Let us continue to look at how the mind on the mental plane works. In a previous chapter, we learned that the mind creates a likeness of an object when it is presented to it. This likeness allows the person to understand and know the object. However, what the person knows is not the actual object but the image created by their own mind. This image is not a perfect replica of the object and can be coloured and distorted by the individual’s unique mindset.
These thoughts remind us that we do not perceive “things in themselves” in our minds or mental bodies, but rather the images of them that appear in our consciousness. Reflecting on these concepts will help the student understand more and more deeply that they, as the true individual, are not the temporary personality assumed for this one earth-life, but the soul itself.
The presence of an evil quality in a person’s personality suggests the absence of a corresponding good quality in their soul or individuality. While a person may be imperfect, they cannot be truly evil. Additionally, under normal circumstances, evil of any kind cannot manifest through the causal aspect of a person.
The mechanical reason for this has been explained before. Evil qualities can only manifest in the four lower subdivisions of emotional matter. These influences are reflected in the mental plane but only in its four lower subdivisions, and therefore, they cannot affect the soul in the causal envelope at all. The emotions that can appear in the three higher emotional subplanes are all positive ones, such as love, sympathy, and devotion. These positive emotions affect the soul in the causal envelope, as they reside on the corresponding sub-planes of the mental world. It is worth reiterating here that the term soul in these presentations is used to describe the monad focused in its causal envelope. At the present time, what we term the soul is effectively a collection of positive attributes and memories that have been collected by the monad during its sojourn through the 4th Kingdom of Nature, the Human Kingdom.
The prolonged exposure to a low-quality life can lead to a lasting inability to feel or appreciate positive experiences for a significant amount of time. This can result in a sort of numbness or paralysis, making it difficult to be receptive to positive influences. The qualities that the soul develops can only be good qualities. When these qualities are well-defined, they are evident in each of the individual’s many personalities. As a result, these personalities can never exhibit vices that are contrary to such qualities.
When there is a void in the soul, the personality lacks the inherent ability to prevent the growth of the opposite vice. Since others around the person already possess that vice, and because a person is an imitative being, it is likely that the vice will quickly emerge in them. However, the vice belongs to the personality’s traits, not to the individual within them. Its repetition of these traits may create a strong momentum that is hard to overcome. But if the soul makes an effort to cultivate the opposite virtue within itself, the vice is eradicated at its core and can no longer exist, not in this life or any future life. In practical terms, the key is to eliminate an undesirable trait by nurturing the opposite virtue. Many modern psychological and educational approaches promote this method over directly confronting an undesirable trait. As Emerson insightfully expressed, “Nerve us with constant affirmatives.”
The personality is just a small part of the soul. The soul only projects a tiny portion of itself into the mental, emotional, and physical bodies. Clairvoyants can see this small fragment of consciousness moving within a person. Sometimes, it is described as “the golden person the size of a thumb,” residing in the heart. Others see it as a brilliant star of light. In my standardised image of an incarnate monad, I represent it as the shell surrounding the other three principal envelopes, the mental, emotional and etheric bodies. This I label the persona and it is effectively the lower causal envelope.
A person can place the Star of Consciousness in any one of the seven chakras of the body. The most natural chakra for this placement depends on the individual’s type, or “ray,” as well as their race and sub-race. For example, individuals from the fifth sub-race of the Fifth Root Race usually keep their consciousness in the brain, specifically in the chakra associated with the pituitary gland. However, there are people from other races who habitually place their consciousness in the heart, throat, or solar plexus chakras.
The Star of Consciousness represents the soul in the lower planes, essentially making up the personality. Even though the personality is part of the soul and derives its life and power from the soul, it often forgets this and sees itself as a separate entity pursuing its own goals. For ordinary people who haven’t studied these matters, the personality is essentially seen as the whole person, while the soul only occasionally and partially manifests itself.
There is always a line of communication between the personality and the soul. This connection is called antahkarana. Many people don’t make any effort to use this line mainly because they don’t know about it. In the earlier stages of evolution, the focus is on opening up this line of communication so that the soul can increasingly assert itself through it and eventually dominate the personality. When this is achieved, the personality no longer has separate thoughts or will but instead becomes simply an expression of the soul on the lower planes. This may sound like a simple process, but it is any but simple. If you are pondering this statement, I direct you to 27 presentations I did on the subject.
The influence that the soul exerts over its lower vehicles is only partial, and the antahkarana can be seen as the bridge connecting the small fragment of the soul that is awakened with the hand that reaches down. When the two are perfectly joined, this attenuated thread ceases to exist.
In Sanskrit, “antahkarana” refers to the inner organ or instrument. Its destruction would imply that the soul would no longer need an instrument but would work directly on the personality. Thus, the antahkarana, being the link between the higher and lower self, disappears when one operates the two.
It is important to understand that the soul, belonging to a higher plane, can never fully express itself in the lower planes. The best we can hope for is that the personality will only contain what is intended by the soul and express as much of it as possible in the lower world.
A completely untrained person practically has no communication with the soul, while an Initiate has full communication. Initiation seems to offer the possibility of full communication with the soul rather than its complete realisation; the Initiate must make efforts to convert this possibility into actuality. Between these two extremes, there are people at all stages.
It must be borne in mind that the soul itself is in the process of development, and we, therefore, have to deal with souls in very different stages of advancement. In any case, a soul is, in many ways, something enormously bigger than a personality can ever be.
Even though the soul is just a part of the Monad, located in a permanent atom on the 43rd plane of matter. It is complete within its causal envelope even when its powers are undeveloped. On the other hand, the personality only contains a small part of the soul’s life.
It is important for the dedicated student to actively maintain the connection between their personality and their soul. To achieve this, they must be mindful of their life experiences, as this mindfulness allows the soul to manifest through their physical and mental aspects. Many individuals possess strong mental capacities and intelligence, but they underutilise these gifts due to a lack of attentiveness to life. Consequently, their soul’s influence on the lower planes is limited, allowing their physical and mental aspects to operate without proper guidance.
The solution is simple: The soul should be given the conditions it desires. When this happens, the soul will fully engage with and take advantage of the provided conditions. For example, if the soul wants to cultivate affection, the individual must create opportunities to develop affection to the greatest extent possible in the physical world. Likewise, if the soul desires wisdom, the individual should study and strive to become wise in the physical realm.
It is important to make an effort to understand what the soul desires. If the necessary conditions are provided, it will appreciate the effort and respond happily. The personality will have no reason to complain about the response from the soul. In other words, if the personality pays attention to the soul, the soul will pay attention to the personality.
This point will be expanded in the next presentation.