To date, we have talked about classes of emotions. These emotions have a force behind them, and we will start to look at this today. The possession of psychic powers does not necessitate being endowed with high moral character any more than does the possession of physical strength. Neither are psychic powers in themselves a sign of great development in any other direction, e.g., that of intellect.
Therefore, it is not true that a great psychic is necessarily a spiritual person; a great spiritual person is inevitably psychic.
Psychic powers can be developed by anyone who takes the trouble, and a person may learn clairvoyance or mesmerism just as they may learn the piano if they are willing to go through the necessary hard work. Emotional senses exist in every person, but they are latent in most and generally need to be artificially forced if they are to be used in the present stage of evolution. In a few, they become active without any artificial impulse; in many, they can be artificially awakened and developed. For all who wish to develop their emotional senses, they have to quieten their physical vibrations. The more complete the physical passivity, the greater the possibility of emotional activity.
Clairvoyance is often possessed by (1) Young souls or by (2) Community souls living among (3) Cultured souls in a developed society. This is sometimes called lower psychism and is not the same as the faculty possessed by a properly trained and more advanced aspirant, nor is it arrived at in the same way.
The occasional appearance of psychic development in an “undeveloped” person presents itself as an overall sensation vaguely belonging to the whole body rather than an exact and definite perception coming through specialised organs. This was especially characteristic of the Atlantean, the Fourth Root Race. It does not work through the emotional Chakras but through the emotional centres connected with the physical senses. These are not distinctively emotional, although they are aggregations of emotional matter in the emotional body. They are of the nature of connecting bridges between the emotional and physical planes and do not develop emotional senses in the proper understanding of the term. “Second sight” belongs to this type of sensitiveness and is often symbolic, the perceiver transmitting their knowledge in this curious symbolical way. To stimulate the centres, which are bridges, instead of evolving the Chakras, which are the emotional organs, is a big mistake. This lower psychism is also associated with the sympathetic nervous system, whereas the higher psychism is associated with the cerebrospinal system. Reviving control of the sympathetic system is a retrograde step, not a forward one.
Over time, the lower psychism disappears to re-open at a later stage where it will be brought under the control of the will.
Hysterical and highly nervous people may occasionally become clairvoyant, a symptom of their condition and due to the weakening of the physical vehicle to such a degree that it no longer presents any obstacle to a small measure of etheric or emotional vision. Delirium, similar to symptoms of drug abuse, is an extreme example of this class of psychism, with victims of the condition often being able to temporarily perceive certain loathsome elemental and etheric entities.
For those who have not yet developed emotional vision, it is a good idea to appreciate, intellectually, the Emotional World’s reality and realise that its phenomena are open to competent observation just as are those of the physical world. There exist definite methods of Yoga by which the emotional senses can be developed rationally and healthily. However, it is not only useless; it may be dangerous to attempt these until the preparatory stage of purification has been passed. Both the physical and the emotional body must first be purified by breaking the bonds of harmful habits in eating, drinking and giving way to hateful emotions of all kinds. Easier said than done!
Speaking generally, it is not desirable to force the development of the emotional body by artificial means like taking psychotropic substances. Until spiritual strength is attained, the intrusion of emotional sights, sounds, and other phenomena can be disturbing and even alarming. Sooner or later, according to the karma of the past, someone who follows the “ancient and royal” Path will find the knowledge of emotional phenomena gradually coming to them: their keener vision will awaken, and new vistas of a more expansive universe will be unfolded to, on every side. It illustrates the saying: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
The attainment of emotional powers as an end inevitably leads to what is called in the East, the Laukika method of development: the powers obtained are only for the present persona, and, there being no safeguards, the student is highly likely to misuse them. To this class belong the practices of Hatha Yoga, pranayama or breath-control, invocation of elementals and all systems which involve deadening the physical senses in some way, actively by drugs (e.g., bhang, or hashish), by self-hypnotisation, or, as among the dervishes, by whirling in a mad dance of religious fervour, until vertigo and insensibility overcome the person. The other option, which is passive, is being mesmerised — so that the emotional senses come to the surface. Different methods are crystal-gazing (which leads to the lowest type of clairvoyance), invocation repetition, charms and ceremonies.
A person who entrances themselves by repeating words or charms may return in their next life as a medium or, at any rate, be mediumistic. Mediumship should not be regarded as a psychic power at all: a medium, so far from exercising power, on the contrary, abdicates control over their bodies in favour of another entity. Mediumship is thus not a power but a condition.
There are many stories of mysterious ointments or drugs that enable a person to see fairies when applied to the eyes. Anointing the eyes might stimulate etheric sight but could not possibly open emotional vision. However, certain ointments rubbed over the whole body will greatly assist the emotional body in leaving the physical in full consciousness—a fact the knowledge of which seems to have survived to mediaeval times, as can be seen from the evidence given at some of the witchcraft trials.
The Lokottara method, a fancy way of saying “transcendental”, consists of Raja Yoga or spiritual progress, and this is unquestionably the best method for developing one’s emotional faculties. Though slower, the powers gained by it belong to the permanent individuality and are never again lost. At the same time, the guiding of a Master ensures perfect safety so long as His orders are scrupulously obeyed. Another great advantage of being trained by a Master is that whatever faculties the pupil may achieve are definitely under his command and can be used fully and constantly when needed. In the case of the untrained person, such powers often manifest themselves partially and spasmodically and appear to come and go of their own sweet will. The temporary method is like learning to ride by stupefying the horse; the permanent method is like learning to ride correctly so that any horse can be ridden. The permanent method means natural evolution, and the other method does not necessarily involve anything of the sort, as the powers gained by it may perish with the body’s death.
The broader sight of the emotional plane is a blessing and a curse, as it reveals the world’s sorrow and misery, evil and greed. The words of the German poet Schiller spring to mind: “Why hast thou cast me thus into the town of the ever-blind, to proclaim thine oracle with the opened sense? Take back this sad clear-sightedness; take from mine eyes this cruel light! Give me back my blindness — the happy darkness of my senses; take back thy dreadful gift!”
If properly and sensibly used, Clairvoyant power may be a blessing and a help; misused, it may be a hindrance and a curse. The principal dangers attendant upon it arise from pride, ignorance and impurity. It is foolish for a clairvoyant to imagine that they are the only ones thus endowed and specially selected under angelic guidance to deliver a new dispensation. Moreover, plenty of enthusiastic and mischievous emotional entities are always ready and anxious to foster such delusions and fulfil any role they may be assigned.
It is helpful for a clairvoyant to know something about the history of the subject, understand the conditions of the higher planes, and possess some knowledge of scientific subjects. A person of impure life or motive inevitably attracts to themself the worst elements in the invisible world. On the other hand, a person who is pure in thought and life is, by that very fact, guarded from the influence of undesirable entities from other planes. In many cases, a person may have occasional flashes of emotional consciousness without awakening etheric vision. This irregularity of development is one of the principal causes of the likelihood in matters relating to clairvoyance in its earlier stages. In the ordinary course of things, people wake very slowly to the realities of the emotional plane, just as a baby awakes to the realities of the physical plane. Those who deliberately and prematurely enter upon the Path develop such knowledge abnormally and are consequently more liable to stumble at first.
Let us finish off this topic in the following presentation.