the light of the soul, discrimination, and disciplined living as remedies. The treatise treats psychic phenomena as incidental, warning that fascination with powers increases deception. It introduces the symbolism of the Dweller on the Threshold to depict accumulated hindrances, and the Angel of the Presence to represent realized soul consciousness. By recognizing causes of distortion, such as fear, desire, and separative thought, the disciple learns to dissipate fogs, maintain equilibrium under impact, and keep the mind steady as a beacon through changing inner and outer conditions.
From technique the book advances to context, asserting that true magic is impersonal service. It frames discipleship within group alignment and cooperation with a planetary Plan, referencing the New Group of World Servers as an emerging field of work. Practical counsel covers the conservation of force, silence after action, timing cycles, and the relinquishment of ownership over results. The disciple is asked to become a channel for impression, transmitting qualified energy where needed without attachment. Service is described as both test and protection, integrating motive, method, and result. Thus, magical work is seen less as display and more as a quiet, persistent ministry to human need.
Progression is treated in developmental terms. The text sketches stages from aspirant through accepted disciple, noting crises that reorganize the vehicles and deepen soul control. It describes increasing sensitivity to impression, the shift from devotion to inclusive love-wisdom, and the gradual integration of the personality as a useful instrument. While detailed initiation doctrine lies elsewhere, the treatise offers a view of initiation as expanded responsibility and capacity to wield energy safely. Hints on bridging consciousness and stabilizing continuity of awareness appear as goals, always tied to usefulness. The closing emphasis returns to preparation, steadiness, and the quiet assumption of duty within a larger cooperative endeavor.
The overall message presents white magic as lawful, ethical, and inherently group-centered. The fifteen rules function as a practical safeguard and guide: align with the soul, clarify motive, build thought-forms intelligently, govern energy harmlessly, overcome glamor, and render service to the common good. The treatise maintains a consistent sequence from foundation to method to application, repeatedly subordinating phenomena to purpose. Its central assertion is that the soul is the true creator, while the personality becomes an organized instrument. Through meditation, discipline, and service, the disciple learns to cooperate with larger rhythms and plans, participating consciously in constructive evolution without coercion or self-assertion.
Historical Context
A Treatise on White Magic: Fifteen Rules emerged in the interwar years, a period defined by reconstruction and anxiety between 1919 and 1934. Alice A. Bailey, born in Manchester in 1880 and resident in the United States after 1907, wrote and published through Lucis Publishing in New York and London; the volume appeared in 1934. The book’s matrix is internationalist and urban, with transatlantic correspondence, lecture circuits, and centers in New York, London, and Geneva. Set against rapid technological change, democratizing education, and the lingering trauma of World War I, its language of group service and disciplined thought reflects an era seeking ethical orientation amid economic volatility and rising nationalism.
World War I (1914–1918) reshaped political geography and consciousness. Approximately 9 million soldiers died and over 21 million were wounded; civilian losses and the 1918–1920 influenza pandemic compounded devastation. The collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires produced new states such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The Treaty of Versailles (28 June 1919) imposed reparations and territorial changes, while the Paris Peace Conference recast borders and mandates. Bailey’s emphasis on harmlessness, detachment from hatred, and disciplined service mirrors the postwar need for moral reconstruction, framing white magic as the redirection of thought and will toward healing collective wounds rather than perpetuating cycles of revenge.
The Theosophical movement, founded in New York in 1875 by Helena P. Blavatsky, Henry S. Olcott, and William Q. Judge, profoundly shaped Bailey’s context. With headquarters at Adyar, Madras (Chennai), led by Annie Besant in the early twentieth century, the movement linked Eastern and Western esoteric ideas and promoted global brotherhood. Bailey joined Theosophical circles in the 1910s, clashed with leadership, and left in 1920. She and Foster Bailey founded Lucifer Publishing Company in New York in 1922, renamed Lucis Publishing in 1925, and created the Arcane School in 1923 with centers in New York, London, and Geneva. The Treatise systematizes training for disciples within this transnational, service-oriented milieu.
The Great Depression, triggered by the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 (Black Thursday, Black Monday, Black Tuesday), brought U.S. unemployment to about 25 percent by 1933 and precipitated bank failures, deflation, and global contraction. Britain left the gold standard in 1931; the U.S. suspended gold convertibility in 1933. Drought and the Dust Bowl intensified hardship in North America. In 1932 Bailey helped inaugurate World Goodwill under the Lucis Trust to encourage right human relations. A Treatise on White Magic frames right thought and motive as practical tools for social repair, aligning inner discipline with relief of suffering, cooperation, and the ethical reorientation demanded by mass unemployment and economic dislocation.
Authoritarian movements rose across the 1920s–1930s. Benito Mussolini consolidated dictatorship in Italy by 1925 after the 1922 March on Rome. In Germany, Adolf Hitler became chancellor on 30 January 1933; the Reichstag Fire (February 1933) and Enabling Act (23 March 1933) dismantled democracy. Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931, establishing Manchukuo in 1932, signaling imperial expansion. These developments fostered militant nationalism, censorship, and persecution. Bailey’s Treatise, appearing in 1934, addresses the dangers of fear, glamour, and separateness in collective psychology, casting white magic as the disciplined construction of inclusive, group-centered thoughtforms that counter the magnetic pull of demagoguery and the subordination of individuals to destructive state ideologies.
Between 1920 and 1934, hopes for cooperative peace centered on the League of Nations (formally established 10 January 1920 in Geneva). The Washington Naval Treaty (1922) and London Naval Treaty (1930) sought to limit armaments; the Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928) renounced war. The World Disarmament Conference convened in Geneva from February 1932 but faltered as Germany withdrew from the League in October 1933. Bailey’s organizational presence in Geneva through the Arcane School echoed this internationalist arena. The Treatise’s doctrines of right relations and group work resonate with efforts at collective security and ethical governance, while its insistence on inner responsibility implicitly critiques the diplomatic failures that undercut disarmament.
Transformations in women’s civic status shaped the social climate. In the United States, the Nineteenth Amendment (1920) enfranchised women; in Britain, the Representation of the People Act (1918) granted partial suffrage, extended to equal franchise in 1928. Women expanded roles in professions, voluntary associations, and spiritual organizations. The Theosophical movement featured women leaders, notably Annie Besant. Alice Bailey’s leadership with Lucis Publishing and the Arcane School exemplified female institutional authority. In A Treatise on White Magic, instruction is addressed to lay disciples, regardless of sex or clerical status, reflecting the democratization of spiritual practice and the broader social shift toward participation and responsibility beyond traditional hierarchies.
As social and political critique, the Treatise challenges the era’s materialism, competitive nationalism, and class-bound privilege by redefining power as service and intelligence as ethical responsibility. It frames thought as a public act, indicting the manufacture of hatred, propaganda, and fear that fueled extremist politics and economic exploitation. By insisting on harmlessness, group work, and right human relations, it contests inequities hardened by depression-era scarcity and argues for inclusive cooperation over elite control. Its internationalist ethos opposes racial and national antagonism, while its training disciplines call for accountable leadership, shared stewardship of resources, and a civic spirituality aimed at healing estrangement within and among nations.
A Treatise on White Magic: Fifteen Rules
Rules for Magic
RULE ONE
The Solar Angel collects himself, scatters not his force, but, in meditation deep, communicates with his reflection.
RULE TWO
When the shadow hath responded, in meditation deep the work proceedeth. The lower light is thrown upward; the greater light illuminates the three, and the work of the four proceedeth.
RULE THREE
The Energy circulates. The point of light, the product of the labours of the four, waxeth and groweth. The myriads gather round its glowing warmth until its light recedes. Its fire grows dim. Then shall the second sound go forth.
RULE FOUR
Sound, light, vibration, and the form blend and merge, and thus the work is one. It proceedeth under the law, and naught can hinder now the work from going forward. The man breathes deeply. He concentrates his forces, and drives the thought-form from him.
RULE FIVE
Three things engage the Solar Angel before the sheath created passes downward; the condition of the waters, the safety of the one who thus creates, and steady contemplation. Thus are the heart, the throat, and eye, allied for triple service.
RULE SIX
The devas of the lower four feel the force when the eye opens; they are driven forth and lose their master.
RULE SEVEN
The dual forces of the plane whereon the vital power must be sought are seen; the two paths face the solar Angel; the poles vibrate. A choice confronts the one who meditates.
RULE EIGHT
The Agnisuryans respond to the sound. The waters ebb and flow. Let the magician guard himself from drowning at the point where land and water meet. The midway spot, which is neither dry nor wet, must provide the standing place whereon his feet are set. When water, land and air meet, there is the place for magic to be wrought.
RULE NINE
Condensation next ensues. The fire and waters meet, the form swells and grows. Let the magician set his form upon the proper path.
RULE TEN
As the waters bathe the form created, they are absorbed and used. The form increases in its strength; let the magician thus continue until the work suffices. Let the outer builders cease their labors then, and let the inner workers enter on their cycle.
RULE ELEVEN
Three things the worker with the law must now accomplish. First, ascertain the formula which will confine the lives within the ensphering wall; next, pronounce the words which will tell them what to do and where to carry that which has been made; and finally, utter forth the mystic phrase which will save him from their work.
RULE TWELVE
The web pulsates. It contracts and expands. Let the magician seize the midway point and thus release those "prisoners of the planet" whose note is right and justly tuned to that which must be made.
RULE THIRTEEN
The magician must recognize the four; note in his work the shade of violet they evidence, and thus construct the shadow. When this is so, the shadow clothes itself, and the four become the seven.
RULE FOURTEEN
The sound swells out. The hour of danger to the soul courageous draweth near. The waters have not hurt the white creator and naught could drown nor drench him. Danger from fire and flame menaces now, and dimly yet the rising smoke is seen. Let him again, after the cycle of peace, call on the solar Angel.
RULE FIFTEEN
The fires approach the shadow, yet burn it not. The fire sheath is completed. Let the magician chant the words that blend the fire and water.
From "A TREATISE ON COSMIC FIRE"
Introduction
Man's Three Aspects
In the study of the ideas outlined in this book and their careful consideration certain basic concepts are borne in mind:
First, that the matter of prime importance to each student is not the fact of a particular teacher's personality but the measure of truth for which he stands, and the student's power to discriminate between truth, partial truth, and falsity.
Second, that with increased esoteric teaching[1] comes increased exoteric responsibility. Let each student with clarity therefore take stock of himself, remembering that understanding comes through application of the measure of truth grasped to the immediate problem and environment, and that the consciousness expands through use of the truth imparted.
Third, that a dynamic adherence to the chosen path and a steady perseverance that overcomes and remains unmoved by aught that may eventuate, is a prime requisite and leads to the portal admitting to a kingdom, a dimension and a state of being which is inwardly or subjectively known. It is this state of realisation which produces changes in form and environment commensurate with its power.
These three suggestions will merit a close consideration by all, and their significance must be somewhat grasped before further real progress is possible. It is not my function to make individual and personal application of the teaching given. That must be done by each student for himself.
You have wisely guarded the teaching from the taint of superimposed authority, and there lies back of your books no esoteric principle of hierarchical authority or support, such as has produced the narrow limits of certain ecclesiastical bodies and groups, differing as widely as the Catholic Church, Christian Science, those who believe in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, and numerous (so-called) esoteric organisations. The curse of many groups has been the whispered word that "Those who know wish...." "The Master says...." "The Great Ones command..." and the group of silly sheep feebly and blindly tumble over themselves to obey. They think thereby, through their misplaced devotion, to contact certain authoritative personages, and to get into heaven by some short cut.
You have wisely guarded your books from the reaction accorded to those who claim to be masters, adepts and initiates. My anonymity and status must be preserved, and my rank be regarded as only that of a senior student and of an aspirant to that expansion of consciousness which is for me the next step forward. What I say of truth alone is of moment; the inspiration and help I can accord to any pilgrim on the path is alone vital; that which I have learned through experience is at the disposal of the earnest aspirant; and the wideness of the vision which I can impart (owing to my having climbed higher up the mountain than some) is my main contribution. Upon these points the students are at liberty to ponder, omitting idle speculation as to the exact details of unimportant personalities, and environing conditions.
Our theme is to be that of the Magic of the Soul, and the key thought, underlying all that may appear in this book, is to be found in the words of the Bhagavad Gita[2] which runs as follows:
"Though I am Unborn, the Soul that passes not away, though I am the Lord of Beings, yet as Lord over My nature I become manifest, through the magical power of the Soul." Gita IV.6.
The statistical and the academic is a necessary basis and a preliminary step for most scientific study, but in this book we will centre our attention on the life aspect, and the practical application of truth to the daily life of the aspirant. Let us study how we can become practical magicians, and in what way we can best live the life of a spiritual man, and of an aspirant to accepted discipleship in our own peculiar times, state and environment.
To do this we will take the Fifteen Rules for Magic to be found in my earlier book, entitled A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. I will comment on them, dealing not with their cosmic significance or with solar and other correspondences and analogies, but applying them to the work of the aspirant, and giving practical suggestions for the better development of soul contact and soul manifestation. I shall take for granted certain knowledges and assume the students can follow and comprehend certain technical terms that I may be led to use. I am not dealing with babes but with matured men and women who have chosen a certain way and who are pledged to "walk in the light."
I seek in this book to do four things, and to make appeal to three types of people. It is based, as regards its teaching, upon four fundamental postulates. These are intended to:
1. Teach the laws of spiritual psychology as distinguished from mental and emotional psychology.
2. Make clear the nature of the soul of man and its systemic and cosmic relationships. This will include its group relationship as a preliminary step.
3. Demonstrate the relations between the self and the sheaths which that self may use, and thus clarify public thought as to the constitution of man.
4. Elucidate the problem of the supernormal powers, and give the rules for their safe and useful development.
We stand now towards the close of a great transition period and the subtler realms of life are closer than ever before; unusual phenomena and inexplicable happenings are commoner than at any time heretofore, whilst matters telepathic, psychic, and peculiar occupy the attention even of sceptics, scientists, and religionists. Reasons for the appearance of phenomena are being everywhere sought, and societies are formed for their investigation and demonstration. Many are likewise going astray in the effort to induce in themselves psychic conditions and the energy-producing factors which give rise to the manifestation of peculiar powers. This book will endeavor to fit the information given into the scheme of life as we today recognize it and will show how basically natural and true is all that is termed mysterious. All is under law, and the laws need elucidation now that man's development has reached the stage of a juster appreciation of their beauty and reality.
Three types of people will respond to this book. They are:
1. Those open minded investigators who are willing to accept its fundamentals as a working hypothesis until these are demonstrated to be erroneous. They will be frankly agnostic, but willing temporarily, in their search for truth, to try out the methods and follow the suggestions laid down for their consideration.
2. Aspirants and disciples. They will study this treatise in order to understand themselves better and because they seek to help their brother man. They will not accept its dicta blindly but will experiment, check and corroborate with care the stages and steps laid down for them in this section of the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom.
3. Initiates. These persons will arrive at a meaning which will not be apparent to those in the first group and which will only be suspected by the more advanced members of the second. Within themselves they know the truth of many of its statements and will realise the subjective working out of many of the laws. These laws of nature have effects in three distinct realms:
a. Physically, where they demonstrate as effects in the dense form.
b. Etherically, where they demonstrate as the energy lying back of those effects.
c. Mentally, where they concern the impulses which produce the other two.
The Treatise on Cosmic Fire dealt primarily with the solar system and only touched upon human aspects and correspondences insofar as they demonstrated the relation of the part to the whole, and of the unit to the totality.
The present book will deal more specifically with human development and unfoldment, elucidating the causes which are responsible for the present effects, and pointing to the future and its possibilities, and to the nature of the unfolding potentialities.
This book will be based also upon four fundamental postulates which must be admitted by the student of the succeeding pages as providing an hypothesis worthy of his consideration and trial. No true investigator of the Ageless Wisdom is asked to give blind adherence to any presentation of truth; he is asked, however, to have an open mind and seriously to weigh and consider the theories and ideals, the laws and the truths which have guided so many out of darkness into the light of knowledge and experience. The postulates might be enumerated as follows and are given in the order of their importance.
I. First, that there exists in our manifested universe the expression of an Energy or Life which is the responsible cause of the diverse forms and the vast hierarchy of sentient beings who compose the sum total of all that is. This is the so-called hylozoistic theory[3], though the term but serves to confuse. This great Life is the basis of Monism, and all enlightened men are Monists. "God is One" is the utterance of truth. One life pervades all forms and those forms are the expressions, in time and space, of the central universal energy. Life in manifestation produces existence and being. It is the root cause, therefore, of duality. This duality which is seen when objectivity is present and which disappears when the form aspect vanishes is covered by many terms, of which for the sake of clarity, the most usual might be here listed:
Spirit
Matter
Life
Form
Father
Mother
Positive
Negative
Darkness
Light
Students must clearly have this essential unity in mind e'en when they talk (as they needs must) in finite terms of that duality which is everywhere, cyclically, apparent.
II. The second postulate grows out of the first and states that the one Life, manifesting through matter, produces a third factor which is consciousness. This consciousness, which is the result of the union of the two poles of spirit and matter is the soul of all things; it permeates all substance or objective energy; it underlies all forms, whether it be the form of that unit of energy which we call an atom, or the form of man, a planet, or a solar system. This is the Theory of Self-determination or the teaching that all the lives of which the one life is formed, in their sphere and in their state of being, become, so to speak, grounded in matter and assume forms whereby their peculiar specific state of consciousness may be realised and their vibration stabilised; thus they may know themselves as existences. Thus again the one life becomes a stabilised and conscious entity through the medium of the solar system, and is essentially, therefore the sum total of energies, of all states of consciousness, and of all forms in existence. The homogeneous becomes the heterogeneous, and yet remains a unity; the one manifests in diversity and yet is unchanged; the central unity is known in time and space as composite and differentiated and yet, when time and space are not (being but states of consciousness), only the unity will remain, and only spirit will persist, plus an increased vibratory action, plus capacity for an intensification of the light when again the cycle of manifestation returns.
Within the vibratory pulsation of the one manifesting Life all the lesser lives repeat the process of being,—Gods, angels, men, and the myriad lives which express themselves through the forms of the kingdoms of nature and the activities of the evolutionary process. All become self-centered and self-determined.
III. The third basic postulate is that the object for which life takes form and the purpose of manifested being is the unfoldment of consciousness, or the revelation of the soul. This might be called the Theory of the Evolution of Light. When it is realised that even the modern scientist is saying that light and matter are synonymous terms, thus echoing the teaching of the East, it becomes apparent that through the interplay of the poles, and through the friction of the pairs of opposites light flashes forth. The goal of evolution is found to be a gradual series of light demonstrations. Veiled and hidden by every form lies light. As evolution proceeds, matter becomes increasingly a better conductor of the light, thus demonstrating the accuracy of the statement of the Christ "I am the Light of the World".
IV. The fourth postulate consists of the statement that all lives manifest cyclically. This is the Theory of Rebirth or of re-incarnation, the demonstration of the law of periodicity.
Such are the great underlying truths which form the foundation of the Ageless Wisdom—the existence of life, and the development of consciousness through the cyclic taking of form.
In this book, however, the emphasis will be laid upon the little life; upon man "made in the image of God", who through the method of re-incarnation unfolds his consciousness until it flowers forth as the perfected soul, whose nature is light and whose realisation is that of a self-conscious identity. This developed unit has eventually to be merged, with full intelligent participation, in the greater consciousness of which it is a part.
Before we take up our subject it might be of value if we defined certain words which will be in constant use, so that we will know what we are talking about, and the significance of the terms we use.
1. Occult. This term concerns the hidden forces of being and those springs of conduct which produce the objective manifestation. The word "conduct" is used here deliberately, for all manifestation, in all the kingdoms of nature, is the expression of the life, purpose and type of activity of some being or existence, and thus is literally the conduct (or outer nature or quality) of a life. These springs of action lie hid in the purpose of any life, whether it be a solar life, a planetary entity, a man, or that Being who is the sum total of the states of consciousness and of the forms of any kingdom in nature.
2. Laws. A law presupposes a superior being who, gifted with purpose, and aided by intelligence, is so coordinating his forces that a plan is being sequentially and steadily matured. Through a clear knowledge of the goal, that entity sets in activity those steps and stages which when carried forward in order will bring the plan to perfection. The word "law", as usually understood, conveys the idea of subjection to an activity which is recognised as inexorable and undeviating, but which is not understood by the one who is subjected to it; it involves, from one standpoint, the attitude of the submersed unit in the group impulse and the inability of that unit to change the impulse or evade the issue; it inevitably brings about in the consciousness of the man who is considering these laws, a feeling of being a victim—of being driven forward like a leaf before the breeze towards an end about which speculation only is possible, and of being governed by a force which acts apparently with an unavoidable pressure and thus produces group results, at the expense of the unit. This attitude of mind is inevitable until the consciousness of man can be so expanded that he becomes aware of the greater issues. When, through contact with his own higher self, he participates in the knowledge of the objective, and when through climbing the mountain of vision his perspective changes and his horizon enlarges, he comes to the realisation that a law is but the spiritual impulse, incentive and life manifestation of that Being in which he lives and moves. He learns that that impulse demonstrates an intelligent purpose, wisely directed, and based on love. He then himself begins to wield the law or to pass wisely, lovingly and intelligently through himself as much of that spiritual life impulse which his particular organism can respond to, transmit and utilise. He ceases to obstruct and begins to transfer. He brings to an end the cycle of the closed self-centered life, and opens the doors wide to spiritual energy. In so doing he finds that the law which he has hated and mistrusted is the vitalising, purifying agency which is sweeping him and all God's creatures on to a glorious consummation.
3. Psychic. There are two types of the above force in manifestation as far as the human kingdom is concerned, and these must be clearly grasped. There is the force which animates the subhuman kingdoms in nature,—the ensouling energy which, brought into conjunction with the energy of matter and self, produces all forms. The effect of this junction is to add to the embryo intelligence of substance itself a latent sentiency and responsiveness that produces that subjective something we call the animal soul. This exists in four degrees or states of sentient awareness:
a. The consciousness of the mineral kingdom.
b. The consciousness of the vegetable kingdom.
c. The consciousness of the animal kingdom.
d. The consciousness of the animal form through which the spiritual man functions, which after all is but a department of the former group in its highest presentation.
Secondly, there is that psychic force which is the result of the union of the spirit with sentient matter in the human kingdom and which produces a psychic centre which we call the soul of man. This psychic centre is a force centre, and the force of which it is the custodian or which it demonstrates, brings into play a responsiveness and an awareness which is that of the soul of the planetary life, a group consciousness which brings with it faculties and knowledge of a different order than that in the animal soul. These supersede eventually the powers of the animal soul which limit, distort, and imprison, and give man a range of contacts and a knowledge which is infallible, free from error, and which admits him to "the freedom of the heavens". The effect of the free play of the soul of man serves to demonstrate the fallibility and relative uselessness of the powers of the animal soul. All I desire to do here is to show the two senses in which the word "psychic" is used. Later we will deal with the growth and development of the lower psychic nature or the soul of the vehicles in which man functions in the three worlds, and then will seek to elucidate the true nature of the soul of man and of the powers which can be brought into play once a man can contact his own spiritual centre, the soul, and live in that soul consciousness.
4. Unfoldment. The life at the heart of the solar system is producing an evolutionary unfoldment of the energies of that universe which it is not possible for finite man as yet to vision. Similarly the centre of energy which we call the spiritual aspect in man is (through the utilisation of matter or substance) producing an evolutionary development of that which we call the soul, and which is the highest of the form manifestations—the human kingdom. Man is the highest product of existence in the three worlds. By man, I mean the spiritual man, a son of God in incarnation. The forms of all the kingdoms of nature—human, animal, vegetable and mineral—contribute to that manifestation. The energy of the third aspect of divinity tends to the revelation of the soul or the second aspect which in turn reveals the highest aspect. It must ever be remembered that The Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky expresses this with accuracy in the words "Life we look upon as the one form of existence, manifesting in what is called Matter; or what, incorrectly separating them, we name spirit, soul and matter in man. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized by life, which pervades them all." (The Secret Doctrine. Vol: I. p. 79. 80.)
Through the use of matter the soul unfolds and finds its climax in the soul of man, and this treatise will concern itself with the unfoldment of that soul and its discovery by man.
5. Knowledge might be divided into three categories:—First, there is theoretical knowledge. This includes all knowledge of which man is aware but which is accepted by him on the statements of other people, and by the specialists in the various branches of knowledge. It is founded on authoritative statements and has in it the element of trust in the writers and speakers, and in the trained intelligences of the workers in any of the many and varied fields of thought. The truths accepted as such have not been formulated or verified by the one who accepts them, lacking as he does the necessary training and equipment. The dicta of science, the theologies of religion, and the findings of the philosophers and thinkers everywhere colour the point of view and meet with a ready acquiescence from the untrained mind, and that is the average mind.
Then, secondly, we have discriminative knowledge, which has in it a selective quality and which posits the intelligent appreciation and practical application of the more specifically scientific method, and the utilisation of test, the elimination of that which cannot be proved, and the isolation of those factors which will bear investigation and are in conformity with what is understood as law. The rational, argumentative, scholastic, and concretising mind is brought into play with the result that much that is childish, impossible and unverifiable is rejected and a consequent clarifying of the fields of thought results. This discriminating and scientific process has enabled man to arrive at much truth in relation to the three worlds. The scientific method is, in relation to the mind of humanity, playing the same function as the occult method of meditation (in its first two stages of concentration and prolonged concentration or meditation) plays in relation to the individual. Through it right processes of thought are engendered, non-essentials and incorrect formulations of truth are ultimately eliminated or corrected, and the steady focussing of the attention either upon a seed thought, a scientific problem, a philosophy or a world situation results in an ultimate clarifying and the steady seeping in of right ideas and sound conclusions. The foremost thinkers in any of the great schools of thought are simply exponents of occult meditation and the brilliant discoveries of science, the correct interpretations of nature's laws, and the formulations of correct conclusions whether in the fields of science, of economics, of philosophy, psychology or elsewhere is but the registering by the mind (and subsequently by the brain) of the eternal verities, and the indication that the race is beginning also to bridge the gap between the objective and the subjective, between the world of form and the world of ideas.
This leads inevitably to the emergence of the third branch of knowledge, the intuitive. The intuition is in reality only the appreciation by the mind of some factor in creation, some law of manifestation and some aspect of truth, known by the soul, emanating from the world of ideas, and being of the nature of those energies which produce all that is known and seen. These truths are always present, and these laws are ever active, but only as the mind is trained and developed, focussed, and open-minded can they be recognized, later understood, and finally adjusted to the needs and demands of the cycle and time. Those who have thus trained the mind in the art of clear thinking, the focussing of the attention, and consequent receptivity to truth have always been with us, but hitherto have been few and far between. They are the outstanding minds of the ages. But now they are many and increasingly found. The minds of the race are in process of training and many are hovering on the borders of a new knowledge. The intuition which guides all advanced thinkers into the newer fields of learning is but the forerunner of that omniscience which characterises the soul. The truth about all things exists, and we call it omniscience, infallibility, the "correct knowledge" of the Hindu philosophy. When man grasps a fragment of it and absorbs it into the racial consciousness we call it the formulation of a law, a discovery of one or other of nature's processes. Hitherto this has been a slow and piecemeal undertaking. Later, and before so very long, light will pour in, truth will be revealed and the race will enter upon its heritage—the heritage of the soul.
In some of our considerations, speculation must perforce enter in. Those who see a vision that is withheld from those lacking the necessary equipment for its apprehension are regarded as fanciful, and unreliable. When many see the vision, its possibility is admitted, but when humanity itself has the awakened and open eye, the vision is no longer emphasised but a fact is stated and a law enunciated. Such has been the history of the past and such will be the process in the future.
The past is purely speculative from the standpoint of the average man and the future is equally so, but he himself is the result of that past and the future will work out of the sum total of his present characteristics and qualities. If this is true of the individual it is then also equally true of mankind as a whole. That unit in nature, which we call the fourth or human kingdom, represents that which is the product of its physical heritage; its characteristics are the sum of its emotional and mental unfoldments and its assets are those which it has succeeded in accumulating during the cycles wherein it has been wrestling with its environment—the sum total of the other kingdoms in nature. Within the human kingdom lie potentialities and latencies, characteristics and assets which the future will reveal and which in their turn determine that future.
I have purposely chosen to begin with the undefinable and the unrecognised. The soul is as yet an unknown quantity. It has no real place in the theories of the academic and scientific investigators. It is unproven and regarded by even the more open-minded of the academicians as a possible hypothesis, but lacking demonstration. It is not accepted as a fact in the consciousness of the race. Only two groups of people accept it as a fact; one is the gullible, undeveloped, childlike person who, brought up on a scripture of the world, and being religiously inclined, accepts the postulates of religion—such as the soul, God and immortality—without questioning. The other is that small but steadily growing band of Knowers of God, and of reality, who know the soul to be a fact in their own experience but are unable to prove its existence satisfactorily to the man who admits only that which the concrete mind can grasp, analyse, criticise and test.
The ignorant and the wise meet on common ground as extremes always do. In between are those who are neither totally ignorant nor intuitively wise. They are the mass of the educated people who have knowledge but not understanding, and who have yet to learn the distinction between that which can be grasped by the rational mind, that which can be seen by the mind's eye, and that which only the higher or abstract mind can formulate and know. This ultimately merges in the intuition, which is the "knowing faculty" of the intelligent and practical mystic who—relegating the emotional and feeling nature to its own place—uses the mind as a focussing point and looks out through that lens upon the world of the soul.
Man's Three Aspects
One of the main means whereby man arrives at an understanding of that great sum total we call the Macrocosm—God, functioning through a solar system—is by an understanding of himself, and the Delphic injunction[4] "Man, know thyself" was an inspired utterance, intended to give man the clue to the mystery of deity. Through the Law of Analogy, or correspondences, the cosmic processes, and the nature of the cosmic principles are indicated in the functions, structure, and characteristics of a human being. They are indicated but not explained or elaborated. They serve simply as sign posts, directing man along the path whereon future sign posts may be found and more definite indications noted.
The comprehension of that triplicity of spirit, soul, and body lies as yet beyond man's achievement, but an idea as to their relationship and their general coordinated function may be indicated by a consideration of man from the physical side, and his objective functioning.
There are three aspects of man's organism which are symbols, and symbols only, of the three aspects of being.
1. The energy, or activating principle, which withdraws mysteriously at death, partially withdraws in the hours of sleep or of unconsciousness, and which seems to use the brain as its main seat of activity and from there to direct the functioning of the organism. This energy has a primary direct relation with the three parts of the organism which we call the brain, the heart, and the breathing apparatus. This is the microcosmic symbol of spirit.
2. The nervous system, with its complexities of nerves, nerve centres and that multiplicity of interrelated and sensitive parts which serve to coordinate the organism, to produce the sensitive response which exists between the many organs and parts which form the organism as a whole, and which serve also to make the man aware of, and sensitive to, his environment. This entire sensory apparatus is that which produces the organised awareness and coordinated sensitivity of the entire human being, first, within itself as a unit, and secondly, its responsiveness and sensitive reaction to the world within which it plays its part. This nervous structure, coordinating, correlating, and producing an outer and inner group activity demonstrates primarily through the three parts of the nervous system.
a. Cerebro-spinal system[5].
b. Sensory system of nerves.
c. Peripheral system of nerves.
It is closely associated with the energy aspect, being the apparatus utilised by that energy to vitalise the body, to produce its coordinated activity and functioning, and to bring about an intelligent rapport with the world in which it has to play its part. It lies back, if one might use such an expression, of the body-nature proper, back of the mass of the flesh and bone and muscle. It in its turn, is motivated by and controlled by two factors:
a. The sum total of the energy which is the individual quota of vital energy.
b. The energy of the environment in which the individual finds himself and within which he has to function and to play his part.
This coordinating nervous system, this network of interrelating and sensitive nerves is the symbol in man of the soul, and an outer and visible form of an inner spiritual reality.
3. There is finally what might be described as the body, the sum total of flesh, of muscle, and of bone which the man carries around, correlated by the nervous system and energised by what we vaguely call his "life".
In these three, the life, the nervous system and the body mass we find the reflection and the symbol of the greater whole, and by a close study of these, and a comprehension of their functions and group relation, we can arrive at an understanding of some of the laws and principles which direct the activities of "God in nature"—a phrase, sublimely true and equally finitely false.
The three aspects of divinity, the central energy, or spirit, the coordinating force or soul, and that which these two use and unify are in reality one vital principle manifesting in diversity. These are the Three in One, the One in Three, God in nature, and nature itself in God.
Carrying the concept, for the sake of illustration, into other realms of thought this trinity of aspects can be seen functioning in the religious world as the esoteric teaching, the fundamental symbology and doctrines of the great world religions and the exoteric organisations; in government it is the sum total of the will of the people whatever that will may be, the formulated laws, and the exoteric administration; in education it is the will to learn, the arts and sciences, and the great exoteric educational systems; in philosophy it is the urge to wisdom, the interrelated schools of thought, and the outer presentation of the teachings. Thus this eternal triplicity runs through every department of the manifested world, whether viewed as that which is tangible, or as that which is sensitive and coherent, or that which is energising. It is that intelligent activity which has been clumsily called "awareness"; it is the capacity of awareness itself, involving as it does sensitive response to environment, and the apparatus of that response, the divine duality of the soul; it is finally the sum total of that which is contacted and known; it is that of which the sensitive apparatus becomes aware. This, as we shall see later, is a gradually growing realisation, shifting ever into more esoteric and inner realms.
These three aspects are seen in man, the divine unit of life. First he recognises them in himself; then he sees them in every form in his environment, and finally he learns to relate these aspects of himself to the similar aspects in other forms of divine manifestation. Correct relation between forms will result in the harmonising and right adjustment of physical plane life. Correct response to one's environment will result in correct rapport with the soul aspect, hidden in every form, and will produce right relations between the various parts of the inner nervous structure to be found in every kingdom of nature, subhuman and superhuman. This is as yet practically unknown but is rapidly coming into recognition, and when it is proven and realised it will be discovered that therein lies the basis of brotherhood and of unity. As the liver, the heart, the lungs, the stomach, and other organs in the body are separate in existence and in function and yet are unified and brought into relation through the medium of the nervous system throughout the body, so will it be found that in the world such organisms as the kingdoms in nature have their separate life and functions yet are correlated and coordinated by a vast intricate sensory system which is sometimes called the soul of all things, the anima mundi[6], the underlying consciousness.
In dealing with the triplicities so often used when speaking of deity, such as spirit, soul, and body,—life, consciousness, and form,—it is of value to remember that they refer to differentiations of the one life, and that the more of these triplicities with which one can familiarise oneself the more one will be in rapport with a wider circle of men. But when one is dealing with things occult and subjective, and when the subject about which one writes deals with the undefinable, then difficulty is encountered. It is no difficult matter to describe a man's personal appearance, his clothing, his form, and the things with which he is surrounded. Language suffices satisfactorily to deal with the concrete and with the world of form. But when one endeavours to convey an idea of his quality, character, and nature one is immediately faced with the problem of the unknown, with that undefinable unseen part which we sense, but which remains in a large sense unrevealed, and unrealised even by the man himself. How then shall we describe him through the medium of language?
If this is so of man, how much greater is the difficulty when we seek through words to express that inexpressible sum total of which the terms spirit, soul, and body are regarded as the main component differentiations? How shall we define that undefinable life that men have (for the sake of understanding) limited and separated into a trinity of aspects, or persons, calling the whole by the name of God?
Yet where this differentiation of God into a trinity is universal and age-long in use, where every people—ancient and modern—employ the same triplicity of ideation to express an intuitive realisation, there is warrant for the usage. That some day we may think and express the truth differently may indeed be so, but for the average thinker of today the terms spirit, soul, and body stand for the aggregate of divine manifestation, both in the deity of the universe and in that lesser divinity, man himself. As this treatise is intended for the thinking human being and not for the crystallised theologians or the theoretically biassed scientists we will adhere to the well-used terminology and seek to understand what has lain back of the phrases in which man has sought to explain God Himself.
"God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth," states one of the scriptures of the world. "Man became a living soul," is to be found in another place in the same scripture. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless," said a great initiate[9] of the White Lodge[7]; and the greatest of them all yet present with us in physical form on earth, repeated the words of an earlier sage when He said: "I have said ye are Gods, and ye are all the children of the most High". In those words the triplicity of man, his divinity and his relationship to the life in Whom he lives and moves and has his being, is touched upon from the Christian standpoint, and all the great religions deal in analogous phrases with that relationship.
a. Spirit, Life, Energy.
The word spirit is applied to that undefinable, elusive, essential impulse or Life which is the cause of all manifestation. It is the breath of Life and is that rhythmic inflow of vital energy which manifests in its turn as the attractive force, as the consciousness, or soul, and is the sum total of atomic substance. It is the correspondence in the great Existence or Macrocosm of that which in the little existence or microcosm is the vital inspiring factor which we call the life of man; this is indicated by the breath in his body, which is abstracted or withdrawn when the life course is run.
What this something is, who shall say? We trace it back to the soul or consciousness aspect, and from the soul to the spirit (as we call the three aspects of the one breath) but what these words really signify, who has the courage to declare? We call this unknown something by differing names, according to our particular school of thought; we seek to express it in words, and end by call it Spirit, the One Life, the Monad, Energy. Again we must remember that understanding as to the nature of this one life is purely relative. Those who are engrossed in the form side of existence think in terms of physical vitality, of feeling, impulse, or of mental force and do not pass beyond that unified life-consciousness of which all the above are differentiations. Those again who are interested in the more metaphysical approach and in the soul-life more than in the form aspect express their concept in terms of soul manifestation and—passing beyond the personal selfish reactions of the body nature—think in terms of life, in terms of quality, of group will or power, group coordination or love-wisdom, and of group intelligence or knowledge, covering all by the generic term of brotherhood.
But even that is found to be separative, through the separation into larger units than the lower is capable of grasping. Therefore the initiate, especially after the third initiation, begins to think even more synthetically and to express truth to himself in terms of Spirit, Life, the One. These terms mean to him something significant, but something so far removed from the concept of ordinary thinking humanity that it is needless for me to enlarge further upon it.
This brings me to a point, that should be dealt with here, prior to any further expansion of our subject. In the Treatise on Cosmic Fire and in the above passage it frequently appears that teaching is carried forward to a certain point and then dropped with the statement that, owing to the point in evolution of the average man, his reaction to truth and the reaction of the disciple-student or the initiate will differ. This is necessarily so; each will read into the words his own state of consciousness; each will fail to interpret in terms of the more advanced reaction of those on a higher stage of the ladder of evolution. The average reader, however, objects to being forced to recognise wider points of view than his own, and the phraseology which says: "It is needless to enlarge on this for it would only be understood by the initiate", serves only to aggravate him, tends to make him believe that evasion is intended, and that the writer (having got out of his depth) is seeking to save his face by some such statement. Just as a scientific treatise would prove meaningless and a mere jumble of words to the average grammar school child, but would carry a clear definition and meaning to experts in the subject owing to training and mental development, so there are those to whom the subject of the soul and its nature as dealt with in such an instruction as this is as clear and lucid as current literature is to the average reader, and the best sellers, as you call them, to the general public. Equally, though fewer in number, there are those advanced souls to whom the spirit and its nature is also a rational and understandable subject, to be appreciated and comprehended through the medium of the soul and its powers just as it is possible to arrive at an understanding of the soul through the medium of the mind, correctly employed. On a lower level altogether, we know it is easy to understand the nature of the physical body through a study and right use of the desire nature. It is a form of pride, and a refusal to recognize one's temporary limitations that awakens in readers a dislike for phrases which aptly and truly say: "When you are further developed, you will understand the above." This should be made clear.
To the Master of the Wisdom, the nature of the spirit, or that positive centre of life which every form hides is no more a mystery than is the nature of the soul to the esoteric psychologist. The source of the one life, the plane, or state from which that life emanates is the great Hidden Mystery to the members of the hierarchy of adepts. The nature of spirit, its quality and type of cosmic energy, its rate of vibration and its basic cosmic differentiations are the study of initiates above the third degree and the subject of their investigations. They
