Organization
The Tarot Keys from which this lesson is developed are the 18th, 11th and 4th, corresponding respectively to the letters Qoph, Lamed and Heh, and to the paths on the Tree of the Living Ones entitled Corporeal Intelligence, Faithful Intelligence and Constituting Intelligence.
Qoph, it will be remembered, corresponds to the back of the head, the location of the medulla oblongata. This part of the brain contains the cell structures through which the subjective mind controls breathing, swallowing and other vital functions. In this part of the brain are the instruments which the Life-Power has developed through the ages of evolution, and through the groups of cells located there we may come in touch with race-memories going back to the first emergence of animal life from water.
The medulla oblongata is like a bridge between the objective and subjective modes of mental activity. In an earlier lesson I have spoken of the reason for learning to control the breath, as being a means of re-establishing self control of the whole cell-consciousness; and the exercises whereby this is accomplished are exercises that modify the action of the cells in the medulla, establishing in them new habits of action which, in turn, modify the habits of many groups of cells in other parts of the body.
By impressing suggestions directly upon the cells of the medulla, with the understanding that they are the media through which other cell-groups may be brought under control of the objective mind, much may be accomplished. Thus, when learning rhythmic breathing, if a real idea of the cleansing office of the breath be held in mind, and formulated in a clear-cut suggestion addressed directly to the cells of the medulla, progress is certain to be more rapid. The cells should be spoken to just as you would speak to an animal you are trying to train. They are animals, in fact, and they are surprisingly intelligent, and quick to respond to kindly, but firm commands formulated by the objective mind.
The back of the head, again, is the seat of another important center whose functions are especially utilized in the work of the fourth stage of unfoldment. This is the sight-center. It is active in ordinary vision, but this is not its only office. All visual imagination is likewise dependent upon the cells of this part of the brain. To improve ordinary vision, or to develop a more definite power of visual imagery, it is most useful to stimulate these cells direct by auto-suggestion, very definitely formulated.
To do this work, first learn just where the medulla and the sight center are located. I shall not take space to describe their location in this text. At any good library you can find a book on anatomy in which there are diagrams of the organs of the brain, from which you may get the necessary information.
In using direct auto-suggestion to cell-groups concerned with special functions, be careful not to prolong your concentration on the cell-group. Concentration on any part of the body stimulates the flow of blood to that part, and when it is overdone, congestion is the consequence. Such long concentration is not needed. The cells are centers of consciousness. They are not things, but living beings. The kind of consciousness they have is always amenable to the control of your objective mind.
Prepare yourself by first establishing a thorough intellectual grasp of the law of suggestion. Next learn the exact location of whatever cell-group you wish to influence. Then deliberately arouse the mood of calm expectation that your suggestion will be obeyed. If you follow this course, you will be able to secure satisfactory results is a single concise and definite command. Such work should not be done oftener than once a day. Too much repetition will only send too much blood to the cell-group, and, furthermore, too much repetition is as a rule a symptom that you doubt your ability to control the cells. This doubt acts as a counter-suggestion to your command.
Another attribution of the letter Qoph in Sleep, for it is while we sleep that the commands we give the cell-groups are executed. Hence the best time to do this work is just before you go to sleep. For most people there is a moment when thought begins to be disconnected, and at this moment, by an effort of will, it is possible to arouse oneself to full wakefulness, and give the necessary commands.
With some people, however, sleep comes suddenly, like night in the tropics, with no twilight period before it. If you are one of these, give your suggestions just before going to bed, while sitting comfortably in a straight backed chair. Prepare for your auto-suggestions by sitting still and deliberately inducing a state of reverie. Let the mind-images troop past before your mental vision, but EXPECT THEM TO SLOW DOWN, until they come almost to a stand-still.
No 'iron-will' effort is required for this. At all times you are master of your mental imagery, but until you know that you are a master, and practice the exercise of this birth-right for specific ends, you can achieve no constructive results. Always remember that you do not have to acquire power to control your thoughts. You simply have to learn the technique of exercising that control effectively. You are like one sitting in the driver's seat of an automobile. The power to drive the engine and steer the car is already yours; but you have to learn what lever to pull, what pedals to press, and how to use the wheel. It takes no 'iron-will' to drive an automobile, and none to gain control of your mental imagery. Information and practice are the two essentials. I aim to supply the information. It is up to you to do the practicing.
Now, by merely expecting your mental images to slow down, you are doing exactly what is needed to make them seem to go slower and slower until a single image seems to stay a long time before your mental gaze. As I have explained elsewhere, what really happens is that a single image is being reproduced over and over again. The stream of consciousness flows on, much as the strip of film passes through a picture-machine; but you seem to be 'holding the thought' because the image does not change form. To explain this is not easy, but it is the effect that Patanjali had in mind when he wrote: 'The binding at the perceiving consciousness to a certain region is attention.'
The consciousness that you are particularly concerned with in the fourth stage of unfoldment is Corporeal Intelligence, body-consciousness, the mental activity of the cell-groups in your body. If you have done well the work of the third stage of unfoldment, you realize that all phases of your consciousness are expressions of Natural Intelligence or the mental quality that pervades all nature. Now you are more particularly concerned with the forms assumed by this universal mental activity as it flows through the various groups of cells that make up your body.
Under exceptional conditions, as in the overcoming of disease, it is sometimes advisable to talk to the cell-groups of specific organs in the body, such as the stomach, kidney or liver. This, however, should not be attempted by beginners, nor by anybody but experts, except under the advise of a specialist. It is better and safer to think of the medulla as, so to speak, the 'office' of the subjective mind. The latter can be depended upon to carry out whatever instructions you give. It knows, far better than you do, just what groups of cells in your body are doing each specific kind of work. Consequently, you will be certain to get excellent results if you simply formulate your commands to the subconscious, and turn them in at the office, by a brief concentration upon the medulla as you give the command.
The concentration upon the sight-center, and the giving of suggestions to the cells of this group, are intended to make this instrument of the objective mind more efficient. Sight, as you will remember, is one of the attributions of the letter Heh, to which the Emperor corresponds; and in its esoteric meaning, Sight is not only the physical faculty and its psychic counterpart, the power to visualize, but is also the most important aspect of the discriminative faculty. Full exercise of this faculty demands adequate organization of its instrument in the brain, because the indispensable preliminary to right discrimination is the ability to see things as they are. We must be able to do this before we can attain any real measure of success in our efforts to classify our experiences according to their similarities or differences.
Such classification is an important part of the development that goes on in the fourth stage of unfoldment. Meditation has been compared to fishing in the ocean of the universal subjective consciousness. Right discrimination, founded upon clear physical and mental vision, is what enables you to know which of the 'fish' you catch are good for food.
Much has been written about formal systems of logic. After all, every such system is a tabulation of what happens when a person sees clearly and arranges what he sees. Our various experiences are like parts of a jig-saw puzzle. Their relations to each other are self-revealing. Ideas and facts fit together, but only by looking at them attentively may we discover the connection. Error and ignorance, as well as truth and wisdom, have distinguishing marks which cannot be hidden from him who has vision.
This vision is just clear seeing. It is neither supernatural nor miraculous. Every one of us is a center of expression for THAT which already knows all truth. So long as we believe in personal action, so long as we are deluded by the illusion of separateness, we unable to make use of this interior wisdom.
When, however, we have passed through the third stage of unfoldment, the Light begins to shine through us. When we have identified our mental activities as being in reality specialized operations of the universal intelligence, we begin to see that the Life-Power's knowledge of every detail of its manifestation must always be available to us.
Jesus used to say that he judged nothing of himself, that all his decisions were based on the instruction of the Father. What he did, he promised that we should do, because he knew that the Life-Power's ability to distinguish truth from error is always ready to express itself through human beings who have grown sufficiently ripe.
Hence, by directing attention on the sight-center, fully expecting that it will be an effective instrument for the objective consciousness of the Life-Power, you will begin to exercise clear vision. Some, to be sure, have developed vision who know nothing whatever about the sight-center. Our aim, it should be remembered, is to apply cosmic laws that we may bring about a quicker ripening. We are not trying to follow any 'royal road', because even though we make quicker progress, it is by far a more difficult way than that which raises the level of human consciousness little by little through the centuries. This way that we follow demands patience, courage, and more than else, persistent practice. By it we may advance more rapidly, through intelligent cooperation with the Life-Power's method of self-expression. That method we may now begin to understand in part, and we look forward confidently to a day when it shall be made known to an in all its glorious perfection.
In our endeavors to ripen more rapidly, we should remember that each of the thirty-two aspects of universal consciousness represented in the diagram of the Tree of the Living Ones is now, at this very moment, a part of our mental equipment. Be careful, however, not to take this diagram too literally. When the Sepher Yetzirah says, 'ten and not eleven, ten and not nine,' it should be understood to declare that the ten names, or the thirty two paths, are the only modes of the Life-Power's self-expression. What is meant is that the ten Sephiroth and their connecting paths show a complete systematic arrangement of the fundamental aspects of universal consciousness, from whose action and reaction upon each other an infinite number of permutations and combinations is possible. Hence, to know the Tree of Life thoroughly, is to know the complete notation of the scale of consciousness. And all the notes in the scale are in each of us, waiting to be sounded, by the Master.
One of these 32 aspects which is intensified during the fourth stage of unfoldment is called the Constituting Intelligence. Part of our practice consists in continually reminding ourselves that the constructive and regulative tendency of the Life-Power is an immediate presence in our daily lives. That tendency has its root in the perfect Wisdom of Spirit, and it is ever at work toward the production of beautiful results.
The Life-Power knows itself perfectly. Not for an instant can it be lacking in clear perception of all the principles involved and evolving in its complex scheme of self-manifestation. Because this is true, behind the outflow of the cosmic life through its personal centers, there is always a complete and accurate knowledge of all the causes and motives entering into what may be called the 'personal equation.' The ancient maxim, 'Man, know thyself,' is perfectly realized by the One Spirit at the heart of every human life.
This is what the Tarot means by picturing the Constituting Intelligence as the Emperor seated on his throne in Aries, that is to say, in the part of the body ruled by Aries, namely the brain. The human body is the temple of the Life-Power, and in the brain is the throne of the mode of universal consciousness which constitutes creation 'in the darkness of the world.' The 'world' is the microcosm, Man, and its darkness is the inertia, (the Tamas quality) of the physical organism. This Constituting Intelligence enthroned in the brain is one with the power which makes everything in the universe what it is. That power works always to establish in the realm of name and form an image of the perfect balance and symmetry of the inner life.
In the fourth stage of unfoldment the work of the Constituting Intelligence begins to be perceived by the seeker for light. It is apprehended as a vivid personal experience. One begins to know at first-hand that the Intelligence which formulates the Constitution of the Universe is not afar off, but is immanent in human life, and is expressing itself through groups of living cells located in the head.
From this, its throne of living flesh, it directs the work of all the cell-groups whose aggregate consciousness is the Corporeal Intelligence represented by the 18th Key. This real presence of the Life-Power (with all its perfect attributes) in the temple of the human body, is what we mean when we say, 'The Kingdom of Spirit is embodied in my flesh.' We do not mean this figuratively. The same power that flung the world into space, the same power that holds the stars in their courses, the same directive intelligence which builds up every form we know, from crystal up to man, is now expressing its perfect knowledge of itself and of its method of selfexpression (the Kingdom) through every human brain.
This fact, but vaguely apprehended while yet we are yet unripe, begins in the fourth stage of unfoldment, to be a vital part of our everyday experience. Thus we begin to see that our participation in the work of liberation is by no means a 'lifting of ourselves by the bootstraps.' Thus we are set free from that fertile source of fear and doubt, the notion that we have nothing better than our petty personal powers to rely upon for our escape from bondage.
We need to dwell upon this truth that the Constituting Intelligence works through our brains to perfect the beauty of the Life-Power's manifestation in our flesh. Through such meditation we formulate (or rather we stand aside and let the One Self formulate) a mind-image which makes a deep impression on the subjective mind. By this means every cell in the body is, in its own degree, raised in consciousness from the old, false thought that the directing principle in our lives is the illusive personal will, to the new, true thought that each of these millions of cells is an instrument and vehicle for the guiding Power of the universe.
The raising of the level of cell-consciousness is gradual. The change it brings about may be likened to what happens when a stream of clear water is turned into a tank containing water clouded by various impurities. If there is an outlet for the dirty water, a time will come when all the water in the tank is clean.
The natural processes of elimination are like the outlet for the dirty water. It is written that new wine cannot be put into old bottles, and this means that cells which have embodied the old error-consciousness cannot contain the new truth-conceptions. Some cells can be raised in consciousness without being destroyed, but many are actually killed by this change in thought. Some die because they are no longer used, and others perish in the fire of the new order of knowing. Their dead bodies pass into the blood-stream at are cast off through the various channels of elimination. Hence the wise insist that all the eliminative functions of the body must be kept at the greatest point of efficiency. To this end are all the various purificatory exercises, including fasting, and the various methods of what Hindus call 'Hatha Yoga'.
The sword of Justice, the 11th Key in the Tarot, symbolizes at once the cutting off of mind-images of error and the destruction of the cells embodying these mind-images. Yet this killing of the useless cells is not done all at once. Hence Justice also carries her scales. The dirty water must not run out faster than the pure flows in, else the tank will be emptied. Similarly, unwise use of denial may so deplete our bodies that diseases of elimination, particularly of the kidneys, may be induced. To pull up the tares before the wheat is ripe is to run the risk of destroying the crop along with the weeds.
Avoid this danger by surrendering the whole work to the One Self. When you begin really to understand what the real presence of the Constituting Intelligence means, you will be rid of the impatience that leads to wasteful hurry and overstrain. The Life-Power knows just what to do. We need only to recognize its operation on our lives, and let the work be done, gradually and gently, yet surely and perfectly.
This fourth stage of unfoldment, then, is that in which the seeker for light begins to learn the secret of right action. Now he finds that personality is the instrument of a power which not only knows just what it is doing with that instrument, but knows also just what must be done in order to keep the instrument in good repair. The riper we become, the better we understand that the secret of right action is the giving up of all attachment to results. Attachment is the desire to see a particular manifestation of name and form. It is a phase of the delusion of separateness. Do whatever comes to hand with no thought but that the doing shall be your very best. That is the secret of right action.
Does this mean that we are to entertain no visions of the future? Not at all. The warning is against attachment to results, against the feeling that this or that specific thing is the goal. Specific we must be in our imagery, or nothing will be accomplished; but if we have really learned the lesson of this fourth stage of unfoldment, we shall see that it is not we ourselves who must make the pattern. Rather must we, by the practice of contemplation, open the personal mind to the influx of the higher consciousness, so that we become sharers of the vision of the future seen by the real Self. Instead of making personal plans, we are to become aware of certain specific details of the cosmic plan. Instead of trying to do the thing our way, instead of building upon the shifting sand of our partial knowledge, we follow the plans of the Master-Builder, and erect our house of life on the sure foundation of Eternal Being.
In short, this fourth stage of unfoldment is one in which the plan-making power of the Life-Power begins to find personal expression. Specific images enter our field of mental vision. Patterns are given us for our work; and the better we know that we are instruments for the Constituting Intelligence, the more precise and accurate will those patterns be.
In the book of Exodus we find an example of this, in the minute descriptions of the tabernacle and its furniture, according to patterns shown to Moses 'in the mount.' Those last three words have an occult meaning. On the surface they refer to the retirement of Moses to the heights of Mt. Sinai, in order to 'speak with the Lord'. To one versed in the principles of esoteric psychology they direct attention to the actual place in the human body through which the Life-Power transmits its plans to us. The 'mount' is the highest of the seven groups of nerve-cells energized by what Hindus call the Kundalini. It is a cone-shaped body in the brain, filled with little 'stones' or minute crystalline bodies, which physiologists call 'brain-sand'.
In this body, or through it, the Life-Power finds expression as interior vision. Here it shows us, step by step, what lies ahead of us on the journey along the path which leads upwards from the plain of sense-life and third dimensional consciousness to the height beyond. On those heights, as one who looks down from a mountain-peak sees in one glance a hundred separate forms of life below him on the plain, we shall see as a whole what now we see only in part. Then shall we lose this petty, personal life, only to find it again as it really is – one aspect of the Life of lives, one beam of the Limitless Light which is at once the Source and the goal of all our growth.