Theosophy - New Light on the Problem of Disease by Geoffrey Hodson
NEW
LIGHT ON THE PROBLEM OF DISEASE
by Geoffrey Hodson
published
by the Theosophical Publishing House (London) in 1930
Dedicated
to Gerald Hounsfield
who possible the writing of this book
PREFACE
THERE
are at least three ways of gaining knowledge; observation by oneself, education
by another and direct intuitive perception.The first two of these are external,
the third interior.
Although
the material of this book has been compiled form records of attempts to use
the third of these methods, the author makes no claim to authority or to divine
inspiration; nor dos he seek by this preface to influence the reader in his
evaluation of the material of the book,which must be judged solely on its
merits. He does, however wish to acknowledge the source of his information
and to answer those who may ask how and whence it was obtained.
Profoundly
interested in the problem of human suffering, and particularly of health and
disease,he turned all his mental energies to a discovery of its solution.
He believes that by a process of meditation he approached for a time that
inner realm of consciousness wherein all knowledge lies. He felt himself to
be guided by a teacher in his search for Truth. Dimly he saw through unaccustomed
eyes, and, seeing, recorded the little which he saw.
Hereby
he seeks to pass that little on.
May
it serve to lessen, if only by one tear unshed the weight of suffering which
presses so heavily upon the world. May it inspire in others the desire to
pierce the veil behind which all knowledge lies concealed, and to apply their
discoveries to relive the pain and sorrow of mankind.
Stronger
minds, keener spiritual vision, and a greater master of English prose are
needed ere the vision splendid of perfect knowledge may be truly won and worthily
portrayed.
Meanwhile
the author offers this.
G.Hodson
London,
1929
INTRODUCTION
This
book is based upon the following assumptions:-
I
MAN
IS A THREEFOLD IMMORTAL SPIRITUAL BEING, INCARNATED IN FOUR MORTAL MATERIAL
BODIES.
II
THE
THREE PARTS OF HIS SPIRITUAL SELF ARE REFLECTIONS OF THE DIVINE WILL, DIVINE
WISDOM, AND DIVINE INTELLIGENCE.
In
this spiritual aspect of his nature, man is one with the Logos. The difference
between the Logos and man lies in the degree in which their triune powers
are made manifest.
In
God these are fully manifested; in man they are manifested in a gradually
increasing degree of fulness, as his evolution proceeds.
III
MAN'S
FOUR MATERIAL BODIES IN THE ORDER OF THEIR DENSITY ARE:
(a)
His mental body composed of mental material; his vehicle of thought.
( b) His emotional body, composed of emotional material; his vehicle of feeling.
(c)
His vital or etheric body, composed of etheric material; this is the conserving
principle of his physical vital forces and the link between the superphysical
and physical bodies.
(d)
His physical body, composed of physical,solid, liquid and gaseous material;
his vehicle of action and self-expression in the physical world.
In
this fourfold material aspect of his nature man is temporarily unconscious
of his unity with God. As his evolution proceeds he gradually rediscovers
his lost knowledge; this rediscovery is the object of all spiritual endeavour.
IV
THE
PURPOSE OF MAN'S EXISTENCE IS GROWTH.
Growth
consists of the gradual unfoldment from latency to full potency of man's threefold
spiritual attributes on the one hand; and on the other, the evolution of his
four material vehicles to a condition in which they perfectly make manifest
his threefold spiritual attributes. The true purpose of religion is to help
man towards this attainment.
V
THE
GOAL OF HUMAN EVOLUTIONIS THE STANDARD OF PERFECTION DESCRIBED IN CHRISTIANITY
AS "THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULNESS OF CHRIST."
This
implies the attainment of a divine state of omnipotence, or perfected and
resistless will; omnipresence or perfected and all-embracing love; and omni-science
or perfected and all-inclusive knowledge. The attainment of this perfection
is absolutely certain for every man. The command "Be
ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" will be literally
obeyed by all human beings.
VI
BEYOND
THIS STATE OF HUMAN PERFECTION IS A STILL HIGHER STAGE OF SUPERHUMAN PERFECTION;
BEYOND THAT AGAIN THERE IS A GRADUAL ASCENT TOWARDS THE SPIRITUAL STATURE OF
THE LOGOS HIMSELF.
The
Logos is the Creator, Sustainer and Transformer of all worlds and the Spiritual
Parent of all men. He Himself is evolving, together with His whole system
and all which it contains, towards a goal which is beyond the comprehension
of mortal man.
Since
man is a god in the becoming, his future splendour, wisdom and power is entirely
without limit.
VII
THE
GOAL OF HUMAN PERFECTION HAS ALREADY BEEN REACHED BY MEN.
Such
perfect men are known as Adepts and Masters of the Wisdom.
VIII
THESE
SUPERHUMAN BEINGS CONSTITUE THE INNER GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD, AND ARE THE TRUE
SPIRITUAL RULERS, TEACHERS AND INSPIRERS OF MEN.
They
are the august body of "Just men made perfect," the "Communion
of saints."
IX
THE
GOAL OF HUMAN PERFECTION IS ATTAINED BY MEANS OF SUCCESSIVE INCARNATIONS IN
MATERIAL VEHICLES NEWLY FORMED DURING THE PRE-NATAL PERIOD OF EACH SUCCEEDING
LIFE.
X
THE
MULTIFARIOUS EXPERIENCES OF THESE REPEATED INCARNATIONS ARE ALL DESIGNED TO
DRAW OUT THE LATENT POWERS OF THE EVOLVING GOD, WHICH IS MAN.
The
purpose and effect of repeated physical existence is education in the true
meaning of the word.
After
the achievement of perfection, rebirth is no longer a necessity; all further
progress can be achieved in superphysical worlds. "Him that overcometh
I will make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out."
Rev.
XI
ALL
INCARNATIONS ARE CONNECTED TO EACH OTHER BY THE OPERATION OF THE LAW OF CAUSE
AND EFFECT OR READJUSTMENT.
All
actions, feelings and thoughts produce their own natural and perfectly appropriate
reaction. Reactions may follow actions immediately, later in the same life,
or in succeeding incarnations. This law is referred to in the test: "Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The Sanscrit word "karma"
is used to designate the operation of this eternal law.
XII
ACTIONS
BASED ON A RECOGNITION OF UNITY AND MOTIVED BY LOVE, SERVICE AND UNSELFISHNESS,
PRODUCE A PLEASURE, A HEALTH AND A GROWING FREEDOM OF SELF-EXPRESSION WHICH
ENCOURAGE THE ACTOR TO REPEAT THEM.
XIII
ACTIONS
BASED ON SEPARATENESS AND MOTIVED BY DISLIKE, GREED AND SELFISHNESS, PRODUCE
A PAIN, AN ILL-HEALTH, AND AN INCREASING LIMITATION OF SELF-EXPRESSION, WHICH
DISCOURAGE THE ACTOR FROM REPEATING THEM. THUS THE LAW MOVES MEN TO RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The
intensity of the pleasure or the pain is governed by the degree in which the
unselfish or selfish motives found expression in action.
Suffering
is neither a punishment inflicted from above, nor an accidental adversity;
it is self-inflicted and is designed to apprise the actor of his transgressions;
it is therefore truly beneficent and educative in its purpose and effect.
XIV
THE
SPIRITUAL MAN INHABITING HIS FOUR BODIES IS CONTINUALLY AWARE OF THE OPERATION
OF THIS EDUCATIVE LAW AND GRADUALY ACQUIRES KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, POWER AND CHARACTER
AS A RESULT.
These
constitute man's only true an eternal possessions. They are the "treasurers
in heaven which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt."
All
material possessions and temporal powers are transient, and the exclusive
pursuit of them is utterly vain.
XV
THE
ACTION OF THE LAW OF READJUSMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY CONTROL OR JUDGMENT TO
WHICH MAN IS EVER SUBJECTED.
Man
makes his own destiny by his own actions, and within this law is absolutely
and unconditionally free. Man is subject to no external spiritual authority
or power. All religion which is based on the fear of, or desire to gain favours
from, an external God is false.
XVI
THERE
IS A SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY, BY MEANS OF WHICH ADVERSITY, RESULTING FROM ACTIONS
MOTIVED BY SELFISHNESS, CAN BE DIMINISHED OR EVEN DISPERSED BY THE DELIVERATE
EXERTION OF ENERGIES AND THE ENACTMENT OF DEEDS MOTIVED BY LOVE.
Love
is the true philosopher's stone, service the alchemical process by which baser
human qualities and the pains of adversity may be transmuted into the fine
gold of spiritual power and happiness.
XVII
THIS
ALCHEMY OF THE SPIRIT MAY BE APPLIED TO THE HEALING OF DISEASE BY THE SUFFERER
HIMSELF, AND CONSTITUTES THE TRUE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUAL HEALING. THIS VOLUME
IS AN ATTEMPTED EXPOSITION OF THIS PRINCIPLE.
XVIII
THE PROCESS
OF THE TRANSMUTATION OF THE IMPERFECTIONS OF HUMAN NATURE INTO THEIR OPPOSITE
PERFECTIONS MAY BE DELIBERATELY APPLIED TO INCREASE THE RAPIDITY OF HUMAN EVLUTION.
The goal
of perfection which awaits all men in the far distant future can be attained
in a relatively short time.
XIX
THIS
SPIRITUAL MODE OF LIFE CONSTITUTES THE SHORT AND NARROW WAY OF CHRISTIANITY,
THE NOBLE EIGHFOLD PATH OF BUDDHISM, AND THE RAZOR-EDGED PATH OF HINDUISM. IT
LEADS TO SALVATION, NIRVANA OR LIBERATION.
The
life of Christ as portrayed in the Gospels is a dramatic representation of
the experiences of the soul in this path.
The
Sermon on the Mount, the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and the Hindu Scripture,
known as the Bhagavad Gita, define the conduct necessary for the
achievement of perfection.
XX
THIS
PATH OF SWIFT UNFOLDMENT IS OPEN TODAY AS OF OLD: IT CAN BE ONLY TRODDEN BY
PURITY OF LIFE AND SELFLESS SERVICE TO THE DIVINE WILL: IT IS THE PATHWAY TO
HEALTH, HAPPINESS, PERFECTION AND ETERNAL PEACE.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
THE
GENESIS OF DISEASE
THE
ROOT CAUSE OF DISEASE
SUPERPHYSICAL
CAUSES AND THEIR ANTIDOTES
THE
MECHANISM OF DISEASE KARMA
LATENT
DISEASE
DISEASE
IN THE SUBTLE AND PHYSICAL BODIES
MOTHERHOOD
AND HEALTH
CHAPTER
I
THE
GENESIS OF DISEASE
DISEASE is
the natural concomitant of imperfection; it is inherent in the nature of the
solar system and in the life force and consciousness embodied in that system;
otherwise it could not exist. As the whole system is evolving and is at present
imperfect, disease or any planet is but the expression of that imperfection
in one kingdom of Nature or another. If one could trace them, diseases would
be found in the mineral kingdom, as they are already found in the vegetable,
animal and human kingdoms. The study of individual cases, and of individual
actions which produce the karma of disease, should not blind one to the fact
that in the early stages of evolution, disease is a universal phenomenon.
Behind every
disease there is a disease consciousness, which finds expression and embodiment
in each appearance of that disease. All cancer patients, or any other group
of persons afflicted with the same disease, are related to each other by the
affinity of their disease. Complete understanding of the operation of karma
will not be found by a study of individual cases alone, valuable and necessary
through such studies are. Group disease and group karma must also be studied.
Disease is
inherent in Nature, and will so continue until a certain standard of perfection
has been attained. The healer's office is to quicken the evolution of the individual
and of the group, so that the coming of that time of attainment may be hastened.
Disease, an as an expression of Nature's voice, drawing attention to transgression,
contributes to that end; without it the attainment of perfection would be long
delayed.
The healer
must, therefore, cease to regard disease as an evil, but rather as the appearance
or manifestation of an aspect of evolving group consciousness,under the operation
of certain laws designed to produce ultimate good. He must not, however, fall
into the error to which the philosopher is prone, that of inaction as a result
of philosophical knowledge. He must relive suffering so far as lies within his
power, but recognize also, and teach the sufferers themselves to recognize,
that disease, even in its apparent cruelty, is essentially beneficent in its
purpose. On the rock of this knowledge must research and practice be based.
The separation
of planets and solar systems in time and space is an illusion. The cosmos is
one continuous whole. The attributes of Nature upon a single globe are not the
separate qualities of that globe, but belong to the whole cosmos. For instance,there
is actual division between the lunar and the terrene evolutions. They are both
essential parts of a common whole.If, however, one would trace the origin of
the terrene evolution, one would find it in the moon, but even then the problem
is no nearer to solution. [ Vide "Man, How, Whence
and Whither", by A.Besant and C.W.Leadbeater, for explanation of solar
and planetary schemes of evolution. ]. The investigator must
not seek to solve it in terms of time and space and separation; but envisage
the solar system as an evolving whole. From that viewpoint alone may one comprehend
the phenomena of a part, and propound a philosophy which will be perfect and
unassailable.
Karma moves
with the life wave, from globe to globe, from chain to chain, and binds together
schemes, systems, universes and cosmoi. It is the fundamental law behind them
all. In terms of absolute existence it has no attributes; in manifested worlds
it has the attribute of beneficence; it exerts a continual pressure towards
the highest good, and makes for the attainment of the goal.
Eventually,
as systems, chains, globes and their inhabitants draw nearer to the goal, disease
will disappear. In the process it will become more subtle and less densely physical,
changing with the evolution of the life and consciousness in which it is expressed.
The study of the causes, purposes and cures of disease, and the application
of its results, therefore, quicken the evolution of the race.
CHAPTER
II
THE
ROOT CAUSE OF DISEASE
The root cause
of every individual case of disease lies in a resistance to the right of the
ego [The Inner Ruler Immortal which is the real man.]
to rule his personality [ The temporary manifestation of the
ego in terms of thought, feeling and action.] and a refusal
to listen to the voice of conscience. This root cause is divisible into two
subsidiary classifications. The first of these consists of that type of karma
which is the effect of the waywardness of the personality and the deliberate
closing of the ears to the voice of the higher self. This results in sins of
commission, those positive acts which are contrary to the fundamental principle
of unity. The second cause is karma, resulting from the inexperience of the
ego and his failure to provide the necessary guidance to the personality: this
results in the sins of omission, self-indulgences and failures in self-disciple
and in acts of service. Between these two divisions are many variations which
partake of the nature of both, with one or the other predominant.
The sins of
commission result in active disease, whilst those of omissions produce latent
disease conditions which may or may not work out as active physical complaints:
they show themselves more especially as deficiencies in character and the absence
of those qualities in the personality which make for a healthy life. Perfect
examples of the two classes are extremely rare, as they are more generally found
in combination.This classification will, however,serve as a useful guide to
treatment.
Regarding the
two classes as failures of action and of inaction respectively, those diseases
in which the first class appears to predominate respond to purely physical treatment,
whilst those of the second class require psychological methods. As combinations
are more common than perfect examples, these two methods must generally be combined,
either method being accentuated as the condition of the patient may require.
All men have
latent disease kama, as they also have undeveloped qualities and characteristics.
The presence of a latent disease constitutes a continual source of danger. The
evolution of medical science must, therefore, be directed towards the perfection
of prophylactic methods. The educational system of the future will include efforts
in this direction; the curriculum will be so designed as to eliminate the qualities
of character which made possible the karma-producing actions, and to train the
individual to exert opposing energies which will modify and eventually neutralize
that karma; in addition, physical measurers will be applied to eliminate the
latent disease from the physical. body We may enunciate the paradoxical axiom
that disease must be cured before it arises, for the child must be treated for
the elimination of latent disease.
In those cases
where karma is so acutely adverse as to make all efforts apparently ineffectual,
treatments should be steadfastly continued, even to the end of life. Such treatments
and especially such efforts as the patient makes, though apparently of no avail,
are actually prophylactic as regards later incarnations.
Though the
present disease-ridden state of humanity demands that medical research should
be directed towards the cure of disease, this should be regarded as a temporary
phase. As the general karma of humanity grows lighter, under the influence of
the presence of the Lord [A reference to the supposed visitation
of the World-Teacher occurring at the present time in the person of J.Krishnamurti]
of the many spiritualizing movements, and of altruistic men and women at work
in the world today,disease will become more easily susceptible of cure. This
should liberate medical scientists from the study of disease to work for the
advancement of prophylactic measures. Disease will never be banished from the
earth by curative medicine alone, but rather by the progress of spiritual and
occult learning, which will lead to knowledge of the existence of latent disease
and of measures for its elimination.
Karma may be
met, modified, and even neutralized before it finds physical expression as active
disease. In the ultimate, spiritual forces and spiritual knowledge are alone
capable of curing disease. The many apparent physical cures which medical science
now achieves only occur in those cases where the karma is exhausted. Under all
other karmic conditions,medical science per se will inevitably fail.
CHAPTER
III
SUPERPHYSICAL
CAUSES AND THEIR ANTIDOTES
Whilst minor
diseases which occur through infection need not necessarily have superphysical
origin, chronic disease has always its superphysical aspect. Its roots may penetrate
as deeply as the mental body. Such deep-rooted diseases may recur in many incarnations.
Their origin lies in actions which are deliberate denials by the mind of certain
aspects of truth - actions which are persisted in, in spite of the actor's knowledge
of their essentially unlawful character.
An example
of this type is to be found in the inhuman cruelty which characterized rulers
and their subordinate officials in the early centuries of certain civilizations.
Such cruelty was a remnant of the savage state, out of which the actors had
then definitely, although but recently, evolved. They had reached a stage in
which the voice of the higher self had already made itself heard. In pursuing,
after they had become civilized, conduct which from a karmic point of view was
relatively harmless in the savage, they denied the voice of the higher self.
That voice
speaks in the name of unity, which is a fundamental truth. Cruelty is a denial
of unity. The karma of such actions reacts upon both mind and body. Cruelty
in one form or another is the most general cause of disease. That is why disease
in itself appears to be so cruel.
The greatest
antidote to all disease is a recognition of unity and its expression through
love and service. All sufferers should, therefore, be taught the fundamental
law of unity and be inspired to develop and live by love. his is perhaps the
simplest method of supplying the superphysical aspects of such processes of
physical cure as are also employed. The great majority of sufferers simply require
to develop the quality of love; to be taught to radiate affection on all the
world and especially upon those within their immediate environment.
Ultimately
disease will be cured along these lines. The sufferer will either meditate to
discover the deficiency of character which made possible the karma-producing
actions or consult a spiritual teacher, and then retire in order to develop
and learn to express the required quality.
Mass healing
occurs through the operation of this principle, and will probably be increasingly
employed in the near future. Large numbers of sufferers will be gathered together
under a spiritual teacher, who will teach them to liberate their own inner powers,and
to develop the fundamental qualities of human nature in which they are deficient.
Individuals and masses must be educated out of disease. Their sense
of values must be changed. The intense craving for and the strong hold upon
physical existence results from a false sense of values; this craving, born
of delusion, is another root cause of disease.
The personalities
of Western men temporarily escape from the control of their higher selves through
the fierce intensity with which they attach themselves to the physical plane
of existence and strive for physical success; by the ardour of his pursuit of
physical pleasure and attainments, the consciousness of the man becomes focused
outwards towards the physical, which he places highest in his scale of vital
evaluation. That attitude must be reversed, and to that end the spiritual healer
will seek to inculcate the development of dispassion towards and detachment
from the objects of the senses and a recognition of the true purpose of physical
existence.
Mere animal
emotion and indulgence is less serious in its karmic effects upon the physical
body in the early stages of evolution than it is in the later, when a knowledge
of the true meaning of life is being acquired. The degree in which an action
is a denial of the voice of conscience is the governing factor which decides
the intensity and range of a disease. The evolutionary standing of patients
must, therefore, be observed when endeavouring to discover the nature and extent
of their karmic obligations. The ability to judge the karmic obligation from
the disease itself, and to estimate the measure in which it has been met can
be readily developed. A classification of types of karma and their corresponding
diseases will be found to be of the greatest service .Clairvoyance, though useful
for preliminary researches and classifications, is by no means essential. The
widely possessed faculty of intuitive diagnosis, carried into the superphysical
and moral worlds, will prove to be entirely adequate.
CHAPTER
IV
THE
MECHANISM OF DISEASE KARMA
Just as there
is one basic error which is the source of all adverse karmic reaction, so is
there one basic disease which is the parent of all forms of disease. The common
error, behind all errors, is that of selfishness; selfishness,in its turn, is
due to a failure to recognize unity and is thus the offspring of the sense of
separateness. The basic karma behind all disease karma is, therefore, produced
by separateness. Separateness is at the root of all transgression, whether the
karma is disease producing or not.
Similarly there
is a basic poison which produces all disease, as there is also a basic organism
which is capable of transmitting disease karma to the physical body; this organism
is the first dense physical agent of karma, which has acted in the subtler realms
before the lower realms have become affected. That basic organism is present
in everyone, and is one of the fundamental constituents of which the body is
built. In the case of active disease, karma, incarnate as emotional and etheric
poison, has impinged upon this basic physical organism and changed it from a
healthy to an unhealthy condition. This change is produced by an interference
with the atomic mechanism by which the organism is brought into existence, nourished
and sustained. This change affects and alters its function, so that instead
of building and supporting the body, t becomes injurious to it.
Disease karma works similarly upon the matter of the emotional and etheric bodies,
changing their life units, which correspond to the basic organisms in the physical
body, from healthy to unhealthy members of the bodily community. The change
in emotional matter automatically finds expression in etheric, and finally in
dense physical matter,of the astral atoms affected are the counterparts of the
atoms of which the physical life units are composed. The change, therefore is
a natural one, and occurs in the same part of the body, in each of the tree
vehicles.
Karma finds
its subject and produces its effects with unerring accuracy life after life.
The connection between the mental, emotional and physical bodies of the karma-producing
incarnation,and the karmically affected bodies of subsequent incarnations, is
made in the permanent atom [ Vide "A study in Consciousness"
by Annie Besant.] which is the storehouse of karma. The permanent
atom releases its afflictions as well as its treasures when the law of sympathetic
vibrations causes it to perform its allotted function.
Human life
evolves in a series of minor cycles, each of seven years, and each cycle has
its appropriate karma, beneficent and adverse. The disease karma is liberated
in the same minor cycle as that in which the action which produced it was performed.
Each cycle is in effect a miniature incarnation. If the actions are continued
from one cycle into the next, so also will be the disease. Modifications of
this law occur, however,when forces are liberated from within the agent to modify
his karma. Thus twenty years of transgression may be karmically accounted for
in five, three, two or even one year of neutralizing endeavour.
The work of
the ego is to develop qualities of character and to liberate forces which will
counteract the errors of the personality. He does this more effectively when
his personality cooperates, and therein lies the value of educative therapeutics.
All therapy should become educative, for, as we have seen, karma can be met
and nullified before it produces bodily effects. The scientific application
of neutralizing forces by the ego makes this seeming paradox a possibility.
This fact in
Nature is used by those who tread the left-hand path. They do not neutralize,
however; they withhold. Their failure to neutralize is due to the fact that
their lives and motives become the apotheosis of separateness. The karma which
they withhold eventually passes through the barriers which they have erected,
and reaches them when they themselves have been swept, by a a power greater
than their own, into unity with That of which they are a part. If the law which
they employ could be used with equal knowledge by those whose basic quality
is love, then the demands of the karma of disease could be met before it actually
affected the material of the physical body. The degree of success which would
crown this effort would depend upon the sufferer's and the healer's knowledge
of the law and upon the degree of their realization of unity. No man below the
level of Adeptship can have a full and perfect realization of unity, but, by
education and meditation, a great measure of realization can be achieved.
Karmic forces
may be thought of in terms of the colours of the spectrum. A colour may become
white, and so virtually disappear, if it meets and becomes combined with its
complementary hue. Adverse forces may be rendered inoperative by a perfect balance
of opposite polarities . A deep study must, therefore, be made of the karma
of disease,so that knowledge may be gained, firstly, of the type of energy which
is behind each disease and, secondly, of the energy by which it may be neutralized.
All this may
occur outside the personal sphere. It is a form of spiritual alchemy which will
be part of the wisdom of succeeding races of mankind. It cannot operate where
separateness remains. Success demands that separateness shall in some measure
have been transcended. Unity is the great prophylactic; if attained by the ego,
its power permeates the personal vehicles and renders them immune from chronic
disease. It belongs to the plane of wisdom, which is said to "mightily
and sweetly order all things." The life force of that lofty level surrounds
and pervades every atom of every vehicle and forms a matrix for the four-fold
personality of man. Under the influence of an intense personal realization of
unity a descent occurs in greatly added measure of this spiritual healing energy
which is the true antidote to every disease.
Man employs
remedies appropriate to his evolutionary age. The final epoch of human
evolution on the earth will find man liberated from the karma of disease. He
will have entered consciously into a living sense of unity with all that lives,
with That which is behind and within all living things. The age which is now
drawing to a close has been the age of dense materialism, though, during successive
cycles within that age, mankind has grown less and less material. As man progresses
the expression of his karma will tend to be correspondingly less and less material.
In their turn the remedies which mankind will employ will also become less and
less material until, eventually, they will be entirely spiritual in their nature.
Changes and
modifications in this basic principle of the gradual refinement of both karmic
action and physical treatment frequently occur. Cancer, for example, is an exception,
as it has been precipitated upon mankind in order more rapidly to clear away
karmic obstacles and to produce a special hastening and quickening of the evolution
of human consciousness. This has been made possible by the fact that certain
"perfected" members of the human family, whose evolutionary progress
has been exceptionally rapid, has been willing to sacrifice the natural rewards
of their success in order that the whole race may share in the beneficent karma
of their good deeds and their achievement.
Of this great
renunciation the World Teacher is the most glorious and shining example. His
presence in the world today [ A reference to the supposed visitation
of the World-Teacher occurring at the present time in the person of J.Krishnamurti]
means far more to the egos than to the personalities of mankind. An opportunity
is now offered to many millions of definitely quickening the normal progress
of their evolution and of saving themselves an appreciable number of earthly
incarnations. Such great promise can only be fulfilled by a a rapid settlement
of the human karmic account.
One of the
gravest karmic obstacles to this consummation is that which results from the
type of transgression consisting of black magic, blood rites, sexuality and
vampirism, which began and reached its culmination in Atlantis, [ A
continent, upon which the race preceding the Aryan evolved, now sunk below the
Atlantic Ocean ] but has been continued, in varying degree
and in various disguises, throughout the ages which have passed since Atlantis
sank beneath the waves. The high incidence of cancer is a result of the precipitation
of that karma.
Man stands
upon the threshold of a new age, and must bridge the gulf between the methods
appropriate to the present material epoch and those which will be employed in
the more ethereal one which is now opening. Signs of this change are apparent
on every side. Science herself is passing from a material to an ethereal conception.
Eventually she will pierce through the ethereal to the spiritual; then science
and religion will be once more recognized as one. Those great opponents, already
drawing together, will themselves become the embodiment and expression of the
fundamental principle of unity towards recognition of which the whole trend
of evolution is slowly wending its way.
The curative
technique of the immediate future is difficult of acquisition, for the existing
situation forces upon mankind the acceptance of a compromise. A supreme adaptability
in thought and in action is now most essential. The Spirit of Wisdom says to
all who are ardently seeking a solution of the present problems, physical, mental
and spiritual, which beset mankind: "Keep steadfastly before your eyes
that spiritual alchemy by which adversity will be ultimately transmuted into
power by means of the universal solvent, which is love. Direct your energies
towards the evolution of methods of helping men to meet and neutralize by love
their adverse karma in the present age, where love is rare and the realization
of unity confined to the few. Work for universal brotherhood, and unfailing
guidance will be given to you. The adoption of brotherhood as a fundamental
guiding principle in all human relationships will help mankind through the present
difficult and dangerous period of transition. Evolve more and more perfect methods
of cooperation, between the spiritual and the material, between religion and
science, between the Church, the laboratory and consulting room. Avail yourselves
most freely of all the spiritual aid which it is within the power of religion
to give, for the foundation upon which all religion is built is unity. The life
of every scientist, as of every churchman, must be based upon unity expressed
as brotherhood, as serve and as love. Thus alone can the search for Truth, spiritual
or material, religious or scientific, be entirely successful."
CHAPTER
V
LATENT
DISEASE
In all studies
which are concerned with man, it is well to remember the principle which governs
the forthcoming of a universe or a solar system. First the field of evolution
is outlined and insulated from all other fields. The Logos then utters the creative
word, the sounds of which contain within themselves - in terms of vibratory
power - all which He, the Logos, contains within Himself.
The universe
is God, rendered objective. At its birth it is God reborn; at its close, it
is God more highly evolved. So with man, who is also the logos of his universe.
His bodies are himself externalized, objective manifestations of his interior
capacities. Even his environment is in a measure a representation of his own
nature. A man's environment depends not so much upon the objective phenomena,
of which it apparently consists, as upon his relationship to those phenomena.
The environment of no two people is the same, even though they live together.
As the Logos
lives again in His new-born universe so man is constantly reborn in order to
evolve through the medium of his vehicles and his environment. His bodies on
every plane are expression of himself, materializations of the qualities of
his consciousness. All the matter of which his bodies are build corresponds
with minute exactitude to the states and nature of his consciousness. When,
therefore, experiments reveal that disease springs from one or other of the
subtler vehicles, remember that but the external aspect of disease has been
discovered. In reality all disease is rooted in the consciousness, which
too, must be studied, so that the two halves of the subject of health and disease
may fit together perfectly. Man could not err unless within his consciousness
there were contained the seeds of error, brought over from an earlier incarnation.
Karma is thus
seen to be dual; in action, it modifies the construction and the nature of each
vehicle, and it also exists within the consciousness and finds expression there
as deficiency of character, capacity to err, or as possibility of error. In
this duality lies the explanation of latent disease, as also of susceptibility
to and immunity from disease. Latent disease is the outward expression of a
weakness in the ensouling consciousness, a deficiency in the nature of the ego.
This latent possibility need not necessarily become active disease. In certain
cases the nature of the karma offers to the ego the opportunity of remedying
the deficiency and of satisfying the karmic obligation entirely in terms of
consciousness. This he may achieve by building in the virtue which will replace
the deficiency.
On the other
hand, the presence of latent disease is always a possible source of danger,
as it renders the subject susceptible to infection. It may also operate as a
continual drag upon the development of the personality and as a hidden drain
upon the vital force of the body. A large number of people who are moderately,
but not perfectly healthy, suffer in this way, though they may never experience
active disease. They are peculiarly susceptible to the educative aspect of therapy,
for, as we have seen, Nature and their karma permit them to meet their obligations
in terms of consciousness. They need to discover their inherent deficiencies,
and to replace them with the required opposing virtues.
The material
aspects of disease has, up to the present day, been considered as being the
most important, and has been indeed the only aspect to be generally recognized
and treated. Eventually the consciousness-aspect of disease will be the only
one with which the healer will be concerned. Matter itself will have become
more evolved, and, being therefore more malleable, it will be more easily influenced
and affected by changes of consciousness. One result of this will be that deficiencies
of consciousness will produce more serious material effects, but it will also
enable the sufferer more easily to cure himself by producing the necessary changes
in his consciousness.
The present
period of transition is particularly interesting, as there is now appearing
a tendency to recognise the consciousness aspect of disease, though many advanced
thinkers of the past foreshadowed the discoveries of present and future research
in this direction. The method of Hahnemann and his school is an outstanding
example of this. As soon, therefore, as medical studies have enabled the student
to understand the principles of the material aspect of disease, his attention
may well be turned to a study of disease in terms of consciousness. He will
find, within the deeper levels of the human mind, strange qualities, peculiar
inhibitions and limitations, which influence and modify the construction and
development of his various bodies.
The effects
of these deeper causes of disease appear chiefly during the pre-natal period,
when the bodies are being built; from this point of view all disease is pre-natal
in its origin, for the possibility of disease which exists in the consciousness
is then implanted in the vehicles. Pre-natal conditions are therefore of the
utmost importance to the health of the bodies which are being built. Karma,
which might be met by the education of the consciousness and with little or
no suffering, is frequently precipitated into material disease by unfavourable
pre-natal environment. An important section of the medical practice of the future
will be developed in this direction.
Pre-natal conditions
must be studied in detail, for many sufferers could be saved from the necessity
of physical ill-health by the pre-natal applications of prophylactic and remedial
measures. The growing bodies are peculiarly susceptible to spiritual influences,
as also to material ones. Though modern civilization makes it for the most part
impossible, regular attendance at the services of a church, and the regular
administration of the sacraments and of spiritual healing to the mother during
pregnancy, would be of inestimable value both to mother and child. The church
of the future will have special activities under the direct inspiration of the
World Mother, [ see "The Miracle of Birth" by the
same author ] devoted to helping expectant mothers and
reincarnating egos.
The value of
such work can hardly be over-estimated, nor its effect upon the health and physique
of the race be exaggerated. During the intra-uterine period the vehicles are
especially responsive to spiritual influences, and the modification by the ego
of the apportioned karma is far more easily attained before than after birth.
The ego has more influence upon the condition of his bodies in their embryonic
state than after the physical body has been born. Changes produced in him by
spiritual means are far more easily expressed in his vehicles. As this also
is the period when disease is implanted in the bodies, the importance of spiritual
assistance, as well as of perfect environment during pregnancy, will be apparent.
No disease
exists above the mental plane, whether of planet, solar system or cosmos. Beyond
that level perfection reigns. Differences in degree of evolutionary progress
alone are to be found. Spiritual and educative healing should therefore be directed
towards lifting the consciousness of the personality into super-mental realms.
When that exaltation is attained, the perfection of the higher worlds is automatically
reflected in the lower. Floods of power from the realm of the Christ Consciousness
or Divine Wisdom in man descends into the personality.
The expression
in thought and action of the qualities of Divine Wisdom is the surest means
of neutralizing karma, of correcting mental and emotion error, and of harmonizing
all the vehicles. Every patient could heal himself, could he but lift his consciousness
into that realm, drawn down its light and power and express it in his daily
life.
The physician's
task is threefold. He must correct and cure the errors and deficiencies,
malformations and diseases of the physical body; educate the mind and the emotions;
and train his patients to discover and release the healing powers of the Christ
within themselves. This is the triple function of the healer, the expression
within himself of the triple God.
Christ is the
great healer of the world; the Christ in man is the great, the true, the natural
healer of man. By the aid of the spiritual light shining within himself, man
may see his errors and deficiencies, may understand the working of the law by
which he suffers. Thus strengthened and illumined, he may find the power to
remedy his deficiencies and the knowledge to satisfy the demands of the great
law.
CHAPTER
VI
DISEASE
IN THE SUBTLE AND PHYSICAL BODIES
Cancer is,
above all, a disease which springs from the misuse of power, and one
from which those evolving on the first or "will" ray [
A reference to the first of the seven major temperaments or rays into which
all men may be classified. See "The Seven Rays",
by Ernest Wood ] are prone to suffer.
The will is prostituted, is used to master and employ forces and intelligences
for personal ends, instead of for the upliftment of the race and the quickening
of the individual evolution. An inviolable law ordains that, where the veil
which hides the invisible is pierced, the knowledge and the power which are
revealed and released must be used for the furtherance of the evolutionary scheme.
All misuse of power, all prostitution
of invisible and occult agencies and intelligences, brings down upon the user
the new karma of being himself the victim of the agencies and the forces which
he has employed. Internal occult energies influence and affect the evolving
man, and the karma of their misuse reacts primarily from within the man himself.
Kundalinic forces [ An occult power resident in man, sometimes
called the serpent fire. Vide "The Chakras" by C.W.Leadbeater
] when misused, affect the cerebro-spinal system adversely.
All spinal diseases and malformations may be traced to the misuse of the serpent
fire. A principle is thereby indicated that the karma of the misuse of external
agencies is attack and injury by invading entities, while the misuse of the
interior natural forces of man affects him from within.
The misuse of emotion energies, excess
of sensuality per se, apart altogether from magic and unholy ceremonials,
tend, by correspondence, to affect the mucous membranes which line the canals
and passages of the body. Disease is set up in or upon those membranes as a
result. The astral body itself is injured and poisoned, and the physical body
is thereby affected.
Diseases which spring from errors
in the use of the mind tend to affect the cerebro-spinal system, and more especially
the organs of cognition.
Each portion of the body has its
correspondence with a subtle principle. Misuse of the principle, or of its energies
or capacities, affects the corresponding physical organ. This process can only
be fully understood after a study of the pre-natal period, when the bodies are
being built. All resultant deficiencies and latent diseases spring from this
period in the cycle of incarnation.
The modern psychologist, whilst correct
in his inferences concerning the relationship between the subjective and objective
man, fails to pursue his subject far enough backwards in the cycle of
incarnation. Cancer, for example, begins in any life cycle by a modification
of the mental body in the very early days of the pre-natal period. The mind
is definitely affected, for a portion of the matter of which the mental body
is being built is drawn from a general supply of matter which has been previously
set in vibration at the cancer rate; this occurs through the matter having been
used in the mind-body of one who committed the transgression of which cancer
is a result.
A portion of the matter of the emotional
body is tainted in the same way, and has had the cancer vibration imparted to
it by a direct contact in other previous bodies with the actions which produced
the karmic suffering in this one. Similarly the physical material which goes
to build the new body has once been made to vibrate at the cancer rate by association
with the unholy orgies of the past.
Even under these afflicting conditions,
the latent vibration of the past need not be roused into activity. Large numbers
of people are walking the earth under these conditions who have not yet shown
symptoms of cancer. Life after life they have the opportunity of neutralizing
their karma and of extirpating the offending matter from their bodies. Only
after repeated failure to effect this does the latent disease become active
in the three vehicles.
So, also, with all the great chronic
diseases of mankind. A susceptibility to them is always present after the karma-producing
actions have been performed; it is traceable in the matter, both of the subtler
and physical bodies; in the latter it is generally to be found in the blood.
The physician meets men at various
stages of the working out of their karma, from the latent period of susceptibility
to disease to the period of activity when the symptoms appear. From all that
has been said, it will be seen that the latent period is the one in which the
most favourable results may be produced. The definite suggestion, therefore,
is made that all children should be treated as far as possible for latent disease.
A technique will need to be evolved whereby its presence may be discovered as
soon as possible after birth and measures taken for its removal. Clairvoyance
is perhaps the ideal method for making the necessary tests, but instruments
will be evolved from those already in use, which will enable medical science
to diagnose latent disease during the first year of life.
The sacrament of baptism can be of
great assistance to the ego in neutralizing his karma by placing powers in his
hands and making for him links with the Great Healer of the World which will
assist him towards that end. Confirmation carries further this process, which
may reach its apotheosis in the administration of the Blessed Sacrament.
There is urgent necessity for research
concerning the application of spiritual aid to the healing of disease.
CHAPTER
VII
MOTHERHOOD
AND HEALTH
The great need
of the world today is for a change in the attitude of the race towards marriage,
parenthood, women and childbirth. The mother must be recognized as a representative
of the Mother aspect of the Deity, the baby as the Christ Child newly born.
Mary, once
the holy Mother of the Lord, now the Divine Mother of the World [ see
"The World Mother as Symbol and Fact" by C.W.Leadbeater
] sends forth a great appeal to men to share with Her,
Her work for womanhood and motherhood. She calls on all the foremost leaders
and thinkers in the world to rally under Her banner; to devote themselves to
the service of woman; to work for the exaltation of the ideal of parenthood,
and to form a strong body of chivalrous protectors of women and little children.
She seeks a
worldwide response to these ideals, and would have men plan an international
campaign to reach the hearts and minds of the nations of the world, and plead
with them in the sacred cause of Motherhood. She broods over the human race.
Incarnate in its womanhood and immanent in every child, She sees Herself in
every woman, and Hers Son in every babe.
The degradation
through which the women of the human race have passed must cease. The stain
of that degradation must be wiped away. Children must be born in joy; the mother
must be surrounded with love and protection, with harmony, with beauty and with
peace; she must be taught the spiritual significance of her function, and be
prepared for its exercise by devotion and by prayer. She needs the best that
civilization can provide for her. No offering is too great, when made in recognition
of the service which she renders to the race as mother of mankind.
Slums and overcrowded
areas, ill-ventilated rooms, ugly surroundings, vice, self-indulgence, interference
by the husband, and lack of cleanliness and air make motherhood a ghastly tragedy
for thousands of the women of our race. Conditions
which fill the office of the World Mother with such sorrow must be removed.
Mothers must be lifted out of the slums and crowded areas into the pure air
and beauty of the countryside.Fit dwelling-places must be prepared for the sacrament
of birth. Physicians must band themselves together to bring about this most
necessary reform.
When thinkers and idealists
meet together to plan and to prepare for the healing methods of the coming age,
the World Mother would have them hold within their thoughts the mothers of their
children, and the children too, for they will relieve themselves of half their
labours if they will but care wisely and tenderly for mothers-to-be.
If the bodies of all
expectant mothers could be cleansed of latent disease, their feelings purified
and their minds turned to the contemplation of the beautiful, in one generation
alone a race of men, god-like in health, in strength and beauty, would appear.
All the material seeds of sickness, of misery and shame, which develop after
birth, are sown during the pre-natal period. All these things are latent in
the body and the soul, planted there during the months of waiting for the birth.
Work must be planned and undertaken, therefore, to awaken the consciousness
of men to these fundamental facts, to draw attention to the splendid opportunities
for building a healthy, splendid and godlike race by the provision of a perfect
environment for motherhood.
She, the Holy Mother
Herself, enters into every chamber of birth. She gives Her service in the slum,
the prison and the tenement. No woman is so low as to be outside the range of
Her all-embracing love. She honours even the most degraded, in the name of the
Divine Mother which She sees within. She sanctifies the shrine of birth and
welcomes every human babe into this sublunary above.
If thus She serves,
will not mankind give service too? If every organized society, secular and sacred,
religious and profane, would devote a little of its time and energy to this
great cause, the future of the race would be changed as by a miracle. The physique
and consciousness of the children of the coming age would be improved beyond
all imagining. If medical societies and philanthropic institutions could be
brought to realize and recognize the urgency of this need, a magnificent future
for the race could be assured.
The concept of the Mother
aspect of the Deity must be brought back into the religion of the West, so that
it may permeate every order of society. Of what value to raise up churches and
shrines to Our Lady, if by their acts and lives men deny the very principle
which She represents. Our Lady hovers, brooding over mankind, seeking those
who will serve Her, watching for those who will answer to Her call, who She
can enrol as knights in Her service. Never has there been greater need for chivalry
towards woman and knightly enterprise in her cause than is at present manifest
in all the countries of the world. Her knights will reap the full measure of
reward, for She herself will lead them, will bless and inspire all their undertakings
with the spirit of Her gracious loveliness. Her compassion and Her power. Thus
She draws near to the peoples of the earth, seeking those who will serve Her
in Her great task, Her office in the hierarchy of "just men made perfect"
who live to serve the world. She is seeking and calling in the inner worlds,
and now would find voices in the outer, men and women who will plead Her cause,
will fight Her battles and represent Her in the field of human endeavour and
of sacrifice. |