Theosophy - Investigations into the Super-Physical - by Annie Besant - Adyar Pamphlets No. 36
Adyar
Pamphlets No. 36
INVESTIGATIONS
INTO THE SUPER-PHYSICAL
by Annie Besant
Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar. Madras. India
December 1913
[Page
1] As
evolution steadily carries on the mass of humanity, the crest of its
wave must ever be advancing towards new and hitherto unexplored — or
only partially explored — regions. Great religious teachers have laid down
certain doctrines, far-reaching in their consequences, drawn from a
knowledge of super-physical worlds, and their followers have accepted
these doctrines on faith, since they were incapable of acquiring for
themselves the knowledge of the facts on which they were based. The
doctrines of reincarnation and karma, of man's immortality, of the existence
of super-physical worlds and their inhabitants — all these recommended
themselves to the reason; any one of fair intelligence could grasp them, but
their claim to acceptance rested more on authority than on proof.
Reincarnation, for instance, may be shown to be the [Page
2] most
reasonable hypothesis for man's continual life, but it cannot be
demonstrated as a fact — any more than can evolution itself. Karma may
be shown to be in harmony with law as we know it, but we can only see in our
world a fragment of its huge sweep, insufficient for clear and definite proof.
Reason demands data on which to found its judgments, and data in the
non-physical worlds are useless to a mind limited to the workings of the
brain and nervous system.
Intuition is sufficient
for the person in whom its light is burning, but that light is useful only
to its possessor; intuition in A cannot satisfy the demand of the reason
in B for proofs, and no firm edifice can be built on the foundation of another's
intuition. Hence in an age when the concrete mind has grown powerful and
little willing to yield to authority Religion has found itself in parlous
case. But the progress of evolution is beginning to come to its aid by unfolding
in many the powers latent in all, powers which belong to the super-physical
worlds and find therein their appropriate field of exercise. An ever-increasing
number of people occupies the crest of the evolutionary wave pouring onwards
into the Borderland and across it. Where a century
ago there was a single seer, there are now dozens. Seers trained, half-trained,
untrained, are numerous. Sensitives impressed by influences from the super-physical
worlds are on the increase. For seventy years discarnate entities have been
offering [Page
3] information through mediums.
The other-world is pressing into this world. Under these circumstances
it is surely desirable that all students should understand something about
investigations into the super-physical, in order that they may avoid the
blind credulity which accepts all, on the one side, and the equally blind
incredulity which rejects all, on the other.
Before dealing with investigations, let me make clear my own position with
regard to all questions of opinion and belief within the Theosophical Society
itself. Some of our members echo the statements of one seer or another,
and seem to consider that such a statement ought to preclude further
discussion. But no one in the T.S. has any authority to lay down what
people shall think, or not think, on any subject. We are not in the position of
an orthodox Church, which has certain definite articles of faith, which
imposes certain definite creeds in which all faithful members are bound to
believe. The only point which we must accept is Universal Brotherhood,
and even as to that we may differ in our definition of it. Outside that, we are
at perfect liberty to form our own opinions on every subject; and the reason
of that policy is clear and an exceedingly good one. No intellectual opinion
is worth the holding unless it is obtained by the individual effort of the
person who holds that opinion. It is far healthier to exercise our intelligence,
even if we come to a wrong conclusion [Page 4] and form an inaccurate
opinion, than simply, like parrots, to echo what other people say, and so
put out of all possibility intellectual development.
In fact, differences
of opinion among the members ought to be regarded as safeguards to the Society
rather than as menaces, for our one great danger, as H. P. B. recognized,
is the danger of getting into a groove, and so becoming fossilized in the
forms of belief that many of us hold today; this will make it difficult for
people in the future to shake off these forms, and thus will involve posterity
in the same troubles which so many of us have experienced with regard to
the teachings among which we were born. The Society is intended, always has
been intended, to be a living body and not a fossil, and a living body grows
and develops, adapting itself to new conditions; and if it be a body which
is spiritually alive, it should be gaining continually a deeper and fuller
view of truth. It is absurd for us to pretend, at our present stage of evolution,
that we have arrived at the limit of the knowledge which it is possible for
men to obtain. It is absurd for us to say that the particular form into which
we throw our beliefs at this moment is the form which is to continue for
ever after us, and to be accepted by those who follow us in time. All of
us who study deeply must be fully aware that our conceptions of truth are
continually deepening and widening, that, as we might reasonably expect,
we find new avenues opening [Page
5] up
before us; and nothing could be more fatal to a Society like ours than to
hallmark as true special forms of belief, and then look askance at any one
challenging them, trying to impose these upon those who will come after
us. If the Society is to live far into the future, as I believe it will,
then we must be prepared to recognize now, quite frankly and freely, that
our knowledge is fragmentary, that it is partial, that it is liable to very
great modifications as we learn more and understand better; and especially
is this true of everything which goes under the name of investigation.
Even if we take a broad truth, like that of reincarnation, which is perennial,
even then it is unwise to insist upon putting it into one particular form, and
to treat it as though it could have no other. We ought to recognize that this
vital doctrine has been taught in many forms in the past, and is likely to be
taught in many other forms in the future. The one important thing to
recognize is the evolution of man, the inner Man who has continually grown
and is capable of attaining perfection; but it is certain that in the course of
time we shall gain much knowledge on all subjects that at present we do
not possess, and that even with regard to fundamental truths, there ought
to be the fullest discussion, the freest pointing out of weak places in the
arguments with which they are supported; there ought to be a continual
attempt to add to the amount of the truth which we already [Page 6] possess,
for if one thing becomes clearer than another to those who are opening up
in themselves the finer faculties of man, it is that all our conceptions are so
immensely below the truth, so much narrower than the truth, that they
seem like the mere prattlings of children compared with the arguments of
philosophers. Hence it is wise to be humble as well as studious, and
always to be willing to hold the form with a comparatively loose hand, while
clinging to the essence of that which is inspiring and really nutritious to the
spiritual life.
Looking back into the
history of the past, no longer blinded by the dust of its conflicts and the
whirl of its passions, we can see that the most serious divisions in Christendom
arose out of matters beyond human ken, which did not touch the inner realities
of the spiritual life, but only the forms into which the various disputants
threw their conceptions of matters incomprehensible to them all. Arians and
non-Arians disputed furiously as to whether the second Person in the Christian
Trinity was of the same
substance as or of like substance with the Father, and the Arians
were hunted out of the Church, and persecutions slew their thousands. The
Catholic Church was split in twain, and became the Eastern and Western
Churches, the Greek and the Roman, on the question whether the Third
Person, the Holy Spirit, proceeded from the Father, or from the Father and
the Son. It is fairly obvious that neither side was in the position [Page
7] to
know anything about the matter, and that it could make no difference
which statement was the nearer to the truth. All that really mattered was
that the influence represented under the name of the Holy Spirit should enter
the human heart, sanctify and illumine the human life. Whether it came from
one Person or from two was unessential to the growth of the spiritual life,
yet for this that which Christians loved to call the seamless robe of
Christ
was rent in twain. Among us of the Theosophical Society today there are
very many different opinions as to the nature of the Christ, as to His place
in history, as to the proper name to be assigned to Him, as to His position
in the Hierarchy, as to the particular body He used in the past, or may use
in the future. Again it is obvious that these questions are beyond the range
of the knowledge possessed by most of those inclined to dispute over
them. But the only thing which is of vital importance, which really touches
the spiritual life, is the existence of a Being who affords us a glimpse of
a little more of the Divine Nature than we should otherwise see, who is to
us the Supreme Teacher, whom we regard with the profoundest reverence,
even, perhaps, as an Object of worship. None of the differences of opinion
touch this intimate, this sacred side, the side which concerns the relation
between the disciple and his Lord; the Holy of Holies wherein these meet is
far from the tumult and the battle-cries of theological strife, and no clash
of tongues may penetrate into the silence
of that secret sanctuary.[Page
8]
It
is vital for each of us that we should realize the Ideal of a divine Man,
that we should see in Him an example of what humanity may become, that
we should draw from Him all the inspiring power of a great Ideal, of a
perfect Example; that we should have an Object to which our love and devotion
may flow out — that is the important part of the Ideal of
the Christ. But whether we label Him with one name or another, whether
we know or do not know His exact nature and His exact place in the great
Hierarchy of Supreme Men, Divine Men, in Divinity itself — that is not
really so important as some people are inclined to think, when they rush into
vehement controversy in support of some half-understood teaching of a
favorite leader. If in his heart a man recognizes the Supreme Teacher, let
him give to him the name which to him seems best as expressing what He
is to that man's own heart and life. Before these great manifestations of
spiritual power to us who are so far below Them all, it is scarcely seemly
for us to quarrel as to the special name or special nature of any one of
Them. To the heart that loves and worships, the name of the Object
matters but little, for the aspiration of the heart goes upward and brings
response, where no response will come in answer to disputes about His
nature. The atmosphere of dispute is not one which illumination can pierce.
Shall we not learn the lesson contained in the [Page
9] story of the past, and
separate our spiritual ideals from the husks of theological definitions ?
The ideals belong to the Eternal, the definitions to Time.
Superior-physical
investigations may be divided into different classes, according to the
vision which is used. The power of perception may be exercised by the consciousness
working in the emotional (astral), mental, causal, intuitional (buddhic),
or spiritual (atmic) vehicle. If the seer is studying phenomena connected
with the astral or mental worlds — the
inhabitants of these worlds, the conditions of purgatory and heaven and the
dwellers therein respectively, thought or desire-forms, lower auras, and the
like — he will use astral and mental vision, as is convenient; if he
can only use his astral body, he cannot see outside that world, and can only
study astral phenomena; if he can use the illusory body [The
Mãyãvi
Rûpa] i.e.,
the mental body with a temporarily created astral materialization, he will
use mental vision, and as much astral as he needs. If he is studying the
past, he will work through the causal for though glimpses of past
incarnations may be caught on the astral and mental planes — stray
pictures thrown or drawn down by special causes — consecutive and
voluntary study of the past can only be carried out by the consciousness
working in the causal body. The student must not confuse such study with
the special activity of the consciousness in the causal [Page
10] body working
by abstract thought, with attention turned inwards not outwards, any more
than he must confuse the special activity of the consciousness in the
mental body, creating thought-images and reasoning on them, with the
observation of the external phenomena of the mental world, taking place
outside his own mental body. We perceive through the causal body the full
picture of the past, and can observe as much detail as we choose; that
picture contains a perfect reproduction of the whole past scene, and can
be passed quickly or slowly before our gaze, and can be repeated at will; we
see not only the causal body, say, of a man, but also his mental, emotional
and physical bodies, and the causal vision of the trained seer includes
all, and more than all the powers of sight exercised on lower levels. [Without
senses, enjoying sense objects. Without eyes, He sees, without ears He
hears, etc. He is the Seer, the Hearer, the Knower]
Observations on globes of our Chain other than the earth are made by
going to them in the intuitional vehicle, and shaping any organs there
required out of the material of those globes.
There are many passages
in the Upanishats implying these ideas. It seems to me that we come down
into the physical world in order to make our power of perception definite
and precise, by its subdivision into senses through the organs of the senses,
and that we then carry the precision and accuracy thus [Page
11] gained back with us to be
used by our power of perception when exercised in any of our subtler bodies.
It is a fact of experience to every seer who is able to use his causal body
freely, with outward-turned attention, that he sees things belonging to all
the lower planes, i.e., concrete phenomena; I think the explanation of this
lies in the experiences which he has gone through on the lower planes.
Previous Rounds may
also be studied in this way. Observations on the two earlier Chains must
be made with the spiritual vision. These higher powers of vision, again,
include all, and more than all, the powers of sight exercised on lower planes;
they do not see vaguely, indefinitely, mistily, but with a clarity and an
accuracy beyond all words. As each new power of sight unfolds, the seer is
inclined to exclaim: " I never saw before". It is as
though the words of the Apostle were reversed: "Then I saw through a
glass darkly, but now face to face. Then I knew in part, but now I know
even as I am known".
It is evident, then,
that in considering investigations into the super-physical we have to deal
with various powers of vision, and with an immense range of very varied phenomena.
Moreover, as we ascend, the number of seers diminishes, and the reason of
the non-seer will be deprived of even the few data for forming a judgment
that he could use on lower levels; with regard to those, there being a large [Page
12] number of witnesses, he can
compare their testimonies, note where they agree and where they differ. But
with regard to such subjects as past Races, Rounds and Chains, it seems
impossible for those who lack the power to investigate for themselves
to exercise any reasonable judgment as to the statements made, for they are
thrown back on a mere handful of investigators. We have available:
The wonderful series of letters from the Master K.. H., systematized by
Mr. A. P. Sinnett and published in his invaluable book, Esoteric
Buddhism,
the first in point of time that deals sequentially with these subjects; then
we have H. P. Blavatsky's splendid work, The Secret Doctrine,
unrivaled in its range; there are the books on Lemuria and Atlantis,
issued by Mr. Scott Elliot; there is a little book on Atlantis,
issued by Mr. Kingsland; there are the researches of Dr. Rudolf Steiner;
and there are the records of observations by Mr. Leadbeater and myself, now
collected in the book, Man: Whence, How and Whither. There
may, of course, be others which I do not know. There is, with minor differences,
a fair consensus of opinion among all these, with the exception of
researches made by Dr. Rudolf Steiner; and the differences in those
may be largely due to the fact that he deals with the subject rather from
the psychological standpoint than from that of the observation of the
succession of external phenomena. Reasoning on ordinary possibilities
in the physical world known to all is of [Page
13] very
little use in this case. We are in a region where we have all described
things that are facts or not facts; either they exist or they do not exist.
We are not dealing with theories, but with records of observations, or flights
of fancy, or a mixture of the two. Hence the need of caution, both in accepting
or rejecting — for the
time being — the statements made. The value of W. Kingdon Clifford's
arguments on the fourth dimension, based on the higher mathematics, can
only be estimated by his mathematical peers; the rest of us cannot judge
them, and any opinion we may form is worthless. It is much the same when
the non-seer is confronted with the records above-named; many accept for
the time the seer who appeals to them on other grounds, and they accept
him, on those grounds, as an authority, not being able to judge
for themselves; by the exercise of their intuition, or otherwise, they
regard one particular person as their teacher, and where reason stops,
they believe him or her. That is all right enough, but none of these has
any right to impose his own belief in his teacher on anybody else, and
it seems fitting that all such should be careful to be moderate in their
language, as they are only putting forward opinions which are repetitions
of the views of their own respective favorite authorities, and these they
are themselves unable to justify by any first hand knowledge. Whoever the
authority may be, he or she is only an individual, who cannot rightly [Page
14] formulate
beliefs for others, though fully justified in recording his own. I am
well aware that, in the past, the differences of opinions which have caused
great schisms have been — as above pointed out — just those
on which the combatants on both sides could have no personal knowledge.
But mistakes in the past are signals warning us of pitfalls in the present,
and we should profit by them rather than repeat them. It is inevitable
that each should form an opinion on the value of the researches made,
but none should force his opinion on others; to proclaim one person as
an infallible authority on a subject unknown to the proclaimer is to
show fanaticism rather than reason. I would ask my own friends not to
do this with me.
I do not argue that
because, in the higher research, all the students but one agree in the main
outlines, therefore the one is wrong. Athanasius contra
mundem is sometimes right. But let me put a case which suggests caution.
Dr. Steiner says in his Lemuria and Atlantis [See p.159] that
at a certain time the history of our earth — at what we call the periods
of the early middle third Race — when that earth was already largely
inhabited, the sun and moon drew gradually away from the earth; we had then
three globes where "till now there had been no material separation",
there was a "common
globe" composed of what are now sun, earth and moon. Man's advance
[Page 15] from
generation by cleavage to generation by sex was accomplished through "the
cosmic happenings" . Thus the statement
appears to refer to matters physical, not allegorical nor mystical. My own
astronomical knowledge is of the smallest, and is entirely secondhand, for
I have never made a single astronomical investigation; but my occult
research, as well as the teachings of the White Lodge, given through H. P.
Blavatsky and A. P. Sinnett, make me deny the above statement, if it be
intended to convey a physical fact, and is not merely a symbolical
indication of some mental happening; the surface meaning is, in fact, so
incredible, that one's instinct is to look for another in the case of a writer
so justly respected. Moreover, the physical meaning would contradict the
whole of the teaching on evolution hitherto put forward in the Society as
to Chains, Rounds, and Races, the relation of the lunar to the terrene Chain
and so on. This must all be rewritten, and the statements made by the
Masters originally, and confirmed by the researches of Their disciples
afterwards, must be thrown aside. Hence caution is necessary before
believing the above statement, though the making of it is quite within the
right of any member of the T.S.
It
is interesting to notice that the matters on which considerable differences
of opinion arise are — with the exception of the views of Christ, noted
above — matters which do not bear on life and conduct, but on [Page
16]
those which, however interesting
as knowledge, are outside that which is needed for the guiding of human
life. Life and conduct are immensely influenced by a knowledge of the astral
and mental worlds — which include
purgatory and heaven — of thought and desire-forms, of the lower
auras, and other matters of that ilk. This great class of super-physical
investigations is the class most useful to the ordinary man; the yet more
vital teachings of brotherhood, reincarnation and karma can be taught on
intellectual and moral grounds, apart from super-physical research, though
they may be aided and reinforced thereby. The class of super-physical
phenomena, then, which is most useful is the one which is most within
reach, which a fair number of people can investigate, and on which
students are fairly agreed. The differences which arise are differences
common to all forms of scientific research, and to these we now turn.
In
dealing with super-physical researches — we are in the world of science
and not of revelation. There are great truths known to the Masters that
none of us are able to reach and to investigate. If any of these are given
out by the Masters, people can accept them or not, according to the view
they take as to the authority of the source, and the reliability of the
transmitter. But when we are dealing with investigations into other worlds,
into the past of our globe, into the various evolutions that have gone on in
our [Page
17] solar
system; when we are dealing with investigations into races and sub-races;
when we are concerned in reading the story of the past, whether as applied
to the history of humanity or not; on the whole of these things we are not
in the region of revelation, we are in the region of research; exactly the
same canons that we apply to research of the ordinary scientific kind, exactly
the same caution in accepting results, exactly the same readiness to repeat
experiments that have been made, to revive opinions, to recast conclusions
that may have been arrived at on insufficient data — the whole of these
things which are commonplaces when we are reading about botany or electricity,
that we take for granted in all our ordinary scientific studies, the whole
of these apply when anyone begins studying the investigations of those who
are carrying on researches in a region subtler than that dealt with in the
ordinary sciences; they are making experiments; they are relying as much
on their own observations, and on comparing those observations with those
of others, as must any scientist in the obscurer regions of investigation;
they put forward what they have observed, but they do not ask that their
statements shall be regarded as part of some great sacred literature, to
be looked upon with the utmost reverence and not to be challenged. Students
must get out of this atmosphere altogether, when dealing with people whose
senses are merely a little better [Page
18] developed
than their own, senses that everybody will be having some time hence, it
may be fifty, one hundred or two hundred years hence, but senses that are
in the course of evolution, that all men have to some extent, that many
have to a considerable extent. Research becomes mischievous and harmful in
its results when the senses used in it are looked upon as some sort of divine
gift, instead of as the result of a strenuous forcing process, so that
a person possessing them is placed on a pedestal, or treated like a sibyl
of ancient days through whom some God was speaking. They are merely
senses of a finer and keener kind than the physical, but belonging to
the phenomenal world just as much as the physical belong to it;
observations made through them depend for their value on careful
attention to the objects observed, and rigid accuracy in reporting that
which has been perceived. Some people may consider that this is a very
cold and prosaic way of approaching a subject which is enwrapped to them
in glamour and mystery. But when glamour and mystery only mean that
they do not understand the question and the methods of investigating it,
is it not better to get rid of them ? Is it not safer and saner to realize
that there is no more mystery and glamour in examining the after-death
state with the astral vision, than in examining the Tyrol with the physical
? — no
more, but also just as much. For to see a daisy is a thing as
wonderful and mysterious as to see an angel, and [Page
19] the dawn and the sunset
are as full of glamour to the seeing eye as the shimmer of colors in an
aura.
I have said that there
is a large class of super-physical phenomena a knowledge of which affects
human life and human conduct. To know something of these not only immensely
widens our view of life, but the possession of such knowledge is very important
in the guidance of our life now. If we understand after-death conditions
and their relations to our conduct here, we can so think, desire, and act
now, as to ensure favorable conditions then. Ours is a continuous life,
and a knowledge of that which is beyond the veil is of vital importance
in the sane and rational guidance of our life in this world. Moreover, we
are living in these worlds all the time, and an increasingly large number
of people are more or less susceptible to the vibrations of the finer matter
composing these worlds. It is very satisfactory to find that on these matters
there is a consensus of opinion among observers as to the main points, and
variations are confined to details. The literature on these is voluminous,
both inside and outside the Theosophical Society, and many small variations
will be found in statements concerning these phenomena. It will be useful
to understand how variations must arise even among fairly developed seers.
There
is one great difference between physical and super-physical research — the
apparatus used in them respectively. The physical plane scientist, [Page
20] investigating that which escapes
his vision by its distance or its minuteness, uses an instrument outside himself,
a telescope, a spectroscope, a microscope. The super-physical scientist, under
similar conditions, evolves within himself the necessary apparatus. Intelligence,
as M. Bergson points out, works on inorganic matter by means of
arrangements of inorganic matter, while instinct modifies organic matter
into the organ it requires within its own body. In this, occult investigation
resembles instinct, in seeking its instruments from the life of the organism,
from the consciousness as a whole; desiring to see, the man creates out of
his appropriated matter the organ of vision; he must evolve, by a steady
and well-directed exercise of the will, organs which are practically new
and only then can he call on his intelligence to use them as organs of
observation in the world from which has been taken the materials for their
fabrication. The Occultist has, however, this advantage over his fellow-scientist
of the physical plane, that the latter must work with instruments which he
cannot carry beyond a certain limit of delicacy; whereas the Occultist can
continue to create subtler and subtler instruments, right up to the level of
the subtlest phenomenon in his solar system; and when he goes beyond the solar
system he can again create instruments suitable to the new conditions.
We must remember that
while the senses are being used, it is the man himself who is using them,
and he [Page
21] is using them from the higher
planes; the higher the vehicle in which he is working, the better can he
control the observation of the senses going on on the planes below his
own. It is the spiritual ego, brooded over by the Spirit himself, who is
the observer, and he puts down his power of perception as senses into the
lower bodies, and this power works in their organs of sense; those organs
of senses which work on the lower planes, astral and mental, will be
subject to conditions very similar to these working on the physical plane,
and these are not difficult to understand.
Let
us consider how we see. We say: ' I see’ or: ' I observe’,
but I am inclined to think that very few people analyze the complexity
of what seems to them to be the very simple act of sight. In most acts
of vision there is a little real sight and a great deal of memory. What
we call sight is a complex,
compacted of the translation of the impression just made on the retina and
the memory of the whole of the past impressions made by the same or by
similar objects. We are not simply seeing the object with the eye; we have
laid up in our memory the images of a number of similar perceptions, and
we weld the whole of these into our present perception, and then say: ' I
see’ It is useful to realize this. If we look at the photograph of a
friend, we recognize it; a baby or a dog looks at it, and does not relate the
flat image on the card to the living father or master whom he [Page
22] knows
and loves. We see, for the first time in this life, a number of Spaniards,
or Indians; we say: “How alike they all are”. We confuse them
together. They do exactly the same with us. The first thing we see in a number
of similar objects is that which they have in common, i.e., their likeness
to each other. As we multiply the sense-impressions, we gradually notice
the differences, their unlikenesses to each other. We distinguish by differences.
First, we perceive the common type; then we see the minor distinctions. A
shepherd is said to know each of his sheep; we only see a flock. We really
at first see very little of the object of observation, and only as we see
it over and over again do we begin to make our perception approximate to
the object perceived. As the past experiences of each of us differ widely,
we each see each thing differently to a considerable extent; we bring to
each new observation a different mass of memories, and these modify the present
perception thereof. Hence, apart from mere carelessness, people really see
physical objects differently, the greater part of each act of perception
being memory, and this being different in each.
Apply all this to observations on the astral plane. The length of time during
which the seer has been able to see astrally is an important factor in his
accuracy. As he grows more and more accustomed to that world he will
perceive differences more clearly, and be less deceived by likenesses.
When [Page 23] he meets a new object, he will at once distinguish it from
many other objects of a similar type, whereas the new observer will see the
likeness and ignore the differences. Accurate observation there, as here,
will depend on experience and memory. An account of early observations
will err on the side of likeness, and the beginner will note similarities where
the more experienced seer observes difference. His view of the astral world
will only gradually become more and more detailed and exact.
Next, we must consider
the differences between people in this world, as to accuracy, alike of observation
and report, differences which largely arise from differences in the power
of paying attention to a thing. The attention of some people is constantly
wandering, fluttering like a butterfly from flower to flower and such people
cannot be accurate, either in observing or in recording what they have seen.
Not only is accuracy of observation one of the rarest things in the world,
but the power of memory, which records exactly what has been seen, varies
much in different observers. Inaccuracies are sure to creep into descriptions,
unless the observations made are immediately written down. In fact, inaccuracy
is best avoided by having present a second person to write down the record
of the observation, while the observation is going on; then the seer can
very carefully observe the objects before him, while the scribe can write
down the words of description [Page
24] exactly as they fall from
his lips; in this way a mistake in memory will not confuse details, and thus
blur the accuracy of the record. For instance, in making the observations
now embodied in Man
Whence, How and Whither, the two seers observed at the same time,
stopping and re-examining any obscure point, discussing with each
other — while the objects were being looked at — any difficult
matter, while two scribes took down, independently, everything that was said,
even to the most ejaculatory sentence.
The higher the vision
that is being used, the more useful is it that the seer and scribe should
be two different persons; the experienced observer does not need this aid
when he is observing the lower planes, which are familiar to him by reiterated
observation; he normally lives consciously in the three worlds, and is thoroughly
at home in them all. But observations of unfamiliar scenes demand more concentrated
attention, and then the aid of a friendly scribe is invaluable.
Another thing which leads to many superficial differences of observation is
the difference of interest in the different observers. If an artist, a politician, a
student of religion, an artisan and an idler should visit the same country,
hitherto unknown to them, and should send home descriptions of it to their
friends, how different would those descriptions be. The artist's reports
would lead one to think that the cities consisted of art-galleries, studios,
concert-rooms, [Page 25] and museums, and that art was the chief interest of
the nation. The politician would tell of debates, of the strife of parties, of the
intrigues of statesmen. The student of religion would draw a picture of
church dignitaries discussing theological questions, of conflicting doctrines,
of rival sects. The artisan would report conditions of labor, the state of
trade, the various crafts practiced, and would show the nation as one huge
workshop. The idler would write of theatres and music-halls, of dances and
dinner-parties, of society gossip and dress. Their respective
correspondents, if the country were quite new to them, would gain very
different ideas about it. So is it with the many descriptions given by seers of
the astral and mental worlds. The personal equation largely colors the
observations; the man sees the aspects of life in which he personally feels
the keenest interest, and only the thoroughly trained seer gives a fairly
unbiased, full, and well-proportioned account.
Again, many descriptions
given of the astral world are merely local. People talk of the astral world
as though it were about the size of Birmingham or Glasgow, instead of being
a world considerably larger than the physical, with an immense variety of
peoples and other creatures. Many speak of it as though it could be run over
in a few hours, whereas few know a tithe of its varied aspects. Observers
look at certain types of people, mostly ordinary [Page
26] discarnate entities, as though
nothing else were of interest there, and so gain but a very restricted view.
Suppose that a dweller in a far-off planet were brought here and plunged
into a London slum, were taken through its courts and alleys, and shown the
lives of its inhabitants: suppose that having studied this, he was whisked
back again to his distant home, and gave there an account of the world which
he had seen; his report might be very accurate — as to the slum; but
it might give a very false impression of our world. An instance similar to
this may be found in a very interesting little book, entitled The Grey
World; it describes various very
dismal conditions, and describes them well, but comparatively few people
will go through these on the other side of death. They belong to the
experiences of those only who, clinging strongly to physical life, remain
in the etheric double for a considerable time after death, instead of quickly
shaking it off and going on into the astral world.
Another difficulty
is connected with the nature of astral sight itself. Astral vision not only
differs from the physical in that any part of the astral body can be used
for seeing with, but also that the observer sees through everything and round
everything, so that objects take on a very different aspect from those of
the physical plane, and backs and fronts, insides and outsides are at first
much confused. A man's own thought-forms appear to him as independent and [Page
27] celestial entities; astral
matter moulds itself to his thinking, and he sees a beautiful landscape stretching
in front of him, unwitting that it is his own creation: he sees what he expects,
for expectation has made images, and these present themselves to him as
objects; recollections of earth picture themselves as astral surroundings,
and people with similar ideas live together in scenes collectively
constructed. The astral world to the uninstructed newcomer is as queer
and unlike the reality as is the physical world to the eyes of a new-born
baby. Each has to learn the conditions into which he has been plunged.
Here
comes in the question of training, which, in the case of those who seek
to be taught, differs much with what is called the type, or ray, of the
teacher and the pupil. I may be permitted to take, as contrasting examples,
Mr. C. W. Leadbeater and myself. Mr. Leadbeater, from the opening of his
astral vision, was carefully trained in its use; an older disciple took him
in hand, asked him constantly: “What do you see? ” corrected mistakes,
explained difficulties, until his observations were accurate and reliable.
I was tossed out into the astral world, left to make mistakes, to find
them out and correct them, to learn by experience. It is obvious that where
training is so different, results will be different. Which is the better
way ? Neither, or both. The first way is the better for the training of
a teacher; the second is the better for the training for my kind of work.
In the long run, each [Page
28]
will acquire the powers of the
other; these powers are merely obtained in a different order. And if people
instead of quarreling with each other over their differences would learn
to utilize them by co-operating with and supplementing each other, great
profit would ensue. One will be best in ascertaining details, the other in
discovering broad outlines. More may be done together than either could do
independently.
Things change in appearance
as the power of vision increases. A globe is seen, and one calls it a globe.
Later on, one finds that it is not a globe, but the physical end of a form
composed of higher kinds of matter. Down here the solar system consists of
globes rolling in their orbits round a central sun. From a high plane the
solar system looks like a lotus flower, its petals spread in space, its golden
center the sun, and the tip of each petal a world. Was one wrong to speak
of a world as a globe ? No; it is true on the physical plane. But later,
one sees things differently. We see things down here as we might see a picture
through holes in a veil which covers it; through the holes we see patches
of color; remove the veil, and the patches are part of a garment, of a hand,
of a face. Alas ! our senses shut out more than they reveal; they are holes
in the wall which imprisons our perceptive power. They often deceive us
but such as they are, with all their defects, we must make the best of them.
Even talc windows in a wall are better than none.[Page
29]
Moreover, observers, like
other people, grow and develop, and observations of today will be much
fuller than those of twenty years ago, unless they have stood still during
that period; if they have grown, then they will be using much improved
powers which will enable them to be much more minute and accurate than
before. Unless students realize that researches are being made by people
who are still growing, they will be upset by all new discoveries. Super-physical
investigations are like the gropings of scientists on the physical plane.
The higher senses grow more delicate, just as the scientist manufactures
for himself finer apparatus. The records of research should be taken as
the work of investigators who have made them as accurate as they can, and
who hope to make them fuller and more accurate by and by. We are evolving
persons, studying an infinite universe. The worst thing anyone can do is
to take our imperfect studies as a "Thus saith the Lord" .
There are no authorities, absolute and infallible, in the Theosophical
Society.
Let me take as an example
the investigations made into the atoms by Mr. Leadbeater and myself, in 1895
and in 1907-8. In 1895 we said that the ultimate physical atom disintegrated
into astral matter. That was what we saw. In 1907-8, using other sight, we
found that between the ultimate physical atom and its appearance as astral
matter a whole series of changes intervened, a series of disintegrations
into [Page
30] ultimate bubbles
in aether, and of integrations back to astral matter. The case is analogous
to the study of an object under the lower and higher powers of a
microscope. You look at it through a low power and describe it; say, that
you see little separate particles, and that you so describe them in your
record of your observation. You put on a higher power; you discover that
little threads of matter, too fine to be visible under the lower power, link
the particles together into a chain. The first record can hardly be said
to be wrong; it recorded accurately what was seen under the low power, the
appearance presented by the object. All vision can only tell of
appearances, and we may always be sure that its records are imperfect.
We enlarge our perceptions as we ascend from one plane to another, and
gain a completer view of each object.
Only
well-trained and experienced seers will avoid the errors which result from
looking at facts through a veil of their own thought-forms, and this causes
further differences. A Roman Catholic untrained seer will find in heaven
the Madonna and child, the Christ and the Saints; the Hindû will
find Shrî Krshna and Mahãdeva; the Buddhist will sit in rapt contemplation
before the Buddha; angels and devas will be seen crowding round; the mise-en-scène belongs
to and varies with the prepossessions of the seer. What are the facts, without
the setting ? That each man in heaven sees and worships his own [Page
31] Object of devotion, and into
each such form the One Lord pours something of His Life, His Love, meeting
and welcoming the outpouring of the love of His devotee, for all worship Him,
though He be wrought into many forms by many hands. Beautiful indeed is
it that each man should see in heaven the Divine in the form which
attracted his heart while he was on earth, for thus does no man feel a
stranger in his Father's house; he is met on the very threshold by the
welcoming smile of his Beloved. The untrained seer of any religion is drawn
to those of his own faith, sees their Objects of devotion, and thinks that
this is all there is of heaven. The trained seer sees them
all, and realizes that each makes his own image and that the image is vivified
for him by the one divine Life; when he reads the descriptions of heaven
in Christian, Buddhist, Hindû books, he recognizes the objects they
describe; so he recognizes that which Swedenborg saw, and that which many
discarnate entities describe. The differences do not make him feel that
nothing can be known accurately — the effect produced on some by
the great diversity of detail; on the contrary, he sees how much of truth
there is amid differences of detail, and even that the detail apparently
the most incongruous may give a hint of an overlooked fact to add to his
store of knowledge, just as we often learn the most from things with which
we the least agree. The things which do not appeal to us, the fact, or
the aspect of a fact, which we have [Page
32] not observed, very often
supply some particular factor which is distinctly valuable in our intellectual
life.
Finally: surely we
ought to be strong enough and sensible enough to agree to differ where our
minds are made up on any point, and to be ready to listen to views with which
we disagree. I disagree on many things with Dr. Rudolf Steiner, but I was
the first to draw the attention of the English-reading public to his books,
and I opened THE THEOSOPHIST to his articles when it came into my hands.
I advised people to read his views,
because they were different from mine. But difference of view does not
imply that we wish to ostracize each other, nor that either should drive the
other out of the T.S. We have broken the yokes from our own necks; we
must not make new ones, for our descendants to break hereafter.
No one of us possesses
the whole truth; very far are we from the all-round view of Those who
have nothing more to learn in our system. Generations
far in the future, ourselves in new bodies, will still be extending the limits
of the known, and pressing on into the unknown; we do not want our limbs
to be fettered then by appeals to our present researches, exalted into
scriptures, nor to find our opinions canonized into fossils, used as walls
to bar our onward progress then.
And do not be too
quick to believe. Intuition is a higher faculty than observation, and the
intuition of many spiritually-minded people clung [Page
33] to the great truths of religion
when the facts discovered by science seemed to prove them false. The facts
of nature have not altered, but new aspects of them have been discovered
by further observations, and values have been revised, so that intuition
is being justified by the progress of the very science which it opposed.
If the intuition of any reader sets itself against any discovery of any investigator,
let the former be patient and suspend his judgment. He may be wrong, and
may be mistaking prejudice for intuition; if so, he will presently find it
out. But he may be right, and
while the fact, if it be a fact, must remain true, the view taken of it
and of its meaning may be wrong; if so, further knowledge will presently
correct the error.
The Theosophical Society
cannot be injured by any researches carried on by its members; its third
Object justifies them in their work. But it may be injured by the blind
zeal of those who pin their faith to any one investigator, and denounce
all the rest. Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good. Let us study as strenuously as we can, sift all statements
according to our ability, follow peace with all men, and willingly
extend to all the same liberty that we claim for ourselves.
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