We ended the last presentation by realising that when inspiration becomes continuous enough to be normal, it is considered genius. In previous presentations, a brief mention has been made that genius, which is of the soul, sees what is present and has no need to argue. True intuition is one of its faculties, as reason is the method of the lower mind. Intuition is simply insight; it may be described as the exercise of the eyes of intelligence, the unerring recognition of a truth presented on the mental plane. It sees with certainty, but no reasoned proof of its certitude can be had because it is beyond and above reason. However, before the voice of the soul, speaking through intuition can be recognised with certainty, careful and prolonged self-training is necessary. Get meditating.
The word “intuition” seems to have varying meanings. Developing reliable intuition in everyday life involves creating a direct connection between the Unity (46) and Emotional bodies. This process primarily involves the heart centre or chakra rather than the mind. The ordination of a bishop specifically relates to this centre and the enhancement of intuition.
We distinguish between two distinct modes for the transmission of “intuition” from the higher to the lower consciousness. One comes from the higher to the lower mental plane, the other directly from the Unity (46) to the Emotional envelope (48).
The concept of the Causal envelope has been described as the ability to recognise the external, while intuition derived from Unity (46) is the ability to recognise the internal. Unity (46) intuition allows one to perceive things from within, while intellectual intuition enables recognition of something outside of oneself.
The ease of these lines depends on the method of individualisation. Those who individualise through deep understanding will receive their intuition as a conviction. This does not require reasoning to establish its truth at present, although it must have been understood in previous lives or outside of the envelope in the lower mental plane. Those who achieve individualisation through devoted practice will gain intuitive insights from the Unity plane. In both cases, the receptivity to intuition depends on the steadiness of the lower faculties.
We should not ignore the fact that there is often psychological instability associated with genius, as seen in the saying that madness is similar to genius and in the claims of Lombroso and others that many saints were neuropaths, i.e., people affected with a nervous disease. Very often, the saint and the visionary may have overstrained their brains, causing their physical mechanisms to become distorted and unstable.
In addition, it is sometimes true that instability is a condition for inspiration. Professor William James, in his book Varieties of Religious Experience, states: “If there were such a thing as inspiration from a higher realm, it might well be that the neurotic temperament would furnish the chief condition of the requisite receptivity”. Genius may possess an unstable brain because the higher consciousness is exerting pressure on it in order to enhance its functioning. As a result, the brain is kept in a state of tension, and under such circumstances, it may easily be pushed too far until the structure breaks down under the strain. However, the abnormality is on the right side, not the wrong side, as it is at the forefront of human evolution. It is the instability of growth, not of disease.
During the reading of the Gospel in the Christian Church, the sign of the cross is made with the thumb over the heart centre and over those between the eyebrows and the throat. This use of the thumb corresponds to a signal pass in mesmerism and appears to be employed when a small but powerful stream of force is required, such as for the opening of centres.
The heart is the centre of the envelope for the 2nd Triad, atma-buddhi-manas. The head is the seat of the psycho-intellectual human being, with its various functions in seven cavities, including the pituitary envelope and the pineal gland.
A person who can shift their consciousness from the brain to the heart should be able to unite their lower and higher mental faculties through the purified lower mind, which is known as the antahkarana. By doing this, they will be able to access guidance from the higher spiritual levels.
The Indian methods of Yoga aim to prevent the dangers of hysteria that may arise when individuals come into contact with higher planes. This is achieved through discipline, purification of the body, and training and control of the mind.
The soul often communicates ideas to the conscious mind using symbols. Each person has their own set of symbols, although some symbols are common in dreams. For example, dreaming about water is often thought to signify trouble. While there may not be a direct connection between water and troubles, if the soul knows that the person identifies water with trouble, it might use this symbol to warn the person of potential difficulties.
In some cases, the soul may manifest itself in a curious external way. For example, Dr. Annie Besant mentioned that while she was speaking one sentence of a lecture, she habitually saw the next sentence actually materialise in the air before her in three different forms. She consciously selects the one which she thought was the best. This must be the work of the soul, although it is difficult to understand why it chooses this particular method of communication instead of impressing its ideas directly on the physical brain. It should be noted that Dr. Besant was focused in her 47:2 molecule, which is as high as an initiate goes in the Human Kingdom.
The Voice of The Silence vividly describes the relationship between personality and soul: “Have perseverance as one who endures forever. Your shadows (i.e., personalities) live and vanish. That which in you shall live forever, that which in you knows, for it is knowledge, is not of fleeting life. It is the man that was and will be, for whom the hour shall never strike.”
The Key To Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky provides a vivid description of the soul. It describes a celestial being, referred to as a ‘Spirit’, which is divine in nature but not pure enough to be one with the ALL. In order to achieve purity and reach that goal, this being needs to purify its nature. It can only do so by personally passing through every experience and feeling in the universe, both spiritually and physically. This celestial being is essentially Thought and is known as Manasputra, ‘the Sons of [universal] Mind’. This individualised ‘Thought’ is what Theosophists refer to as the real human Soul – the thinking entity confined in a physical body. These spiritual entities are the incarnating Souls that inhabit human bodies, and they are known as Manasa or minds.
The “ray” of lower manas always seeks to return to its source and parent, the higher manas. As long as the duality persists, meaning until the consciousness has been raised to the causal level and the higher and lower selves unified, there is a continual yearning. The noblest and purest natures feel this yearning as one of the most prominent aspects of inner life. It is this yearning that manifests as prayer, inspiration, seeking after God, and the longing for union with the divine. As the eager Christian cries, “My soul is athirst for God, for the living God.”
The occultist recognises in this cry the unquenchable impulse of the lower self reaching out to the Higher Self, from which it is separated but to which it feels a strong pull. Whether a person prays to Buddha, Vishnu, Christ, the Virgin Mary, or the Father, it matters little; these are differences in language, not in substance. In every prayer, the Higher Manas united to Buddhi (46) and Atma (45) is the true focus, obscured by whatever name is given by time or culture. It represents ideal humanity, the “personal God”, the “God-Man” present in all religions; it is the “God incarnate”, the “Word made flesh”, the Christ who must be “born” in each person, and with whom the believer must become one.
Expressed in more technical terms, the individualised “God” in each person, his Father in Heaven, is the monad, and as the soul is to the monad, so is the personality to the soul.
A word of caution may be appropriate here. In the past, phrases like “looking up to the higher self” and “listening to the promptings of the higher self” have been used. It has even been suggested that the higher self should take more interest in the struggling personality on the lower planes. Over time, the student should understand that the personality we see on the lower planes is just a small part of the real person and that the higher self is the true identity. There is only one consciousness, with the lower being an imperfect representation of the higher and not separate from it in any way. Rather than aiming to elevate “ourselves” until we can unite with the glorified higher self, we should understand that the higher self is the true self. To unite the higher and lower means to open up the lower so that the higher can work more freely and fully through it.
A person should strive to become certain, beyond any doubt, that they are the spirit or higher self. They should develop confidence in their own powers as the soul and the courage to use those powers freely. Instead of considering their usual state of consciousness as natural and normal and looking towards the soul as a lofty being requiring continuous and tremendous effort to reach, they should learn to consider their ordinary state of consciousness as abnormal and unnatural. They should view the life of the spirit as their true life and continuously work to overcome the estrangement from it.
In terms of form, when the lower vehicles are fully in harmony with the soul, they take on the likeness of the Augoeides. At this point, their changes from life to life are minimal. Likewise, as the soul becomes a perfect reflection of the monad, it also changes very little, although it continues to grow.
Those who intentionally seek to bring higher consciousness into the brain can do so by carefully training the lower mind and moral character through steady and well-directed effort. Developing the habit of quiet, sustained, sequential thinking on non-worldly subjects, meditation, and study also improves the mental faculties and makes them a better instrument. Cultivating abstract thinking, raising the lower mind towards the higher, and drawing in the subtlest materials of the lower mental levels can be beneficial.
This diagram illustrates the relationship between the soul and its lower vehicles. Only a small fraction of the soul’s powers, faculties, and knowledge on its own plane can be transmitted to the mental envelope. Even less of this information reaches the emotional envelope, and only a fragment of it reaches the consciousness in the physical envelope. One of the goals for individuals should be to strengthen the link between the soul and the lower bodies, allowing for more of the soul’s powers to manifest in the personality’s lower vehicles.
Remember, above the soul resides the Monad, which relates to the soul as the soul does to the personality.