Supreme mental power. Mental magic: secrets and exercises. What rituals to perform in different lunar phases

The Power of Thought One's failure to get what one wants is very simply explained. There are certain laws of the occult that allow everyone to succeed, to get rich, if you follow simple rules. Throughout this course we have tried to show that

When we come to the study of reincarnation, we shall see what great vital significance this fact has.

The type of mental body that a person forms on his way to a new incarnation will fully correspond to the stage of evolution reached by a person, and we will now begin - as we did with regard to the astral body - to study the mental bodies corresponding to three types of a person: A) undeveloped, B) average, B) spiritually awakened.

In an undeveloped man the mental body is only barely noticeable; it consists of a small amount of unorganized mental matter, mainly of its lower types - that's all it is at this stage. It is set in motion almost exclusively by influences coming from the lower bodies, vibrating weakly under the influence of astral disturbances arising from contact with material objects through the sense organs.

Unexcited by astral vibrations, the mental body remains almost completely at rest, but even in response to their violent shocks, its vibrations remain slow and lazy. He has no definite activity within him, and these strong blows from outside are necessary to awaken in him any definite response. The stronger the blows, the better for the growth of a person, because each response vibration helps to develop the rudimentary mental body.

Noisy pleasures, anger, fury, pain, horror - all these passions, producing whirlwinds in the astral body, awaken weak vibrations in the mental body, and it is these vibrations that awaken the mental consciousness to activity, forcing it to add something of itself to the impressions that go to him from outside.

We have seen that the mental body is so closely connected with the astral that they act as a single body, but the nascent mental faculties give to the astral passions a certain power and quality which they do not have as long as they act as purely animal properties. The impressions received by the mental body are more permanent than the astral impressions, and moreover, they are capable of being consciously reproduced by it. With this comes memory and imagination; the latter is cast gradually into a certain form as the images of the external world act on the matter of the mental body and form its particles in their own image and likeness. These images, arising from contact with the sense organs, gather around themselves the grossest mental matter; the nascent forces of consciousness reproduce these images, and in this way a store of pictures is built up, which begin to evoke actions initiated by the desire to re-experience those vibrations that gave pleasure and avoid those that caused pain.

Having reached this property, the mental body begins to act on the astral and awakens in it desires that are dormant in the animal until one or another physical stimulus awakens them. Therefore, in an undeveloped man there appears such an insatiable thirst for sensual pleasures, which does not exist in the animal world, such lusts, such calculated cruelty, which are completely alien to unreasoning animals. The awakening forces of the mind, enslaved by the senses, make of a man a much more dangerous and wild animal than all animals, and the more powerful and more refined forces inherent in the mental spirit-matter give the nature of passions an energy and sharpness that are not found in the animal world. But these same excesses also lead to their necessary correction through the suffering they cause, and the same experiences arising from this act on the consciousness and give rise to new images, on which the imagination in turn works.

These images force the consciousness to resist the series of vibrations that reach it through the astral body from the external world and to exercise the will in holding the passions, instead of submitting to them. Such vibrations of resistance draw to the mental body the finer compounds of mental matter, and at the same time contribute to the expulsion of the grosser compounds which vibrate easily in response to the passionate excitations arising in the astral body.

Due to this struggle between the vibrations created by the images of passion and the vibrations created by the imaginative reproduction of experienced experiences, the mental body grows, a certain organization of it begins to develop and more and more initiative regarding external activity appears.

While the purpose of earthly life is to accumulate experiences, the meaning of the intermediate life between death and a new birth is to translate these experiences into individual properties, as we will see in the next chapter: thanks to this, with each new return to earth, the Thinker brings with him an ever-increasing supply of abilities, which are embodied in his new mental body. Thus the undeveloped man, whose mind is in bondage to the passions, rises to the next step, and his mind becomes a battlefield in which the passions and intellectual forces fight with intermittent success; sometimes hesitating, sometimes giving in to them, a person gradually acquires power over his lower nature.

In an average person, the mental body increases in volume, already shows a certain degree of organization and contains a significant amount of matter belonging to the second, third and fourth subdivisions of the mental sphere. The general law governing all construction and all modifications of the mental body is based on the same principle that operates in the lower regions of the astral and physical worlds; exercise strengthens and perfects, inaction atrophies and finally destroys.

Each vibration that arises in the mental body produces a change in its composition, throwing out from the part affected by the vibration that matter that cannot vibrate in response, and replacing it with the corresponding materials that are in unlimited quantities around. The more often the same vibrations are repeated, the more the part of the mental body affected by them develops; hence, we note in passing, comes the harm done to the mental body by the excessive specialization of the mental forces. From such a one-sided expenditure of these forces comes a one-sided development of the mental body: it becomes correspondingly overdeveloped in the area where these forces are constantly active, and just as underdeveloped in other parts, no less important. It is necessary to achieve a harmonious and holistic overall development, and this requires calm introspection and clearly set goals for self-development. Knowledge of this law elucidates some experiences that are well known to many, and gives confidence in the future.

When we begin to explore a new field or think about changing our behavior for the better, at first we encounter obstacles that seem insurmountable and often cause a person to retreat from the goal. This happens because at the beginning of an unusual spiritual tension, all the work of the mental body that has already become habitual, all its automatism, begins to counteract us, as it were; a substance that usually vibrates in a certain way cannot yet adapt itself to new impulses. And the first attempts usually consist in creating new vibrations, which are all overcome by the automatism of the mental body, which is the necessary preliminary preparation for the appearance of response vibrations; for at the same time, old materials are thrown out of the mental body and new ones are introduced, corresponding to the new work of consciousness. During this preparatory process, a person does not notice any progress and is aware only of the futility of his efforts and the stubborn resistance within himself. If he continues his efforts, he will soon notice great success, for the new constituent particles introduced into the mental body have already begun to act; and finally, when all the old materials are replaced by new ones, he will feel that he succeeds without difficulty and that his goal has been achieved.

It is difficult only at the first step, but if he believes in a law that is as unshakable in its operation as all the other laws of nature, and if he perseveres in his efforts, he will inevitably succeed, and the knowledge of the law will keep him cheerful and faith. into yourself.

Thus the middle-level man can work on himself, finding with joy that he is successfully resisting the onslaughts of the lower nature and that the latter is losing its power over him as he expels from his mental body all particles capable of responding to its vibrations. In this way the composition of the mental body is more and more perfected, the finest constituents of the four lower divisions of the mental sphere are introduced into it, until it acquires that radiant and beautiful form that distinguishes the body.

In a spiritually developed person, all the coarser connections have already been removed from this body, so that sensible objects do not find in it, nor in the astral body closely associated with it, the appropriate materials capable of vibrating sympathetically in response to their vibrations. This body consists of the finest compounds that are part of the four divisions of the lower mental world, with a large predominance of materials from the third and fourth divisions, more perfect in composition than the second and first; thanks to this, the mental body becomes responsive to higher intellectual manifestations, to subtle vibrations coming from the beauty embodied in art, to all pure vibrations of higher emotions.

Such a mental body enables the Thinker, clothed in it, to manifest itself much more fully in all three worlds; due to the fact that it is organized from materials inherent in both the mental and astral and physical worlds, after the vibrations available to it, it expands greatly, and the influences that reach it from a higher world region form it into a nobler and more subtle organization. Such a body gradually becomes a perfect instrument of activity in the lower mental sphere and responds easily to every impulse emanating from the Thinker.

A clear understanding of the nature of the mental body would change modern education in many ways and make it the best assistant for the Thinker.

General properties"thought bodies" depend on the Thinker's past lives on earth, as will become clear in the study of reincarnation and karma. The mental body is organized in the mental sphere, and the materials from which it is built depend on those qualities that the Thinker has collected within himself as a result of his past experiences. All that education can do is to furnish such stimuli as may help to increase those already present. useful properties, and on the other hand, the eradication of those properties that are undesirable. The development of innate qualities, and not the cluttering of the mind with a mass of facts - this is the goal of true education; the attitude to memory as a separate ability is wrong, because memory depends on attention, i.e., on the constant concentration of thought on the subject being studied and on the natural affinity between the subject and the mind. If the subject pleases, in other words, if the mind has an inclination towards it, there will be no lack of memory, assuming that the necessary attention will be applied. Therefore, education should take a long time to develop the habit of concentration and constant attention and should be directed according to the innate abilities of the pupil.

Let us now move on to the subdivisions of the mental sphere, which we have called “without form”, to that area that is the true homeland of a person during all the time of his reincarnations, in which he will be born as a baby soul, as an infant Ego, as a deposit of individuality, when his purely human evolution.

The outer outline of the Ego or the Thinker is oval; that's why

H. P. Blavatsky speaks of the mental body, which persists throughout all incarnations, as an "auric egg." Composed of the matter of the three higher subdivisions of the mental sphere, it is extremely transparent and gentle and is a shell that is distinguished by extraordinary subtlety even when it arises; as it develops, it takes on a radiant appearance of unearthly beauty, which gave it the name "Luminary".

What is a Thinker? This is the divine Self, as already mentioned, limited and individualized by this subtle body, the materials for which are extracted from the higher divisions of the mental sphere. This matter, enveloping the ray of the Divine Self, the living ray of the One Light and the One Life of the universe, separates this ray from its Source, encloses it inside the thinnest shell of its substance and thus makes it an “individuality”.

Life itself is the life of the Logos, but all the forces of this life remain hidden, unmanifested; everything here is in the possibility, in the deposit, just as the tree is hidden in the microscopic germinal point in the grain. This seed descends into the soil of human life, so that its hidden forces, under the influence of the light of joy and the rain of tears, come into a state of activity and feed on those juices that we call trials, until the germ grows into a mighty tree, into an image and the likeness of the Lord who conceived him.

Human evolution is the evolution of the Thinker; he puts on in the lower mental, in the astral and in the physical spheres in his bodies; wears them out in the course of earthly, astral and lower mental life, discards them successively at each step life cycle, passing from one world to another, but all the time retains within himself the fruits that he has collected with the help of these bodies in each of the three worlds. At first as unconscious as an infant in his earthly body, he slumbered from life to life, until the trials that acted on him from without awakened to activity some of his latent powers; gradually he took more and more part in the arrangement of his life, until, having reached adulthood, he took his whole life into his own hands and assumed ever-increasing responsibility for his future destiny.

The growth of the abiding body (corps causal), which together with the divine consciousness forms the Thinker, is exceedingly slow. Its technical name is "the conductor of the law of causality" because it collects within itself the results of all experiences experienced, and these latter act as causes that create future lives. This body alone is preserved among the rest of the bodies of man, which act as vehicles during the various incarnations; mental, astral and physical bodies are built again for each new life; as each of them dies, it transfers the whole harvest of life to the body that follows it, and thus all the results of life are accumulated at the end in one "indwelling" body (corps causal).

When the Thinker returns to a new incarnation, he sends out his forces, created from all the experienced experience, successively into the mental, astral and physical worlds and takes on one body after another, according to his manifestations in the past. The growth of the "indwelling body" itself, as said, is very slow, for it can only vibrate in response to influences that are able to express themselves only in the finest substance of which it itself consists, thus weaving them into the very fabric of its being. Therefore the passions, which play such a great part in the early stages of human evolution, cannot directly influence his growth. The thinker can process in himself only those experiences that can be reproduced in the vibrations of the “staying body” (corps causal), and the latter must belong to the mental region and be either highly intellectual or highly moral in nature, otherwise the subtle substance of this body is not able to vibrate in response to them.

It is not difficult, reflecting on this, to see how little the ordinary man, in his ordinary life, can provide with materials suitable for the growth of his higher body; hence the slowness of evolution and the small successes of mankind. When the Thinker brings much of himself into every successive life, then the evolution of man advances rapidly. Persistence in bad life paths acts indirectly on the "resident body" and does more harm than mere retardation of growth; too long perseverance even causes an inability to respond to the vibrations created by opposing good principles, and thus there is a prolonged stunting of growth even after a person has abandoned evil. To directly harm the "abideant body" requires an evil of a highly intelligent and refined kind, that "spiritual evil" that is mentioned in various scriptures of world religions. This happens, fortunately, very rarely, as rarely as spiritual goodness, and is found only among highly developed souls, whether they follow the right or the left Path.

The Right or White Path is that which leads to the stage of the Adept who has dedicated himself to the service of the world; The Left or Black Path is the one that also leads to the Adept, but one that destroys the fruits of evolution and strives for personal egoistic goals.

The abode of the Thinker, the Eternal Man, is in the fifth subdivision of the mental sphere. Most of humanity is here, barely awakened, still in its infancy. The Thinker develops his consciousness slowly, as his energy, acting in the lower worlds, collects there various experiences, which it absorbs into itself in order to return to the Thinker laden with the precious harvest of life. This Eternal Man, the individualized Divine Self, is the actor in every body in which he is clothed; it is his presence that gives this feeling of "I" equally to the body and soul, that "I" which, being self-conscious, deceptively identifies itself with that of the sheaths in which it acts most energetically. For the sensuous man, his Self merges with the physical body and with the nature of desire; from them he draws his joys and thinks of himself and them as one, for his whole life is in them. For the scientist, his I is contained in the mind, because all the joys of the scientist flow from the activity of the latter, and his whole life is concentrated in it. And only a few can rise to the abstract heights of spiritual philosophy and feel the Eternal Man as their true "I", endowed with a memory capable of embracing all past lives, and a hope that is able to embrace all future births.

Physiologists tell us that if we cut off a finger, we feel pain not at all where the blood appeared, - in fact, we feel it in the brain, and only with the help of imagination is it transferred to the place of the cut; the sensation of pain in the finger, they say, is only an illusion; it is applied by imagination to the point of contact with the object that caused the damage; in the same way, a person with a severed member will feel pain in this member, or rather in the space that was occupied by the amputated member. Similarly, the single “I”, the Inner Man, feeling pain and pleasure at the points of contact of the shells that envelop him with the outside world, begins to take the shell for himself, not realizing that this feeling is an illusion, that he is a single actor in all bodies. their own.

We will now explore, in this light, the relationship between the higher and lower minds and the effects of both on the brain. Manas, the Mind, the Thinker is one, and he is the true Self in the "indwelling body"; he is the source of incalculable energies, vibrations of infinite variety. He sends out these vibrations, radiating them in all directions from himself. The most subtle and tender of them find their expression in the higher, "indwelling body," which alone is subtle enough to respond to them; they form what we call Pure Reason, whose thoughts are abstract, and whose method of knowing is intuition; his very nature is knowledge, and he recognizes the truth at once, as akin to himself.

The less subtle vibrations go beyond the "abide- ing body" attracting the matter of the lower mental realm, and these vibrations are what we know as the lower Manas or lesser mind, in other words, the grosser energies of the higher mind expressed in denser matter; It is these vibrations that we call intellect, which includes judgment, inference, imagination, comparison, etc. mental capacity; he creates concrete thoughts, and his method is logic; he proves, argues, draws conclusions. Its vibrations, acting through astral matter on the etheric brain, and hence on the dense physical brain, cause vibrations in the latter, which are heavy and slow reproductions of the vibrations of the mind - heavy and slow because their energy loses much of its speed, setting particles in action. heavier matter. This weakening of the response, when the vibration begins in a rarefied medium and then passes into a denser one, is known to all students of physics. Strike a bell in air and it will sound clear, and the same sound produced in a hydrogen-filled environment will give the weakest result. The brain reacts just as weakly in response to quick and subtle vibrations of thought; nevertheless, this is all that most people know as their "consciousness".

The great importance of the activity of this “consciousness” lies in the fact that it is the only vehicle through which the Thinker can collect the experience necessary for his growth. As long as it is subject to the passions, it acts disorderly; and the Thinker remains without food and, consequently, stops in his development; so long as it is entirely occupied with mental activities concerning the external world, it can only awaken the lower powers of the Thinker, and only when the latter becomes able to imprint on the consciousness the true purpose of life, then begins the most valuable work of collecting everything that can awaken and nourish his higher powers. As the Thinker develops, he becomes more and more aware of the forces inherent in him and the work of his energies in the lower worlds, as well as the bodies with which these energies surrounded him. In the end, he begins to try his influence over them, guided by the memory of the past to direct his will; these influences we call "conscience" when it comes to morality, and "flashes of intuition" when they enlighten the intellect. If these latter are so constant that they become normal, we call their totality "genius". The higher evolution of the Thinker is distinguished by his increasingly growing control over the lower vehicles of consciousness, the increasing responsiveness of the latter to his influences and their growing assistance in favor of accelerating his growth.

All who wish to consciously help their evolution can achieve this through a careful culture of their thoughts and their moral character, through sustained and well-directed efforts. The habit of calm, restrained, and consistent thought directed to supra-personal subjects, the habit of meditation and serious study, develops the "body of thought" and makes it a more perfect instrument. Efforts to develop abstract thinking are also useful, for they raise the lower mind to the higher and introduce into it the most subtle materials from the lower mental realm. In these and other similar ways, all can actively contribute to their higher evolution, since each step forward hastens the subsequent movement. No effort, even the weakest, is lost, but is accompanied by corresponding consequences, and each new experience is added to the treasury of the "abide- ing body" (corps causal) for future use. Thus the evolution of consciousness, however slow and full of halts, nevertheless moves forward relentlessly, and the divine life, never ceasing to unfold within every soul, slowly subjugates all that exists.

Notes:

Hence His name "Lord of Maya"; in some Eastern sacred books, Maua or illusion is recognized as the principle of form; form is recognized as illusory, due to its transient nature and eternal transformations, while Life, seeking expression for itself under the cover various forms, is recognized as a reality.

The reader may be more likely to understand our presentation if he thinks of the atoms of the 5th sphere as Atma, the atoms of the 4th sphere as Atma enclosed in the matter of Buddhi; atoms of the 3rd sphere as Atma enclosed in the matter of Buddhi and Manas; atoms of the 2nd sphere as Atma clothed in matter Buddhi - Manas - Kama; the atoms of the lowest sphere as Atma clothed in the matter of Buddhi - Manas - Kama and Sthula. Only the outer atoms are active, but the inner also remains there, although hidden, ready to enter into active manifestation when the evolutionary process begins to ascend along the Ascending line.

Produced from Manas; the technical expression "manasic plane" is translated by the English as "mental"

Arura - no form, Rupa - form

Mahat, Third Logos or Divine Creative Intelligence, Brahma of Hindus, Manjusri of Northern Buddhists, Holy Spirit of Christians

These are the “Arupa and Rupa Devas” of the Hindus and Buddhists, the “Lords of heaven and earth” of the followers of Zoroaster, the Archangels and Angels of Christians and Mohammedans.

These bodies are usually called Mayavi Rupa, or bodies of illusion, when they are created for independent activity in the mental sphere.

So the theosophist uses the expression "Kama-Manas", implying that thought works simultaneously with the passionate beginning of a person, with his "body of desire", being influenced by animal nature. The follower of Vedanta classifies both bodies or both principles in the same category and speaks of the Ego, the higher Self, manifested through manomayokosha, a sheath that connects both the lower rational principle and the principle of passions and emotions. The European psychologist establishes "feelings" as part of the "soul" and by feeling he understands both emotions and sensations.

See chapters VII and VIII on "Reincarnation"

This is the Angoeides of the Neo-Platonists and the "spiritual body" of An. Paul

The Higher Self acting in Vijnyanomayakosha, vehicle of discriminating knowledge according to the Vedantic classification

Counting from below, first arūpa (no subplan form)

The mental realm, as its very name already indicates, is the realm of consciousness working as thought; it is the realm of the mind, not that which manifests itself through the brain, but that which operates freely in its own world, not constrained by physical matter. This world is the birthplace of the true man. The English word "man" (man) comes from the Sanskrit root "man", which in turn is the root of the Sanskrit verb meaning to think, so "man" literally means a thinker, and this name carries the most characteristic sign of a person - - reasonableness. In English, the word mind expresses at the same time the rational consciousness as such, and the actions caused in the physical brain by the vibrations of this consciousness. But in further investigation, we must take the mind for a certain essence, for an individuality, whose life is manifested by vibrations; the latter are thoughts, and these thoughts are images, not words. This individuality is Manas or the Thinker [Derived from Manas; the technical expression "manasic plane" is translated by the English as "mental"]. He is the Self, Ego (Self), enclosed in the matter of the higher divisions of the mental sphere and working under the conditions imposed by the matter of this sphere. Its presence in the physical sphere is expressed by the vibrations it causes in the brain and in the nervous system; the latter respond to the trembling of his life with reciprocal vibrations, but, due to the coarseness of their materials, they can reproduce only a small part of all his vibrations, and, moreover, very imperfectly.

Just as science recognizes the existence of vast series of ethereal vibrations, of which only a small amount (the solar light spectrum) can be perceived by the eye, which can vibrate only within limited limits, so the physical apparatus of thought - the brain and nervous system - can perceive only a small part of a vast series of vibrations which are set in motion by the "Thinker" in his own sphere. The most developed brain responds to this series of vibrations only up to the point which we call "great intellectual power"; the exceptionally receptive brain responds to the point we call "genius"; the exceptionally unreceptive brain responds only to the point we call "idiocy." But whatever qualities the brain possesses, millions of thought-waves rush at it without interruption, to which it cannot respond, thanks to the density of the material of which it is composed, and the so-called mental powers of each of us fully correspond to the sensitivity of our transmission apparatus - brain. But before studying the Thinker, one should get acquainted with his world, with the mental sphere itself.

The mental sphere, closest to the astral, is separated from it only by the difference of the matter of which it is composed; just as the astral realm separates from the physical. Indeed, we can say exactly the same about the relation of the mental to the astral that we have already said about the relation of the astral to the physical. Life in the mental sphere is more active than in the astral one, and its forms are more plastic. The spirit-matter of this sphere is much more animated and more refined than the highest matter of the astral sphere. The primary atom of astral matter is surrounded by innumerable aggregates of the densest mental matter; thus, in the dissolution of the astral atom, a large amount of mental matter of a lower type is liberated. Under these conditions, i.e. due to the fact that the density of the matter set in motion decreases, it is natural that the manifestation vitality in this area increases immeasurably in terms of activity.

Mental matter is in constant perpetual motion: it assumes a certain form under the influence of every slightest trembling of life, and easily adapts itself to every movement that changes it. The "matter of thought," as it has been called, makes astral matter appear clumsy, heavy, and dull, although in comparison with physical matter it seemed so magically transparent and light. But the law of analogy is immutable, and it will be for us a guiding thread in this supra-astral region, which is truly our homeland, although we, prisoners in a foreign country, do not know it and treat its description as if we were an unknown country.

Just as in the physical and astral spheres, so in the mental sphere there are seven divisions of spirit-matter. And these varieties of matter enter into the same countless combinations of various shades of complexity, forming solid and liquid compounds, gases and ethers of the mental sphere. The word "solid" seems absurd when we speak of even the most condensed forms of matter of thought; nevertheless, having no other words than those that correspond to the physical conditions of being, we are forced to call them so because of their comparative density. It suffices if we learn that this sphere also follows the same general law and order of nature, which is the sevenfold basis for our globe, and that the seven divisions of mental matter represent a relative and gradually decreasing density as solid, liquid, gaseous and ethereal compositions on earth, and the seventh or higher division consists exclusively of the primary mental atoms.

These seven subdivisions are in turn divided into two divisions, which were given the incomprehensible at first glance name "without form" and "having form" [Arura - without form, Rupa - form]. The four subdivisions are grouped together as "formed," another group is represented by the three higher subdivisions, the fifth, sixth, and seventh, which have in common the absence of form. This grouping is necessary because the difference is quite real, though difficult to describe, and in human consciousness it corresponds to divisions in the mind itself, as we shall see later.

This distinction may perhaps be best clarified if we say that in the four lower divisions the vibrations of consciousness create forms, images, pictures, so that every thought appears as a living image, while in the three higher divisions, although consciousness continues to give rise to vibrations, it sends them rather like a mighty stream vital energy; the latter is not clothed in definite images while it remains in these higher regions, but immediately, as soon as it is transferred to the lower regions, it creates a variety of forms connected with each other by some common condition.

The closest analogy for the thought I am trying to express is abstract and concrete thoughts, for example, the abstract thought of a triangle has no form, but includes all figures bounded by three straight lines, the angles of which make two right angles; such an idea, with conditions contained in it, but without form, thrown into the lower world, can give life to a vast variety of figures - rectangular, isosceles, versatile, of various sizes and colors, but all corresponding to the conditions of a particular triangle, each with its own definite outline.

The impossibility of giving in words a clear idea of ​​how differently consciousness acts in the realm of the concrete and in the realm of the abstract depends on the fact that words are symbols of images; they belong to the area of ​​the small mind, which manifests itself with the help of the brain and is entirely based on its efficiency; while the "formless" region belongs to Pure Reason, which never manifests itself within the narrow confines of human speech.

The mental sphere serves as a reflection for the World Consciousness in nature, and it also corresponds in our small system to the Great Mind of the entire Cosmos. In its higher regions there are all the archetypes of ideas which are now on the path of concrete evolution; these ideas are realized in its lower regions in successive forms, which are then reproduced exactly in the astral and physical worlds.

The matter of this sphere is capable of combining in the most varied ways under the influence of the vibrations of thought, it can bring to life any combination that thought can create; just as a shovel for tilling the earth and a sword for battle can be made of iron, so also mental matter can be turned into thought-images that bring either benefit or harm. The vibrating life of the Thinker forms mental materials around him, and according to his desires, the work of thought takes place. In this realm, thought and action, will and fulfillment are one and the same: spirit-matter is here the obedient servant of life, adapting itself to every creative movement.

These vibrations, which create thought-images out of mental matter, also give rise - due to their speed and subtlety - to unusually beautiful and graceful, ever-changing colors, waves of iridescent shades, similar to the iridescent play on a mother-of-pearl surface, airy and bright in an indescribable degree. earthly impressions; these waves sweep through all forms in such a way that each of them is a harmony of flowing, living, luminous, delicate colors, many of which are even unknown on earth. No words can convey the graceful beauty and radiance that manifests itself in the combinations of this subtle matter, imbued with life and movement. Every clairvoyant who has ever beheld her—Hindu, Buddhist, or Christian—all speak in enthusiastic terms of her radiant beauty, and are conscious of the utter impotence of earthly words to describe her. Words can only give a crude and distorted concept, however beautifully they may be composed to glorify her.

Among living beings acting in the mental sphere, thought-images undoubtedly play an important role. They are similar to those thought-images that we have already recognized in the astral sphere, with the difference that they are much lighter and brighter in color, that they are stronger, their existence is longer and they have more vital energy. The more definite the higher mental qualities of a person become, the sharper the external outlines of his thought-images become, and in them a tendency to the amazing perfection of geometric constructions, combined with the amazing purity of luminous colors, is noticed. It is superfluous to add that at the present stage of humanity, ordinary, indefinitely constructed thought-images, the creations of the ill-bred minds of the majority, predominate. Artistic thoughts of rare beauty are also found here, and it is not surprising that artists who catch a glimpse of the perfection of their ideal in their dreams are tormented by the impossibility of reproducing its radiant beauty with dull earthly colors.

These thought-images are built from the "elemental essence" of the mental sphere, the vibrations of the thought give it the appropriate form, into which the thought is embodied, staying in it as the life that animates it.

Thus we have "artificial elementals" here too, created in the same way as in the astral sphere. Everything that is said in the second chapter about their origin and meaning can be repeated with regard to the thought-images of the mental sphere, but here the responsibility of their creators is increased due to the greater power and duration of phenomena in this higher world. The elemental essence of the sphere was created by the Monad at the time of its descent just before its entry into the astral world, and it forms the second elemental kingdom inhabiting the four lower divisions of the mental sphere. The three highest divisions (without form) are inhabited by the first elemental kingdom; there, the power of thought does not bring the elemental essence into definite forms, but into a state of brilliance, into streams of color, into lightning of living fire, as if timed to complex actions, but without yet assuming a definite limitation of forms.

In the mental realm, in both of its vast departments, there are many Spirits whose lower bodies are composed of luminous matter and the elemental essence of the mental realm, Luminous, who direct the processes of nature, watching the hosts of lower spirits, which have already been discussed, at the same time being in subjection to the great representatives of the seven elements [These are the "Arupa and Rupa Devas" of the Hindus and Buddhists, the "Lords of heaven and earth" of the followers of Zoroaster, the Archangels and Angels of Christians and Mohammedans]. These are Beings with vast knowledge, with great powers, possessing magnificent appearance: shining, sparkling, countless shades, like rainbows with changing heavenly colors, a stately regal appearance, the embodiment of calm energy and irresistible strength. I recall the description of the great Christian prophet when he spoke of the mighty Angel: "A rainbow was over his head, his face was like the sun and his feet were like pillars of fire" (Revelation X, I). Their voices are like the noise of many streams, like the echo from the music of the spheres. They preside over the natural order and govern the vast hosts of the elementals of the astral world, whose bands carry out the various processes of nature incessantly with unfailing regularity and precision.

In the lower mental regions there are Chelas (disciples) working in their mental bodies [These bodies are usually called Mayavi Rupa, or bodies of illusion when they are created for independent activity in the mental sphere], freed for a time from their physical covers. When the body is in deep sleep, the true man, the Thinker, can leave it, free from its heaviness, can act without hindrance in the higher worlds. From here, he can comfort and help his neighbors, acting directly on their consciousness, sending them thoughts of help, putting before them noble ideas, and all this is faster and more effective than in the flesh. From there he sees their needs more clearly and is therefore in a position to help them more perfectly; and his highest joy is to serve his struggling brethren, unaware of whose strong hand lifts their burdens and whose gentle voice speaks consolation in their hours of sorrow. Invisible, unrecognized, he works, serving his enemies as willingly as his friends, distributing to individual people the streams of life-giving forces pouring out from the Great Helpers from still higher spheres. Here one can sometimes see the bright image of the Teachers, although usually They reside on the higher planes of the mental sphere; and other high Beings also appear from time to time for the sake of the work of mercy and help that requires their manifestation on these levels of being.

Communication between intelligent beings acting consciously in this realm, be they human or non-human beings, be they in the body or out of the body, takes place instantly, with the "speed of thought." Space has no separating meaning here, and each soul can come into contact with another soul only by directing its attention to it. Such messages are distinguished not only by speed, but also by perfect completeness, if the souls stand on the same level of evolution. Words do not fetter and do not interfere with unity, but the whole thought is transferred with lightning speed from one soul to another, or rather, each soul sees how a thought is created in another soul. The true barriers between souls are differences in evolution; a less developed soul can know about a more developed one only to the extent that it is able to respond to the vibrations of the latter; moreover, the limitation can only be felt by the higher soul, since the lower one has an answer to everything that it can accommodate. The more developed the soul is, the closer it comes to the essence of things.

But it must be remembered that the mental sphere also has its veils of illusions, although they are much fewer and incomparably thinner than the illusions of the astral and physical worlds. Each soul has its own mental atmosphere, and since all impressions must pass through this atmosphere, they are all distorted and colored according to its properties. The lighter and purer the atmosphere, the less it is colored by personal properties, the less illusions remain that can influence it.

The three higher divisions of the mental sphere are the seat of the Thinker himself, and he remains in one or the other, according to the degree of his evolution. The vast majority are at the lowest level. A relatively small number of highly intelligent souls are on the second level, since the Thinker ascends there - an expression more suitable for the physical than for the mental sphere - only if the finer matter of this region predominates in him and therefore necessitates moving to a higher area.

In essence, the point here is not in “ascension” and not in a change of place, but in the fact that the Thinker is able to perceive the vibrations of finer matter and respond to them, having the ability to send forces from himself that lead the rarefied particles of this fine matter into oscillatory movements.

The student of these questions must firmly bear in mind the fact that ascending the steps of evolution does not mean moving from place to place, but a more and more refined ability to perceive impressions. All spheres surround us: the astral, the mental, the spheres of Buddha and Nirvana and even higher worlds, the life of the highest God. We have no need to move about to find them, for they are here, near us, but our gross immunity removes and hides them from us more effectively than millions of miles in space could do.

We are conscious only of what acts on us, what causes response vibrations in us, and as we become more and more receptive and absorb more and more subtle matter, we come into contact with more and more refined worlds. Therefore, the rise from one level to another means that we weave for ourselves vestments from finer material and through it come into contact with more refined worlds; and it also has the significance that in the higher Self, enclosed in these vestments, the higher forces awaken from an immobile state to activity and begin to send out their subtle vibrations of life.

At this stage, reached by the Thinker, he is fully aware of everything around him and possesses the memory of his past. He knows the bodies in which he is clothed, through which he contacts the lower worlds, and he is able to influence and guide them to a great extent. He sees the obstacles and difficulties, the fruits of past careless lives, that threaten them, and he seeks to pour into them energies that will make them better equipped for the tasks ahead. The guidance coming from him is sometimes felt in the lower consciousness as an overbearing coercive force that paves its way and induces to such actions that may be obscure to the more vague consciousness of the mental and astral sheaths. People who performed great deeds sometimes left evidence that some kind of internal uplifting and compelling force forced them, as if against their will, to act in this way and not otherwise. And then they did truly human deeds; The thinker who is inner man, performs its work consciously by means of bodies, which perform their activities as mere conductors of the individual.

In the third, highest, region of the mental sphere are the Egos (immortal Selves) of the Masters and Initiates and their disciples; here, in the shells of the Thinker, the subtle matter of this higher world predominates. It is from this world of the highest mental forces that the Teachers spread their beneficial activity for the benefit of mankind, shedding streams of noble ideas, inspiring thoughts, prayerful aspirations, streams of spiritual and intellectual help to people.

Each force formed there radiates in innumerable directions, and the noblest and purest souls most easily perceive these beneficent, helping influences. Thus, a new discovery suddenly illuminates the thought of a patient investigator of the hidden forces of nature; a new melody delights the ear of a great musician; the answer to a long-sought problem illuminates the sublime mind of the philosopher; a new energy of hope and love penetrates into the heart of a selfless worker for the benefit of disadvantaged people. Meanwhile, people think that they are left without any help, although the very expressions that they often use, such as: "a sudden thought visited me", "a revelation flashed through me like lightning", etc., unconsciously confirm the truth, which well known to their higher self, though hidden from their blind physical gaze.

Let us now return to the study of the Thinker and his shells, as they are among people on earth. The body of thought that conditions consciousness in the four lower divisions of the mental sphere, the mental body, as we call it, is composed of the aggregates of matter of these four divisions. When the Thinker, the individuality, the soul of a person incarnates, it first radiates a certain part of the energy in vibrations that attract to it and clothe it in the matter of the four lower divisions of its own sphere (mental). According to the properties of vibrations, one or another kind of matter is involved: thus, more subtle matter responds to faster vibrations and receives a certain form under their influence; coarser matter responds to slower vibrations in exactly the same way as a string resounds with the same note, i.e. a given number of vibrations, in response to a note issued by a string of the same length and tension, but it will remain mute among the whole chorus of notes produced by inappropriate strings. The same is true of the different kinds of matter, which all respond only to the vibrations corresponding to each kind. In full accordance with the vibrations sent by the Thinker, there will be the nature of the mental body with which he surrounds himself, and this mental body is what we call the lower mind or lower manas, for it is the Thinker himself, clothed in the matter of the lower divisions of the mental spheres and limited in its manifestations by this matter. None of his energies, too subtle to set this kind of matter in motion, and too fast to cause reciprocal vibrations in it, can manifest itself through it; therefore, the Thinker is necessarily limited by matter, conditioned by it, reduced by it in the manifestations of his Self. This is the first of the dungeons in which he imprisons himself during his embodied life, and while his energies are working within it, he is for the most part separated from his own higher world, since all his attention is directed to the forces emanating from him; because of this, his own life is also involved in the lower body of thought, which is called either a shell (vessel), or a sheath (sheath), or a vehicle (vehicle) - it is not a matter of expression: each of them indicates that the Thinker is not a mental body, that he uses it to manifest himself as far as possible in the lower mental region.

It should also not be forgotten that his energies, continuing to strive outward, also gather around him the denser matter of the astral sphere, from which his astral body is formed; during his embodied life, his energies, expressed through the lower kinds of mental matter, are so easily converted into slower vibrations corresponding to astral matter, that both bodies - mental and astral - constantly vibrating together, finally become closely intertwined with each other; the coarser the property of the matter introduced into the construction of the mental body, the closer this connection becomes, so that both bodies are sometimes ranked in the same category and even taken as one [Thus the theosophist uses the expression "Kama-Manas", implying that thought works simultaneously with passionate the beginning of man, with his "body of desire", being influenced by animal nature. The follower of Vedanta classifies both bodies or both principles in the same category and speaks of the Ego, the higher Self, manifested through manomayokosha, a sheath that connects both the lower rational principle and the principle of passions and emotions. The European psychologist establishes "feelings" as part of the "soul" and understands by feeling both emotions and sensations].

When we come to the study of reincarnation, we shall see what great vital significance this fact has.

The type of mental body that a person forms on his way to a new incarnation will fully correspond to the stage of evolution reached by a person, and we will now begin - as we did with regard to the astral body - to study the mental bodies corresponding to three types of man: A) undeveloped, B) average, C) spiritually awakened.

A) In an undeveloped person, the mental body is only barely noticeable; it consists of a small amount of unorganized mental matter, mainly of its lower types - that's all it is at this stage. It is set in motion almost exclusively by influences coming from the lower bodies, vibrating weakly under the influence of astral disturbances arising from contact with material objects through the sense organs.

Unexcited by astral vibrations, the mental body remains almost completely at rest, but even in response to their violent shocks, its vibrations remain slow and lazy. He has no definite activity within him, and these strong blows from outside are necessary to awaken in him any definite response. The stronger the blows, the better for the growth of a person, because each response vibration helps to develop the rudimentary mental body.

Noisy pleasures, anger, fury, pain, horror - all these passions, producing whirlwinds in the astral body, awaken weak vibrations in the mental body, and it is these vibrations that awaken the mental consciousness to activity, forcing it to add something of itself to the impressions coming on it from the outside.

We have seen that the mental body is so closely connected with the astral that they act as a single body, but the nascent mental faculties give to the astral passions a certain power and quality which they do not have as long as they act as purely animal properties. The impressions received by the mental body are more permanent than the astral impressions, and moreover, they are capable of being consciously reproduced by it. With this comes memory and imagination; the latter is cast gradually into a certain form as the images of the external world act on the matter of the mental body and form its particles in their own image and likeness. These images, arising from contact with the sense organs, gather around themselves the grossest mental matter; the nascent forces of consciousness reproduce these images, and in this way a store of pictures is built up, which begin to evoke actions initiated by the desire to re-experience those vibrations that gave pleasure and avoid those that caused pain.

Having reached this property, the mental body begins to act on the astral and awakens in it desires that are dormant in the animal until one or another physical stimulus awakens them. Therefore, in an undeveloped man there appears such an insatiable thirst for sensual pleasures, which does not exist in the animal world, such lusts, such calculated cruelty, which are completely alien to unreasoning animals. The awakening powers of the mind, enslaved by the senses, make of man a much more dangerous and wild animal than all animals, and the more powerful and more refined forces inherent in the mental spirit-matter give the nature of passions an energy and sharpness that are not found in the animal world. But these same excesses also lead to their necessary correction through the suffering they cause, and the same experiences arising from this act on the consciousness and give rise to new images, on which the imagination in turn works.

These images force the consciousness to resist the series of vibrations that reach it through the astral body from the external world and to exercise the will in holding the passions, instead of submitting to them. Such vibrations of resistance draw to the mental body the finer compounds of mental matter, and at the same time contribute to the expulsion of the grosser compounds which vibrate easily in response to the passionate excitations arising in the astral body.

Due to this struggle between the vibrations created by the images of passion and the vibrations created by the imaginative reproduction of experienced experiences, the mental body grows, a certain organization of it begins to develop and more and more initiative regarding external activity appears.

While the purpose of earthly life is to accumulate experiences, the meaning of the intermediate life between death and a new birth is to translate these experiences into individual properties, as we will see in the next chapter: thanks to this, with each new return to earth, the Thinker brings with an ever-increasing stock of abilities, which are embodied in his new mental body. Thus the undeveloped man, whose mind is in bondage to the passions, rises to the next step, and his mind becomes a battlefield in which the passions and intellectual forces fight with intermittent success; sometimes hesitating, sometimes giving in to them, a person gradually acquires power over his lower nature.

B) In an average person, the mental body increases in volume, already shows a certain degree of organization and contains a significant amount of matter belonging to the second, third and fourth subdivisions of the mental sphere. The general law governing all construction and all modifications of the mental body is based on the same principle that operates in the lower regions of the astral and physical worlds; exercise strengthens and perfects, inaction atrophies and finally destroys.

Each vibration that arises in the mental body produces a change in its composition, throwing out from the part affected by the vibration that matter that cannot vibrate in response, and replacing it with the corresponding materials that are in unlimited quantities around. The more often the same vibrations are repeated, the more the part of the mental body affected by them develops; hence, we note in passing, comes the harm done to the mental body by the excessive specialization of the mental forces. From such a one-sided expenditure of these forces comes a one-sided development of the mental body: it becomes correspondingly overdeveloped in the area where these forces are constantly active, and just as underdeveloped in other parts, no less important. It is necessary to achieve a harmonious and holistic overall development, and this requires calm introspection and clearly set goals for self-development. Knowledge of this law elucidates some experiences that are well known to many, and gives confidence in the future.

When we begin to explore a new field or think about changing our behavior for the better, at first we encounter obstacles that seem insurmountable and often cause a person to retreat from the goal. This happens because at the beginning of an unusual spiritual tension, all the work of the mental body that has already become habitual, all its automatism, begins to counteract us, as it were; a substance that usually vibrates in a certain way cannot yet adapt itself to new impulses. And the first attempts usually consist in creating new vibrations, which are all overcome by the automatism of the mental body, which is the necessary preliminary preparation for the appearance of response vibrations; for at the same time, old materials are thrown out of the mental body and new ones are introduced, corresponding to the new work of consciousness. During this preparatory process, a person does not notice any progress and is aware only of the futility of his efforts and the stubborn resistance within himself. If he continues his efforts, he will soon notice great success, for the new constituent particles introduced into the mental body have already begun to act; and finally, when all the old materials are replaced by new ones, he will feel that he succeeds without difficulty and that his goal has been achieved.

It is difficult only at the first step, but if he believes in a law that is as unshakable in its operation as all the other laws of nature, and if he perseveres in his efforts, he will inevitably succeed, and the knowledge of the law will keep him cheerful and faith. into yourself.

Thus the middle-level man can work on himself, finding with joy that he is successfully resisting the onslaughts of the lower nature and that the latter is losing its power over him as he expels from his mental body all particles capable of responding to its vibrations. In this way the composition of the mental body is more and more perfected, the finest constituents of the four lower divisions of the mental sphere are introduced into it, until it acquires that radiant and beautiful form that distinguishes the body.

C) In a spiritually developed person, all the coarser compounds have already been removed from this body, so that sensible objects do not find either in it or in the astral body closely associated with it the appropriate materials capable of vibrating sympathetically in response to their vibrations. This body consists of the finest compounds that are part of the four divisions of the lower mental world, with a large predominance of materials from the third and fourth divisions, more perfect in composition than the second and first; thanks to this, the mental body becomes responsive to higher intellectual manifestations, to subtle vibrations coming from the beauty embodied in art, to all pure vibrations of higher emotions.

Such a mental body enables the Thinker, clothed in it, to manifest itself much more fully in all three worlds; due to the fact that it is organized from materials inherent in both the mental and astral and physical worlds, after the vibrations available to it, it expands greatly, and the influences that reach it from a higher world region form it into a nobler and more subtle organization. Such a body gradually becomes a perfect instrument of activity in the lower mental sphere and responds easily to every impulse emanating from the Thinker.

A clear understanding of the nature of the mental body would change modern education in many ways and make it the best assistant for the Thinker.

The general properties of the "body of thought" depend on the past lives of the Thinker on earth, as will become clear in the study of reincarnation and karma. The mental body is organized in the mental sphere, and the materials from which it is built depend on those qualities that the Thinker has collected within himself as a result of his past experiences. All that education can do is to provide such stimuli that could contribute to the growth of already existing useful properties, and on the other hand to the eradication of those properties that are undesirable. The development of innate qualities, and not the cluttering of the mind with a mass of facts - this is the goal of true education; the attitude to memory as a separate ability is wrong, because memory depends on attention, i.e. from the constant concentration of thought on the subject under study and from the natural affinity between the subject and the mind. If the subject pleases, in other words, if the mind has an inclination towards it, there will be no lack of memory, assuming that the necessary attention will be applied. Therefore, education should not develop the habit of concentration and constant attention and should be directed according to the innate abilities of the pupil.

Let us now move on to the subdivisions of the mental sphere, which we have called "without form", to that area that is the true homeland of a person during all the time of his reincarnations, in which he will be born as a baby soul, as an infant Ego, as a deposit of individuality, then, when his purely human evolution [See chapters VII and VIII on "Reincarnation"].