Glamour- a World Problem Read online

  These three words sum up the three qualities or aspects of the intuition and can be covered by the word, universality, or the sense of universal Oneness.

  Is that not something which all aspirants aim to achieve? And is it not something that each of you, as individuals, needs in a peculiar sense? Where it is present, there is an immediate decentralisation of the dramatic “I,” of that capacity always to relate all happenings, all phenomena, all group work to oneself as the centre.

  I cannot enlarge further upon the subject of Intuition. It is too vast a matter, and too abstruse. All I can do is to put before you its three aspects and then to urge upon you the need to submit to that training and to apply to yourselves that discipline which will work out in your life as love, light and understanding. When the theory is grasped and the right adjustments are made and when the needed work is done, the personality then becomes magnetic, whilst the brain cells around the pineal gland, which have hitherto been dormant, become awakened and vibrant. The nucleus of every cell in the body is a point of light, and when the light of the intuition is sensed, it is this cell-light which will immediately respond. The continuance of the inflow of the light of the intuition will draw forth, [6] esoterically speaking, into the light of day every cell which is so constituted that it will respond.

  II. THE MODE OF AWAKENING THE INTUITION

  There are many ways in which the intuition can be drawn into activity, and one of the most useful and potent is the study and interpretation of symbols.

  Symbols are the outer and visible forms of the inner spiritual realities, and when facility in discovering the reality behind any specific form has been gained, that very fact will indicate the awakening of the intuition.

  First ray people belong to what is called the “Destroyer Ray” and the power of the first aspect, which is the power to bring to an end, flows through them. They will have a tendency to destroy, as they build, through a wrong direction of energy, through over-emphasis of energy in some particular direction, or through misuse of energy in work with themselves or others. Many first ray people have the tendency to pride themselves on this and hide behind a plea that, being upon the first ray, a destructive tendency is unavoidable. Such is not the case. Builders, such as second ray people always are, have to learn to destroy, when prompted by group love and acting under the Will or first ray aspect. Destroyers have to learn to build, acting ever under the impulse of group love and utilising the power of attachment in a detached manner. Both groups, builders and destroyers, must ever work from the standpoint of reality, from the inner nucleus of truth and must “take their stand at the centre.”

  The study of symbols tends to bring this about and when carried out with faithfulness and diligence, will produce three effects:

  1. It trains in the power to penetrate behind the form and to arrive at the subjective reality. [7]

  2. It tends to bring about a close integration between soul-mind-brain, and when that is brought about, the inflow of the intuition and, consequently, of illumination and truth becomes more rapidly possible.

  3. It will put a strain upon certain unawakened areas in the brain and arouse into activity the brain cells there found, and this is the first stage in the experience of the aspirant. With the majority of true aspirants, the centre between the eyebrows is awakened, whilst the centre at the top of the head is vibrating very gently, but is not in full functioning activity. This higher centre must be awakened more fully before aspirants can measure up to their full opportunity.

  In the study of symbols, I would urge upon you the necessity always to put before yourselves the goal of arriving at the underlying concept of any symbol studied. This concept will ever be synthetic. It will not be detailed and in sections. You may have to arrive at this concept through a study of detail and through arriving at the significance of various sections or parts of the symbol under consideration. When, however, your analysis is completed, you must not rest satisfied until you have summed up the meaning of the symbol in some synthetic idea, concept, meaning or name.

  Symbols have to be studied in three ways:

  a. Exoterically. This involves study of its form as a whole, of its lines, and therefore of its numerical significance, and also study of its sectional forms—by which I mean its arrangements, for instance, of cubes, triangles and of stars and their mutual inter-relation.

  b. Conceptually. This involves arriving at its underlying idea, which may be expressed in its name; at its [8] meaning as that emerges in the consciousness through meditation; and at its significance as a whole or in part. You should, when doing this, bear in mind that the idea connotes the higher or abstract intent; that the meaning is that intent expressed in terms of the concrete mind; and that its significance has in it more of an emotional quality and might be expressed as the type of desire it arouses in you.

  c. Esoterically. This would cover the effect of the force or energy upon you and of the quality of the vibration it may arouse in you perhaps in some centre, perhaps in your astral body, or perhaps only in your mind.

  This study, rightly undertaken, would lead to the unfoldment of the intuition, with its consequent manifestation on the physical plane as illumination, understanding and love.

  In the first instance, the objective of the study of symbolism is to enable the student to sense its quality and to contact that vibrant something which lies behind that aggregate of line, colour and form of which the symbol is composed.

  To some types of people this study is relatively easy; to the majority it is not easy at all, thereby indicating a lack that must be supplied by the use of those faculties at the present dormant. It is always distasteful to arouse the latent faculties and requires an effort and a determination not to be swayed by personality reactions. To many it is not easily apparent how the penetration into the meaning of a symbol can provide a means whereby the dormant buddhic or intuitional faculty can be brought into functioning activity. It is a delicate art, this art of symbol reading, of “spiritual reading,” as our ancient master, Patanjali, [9] calls it. This power to interpret symbols ever precedes true revelation. The comprehension of a truth for which a line or a series of lines composing a symbolic form may stand is not all that has to be done. A good memory may remind you that a series of lines forming a triangle or a series of triangles signifies the Trinity, or any series of triplicates within the macrocosmic or microcosmic manifestation. But that activity and accuracy of the memory will do naught to awaken the dormant brain cells or call into play the intuition. It must be remembered (and here becomes evident the value of a certain amount of technical or academic occultism) that the plane whereon the intuition manifests and where the intuitional state of consciousness is active is that of the buddhic or intuitional plane. This plane is the higher correspondence of the astral or emotional plane, the plane of sensitive awareness through a felt identification with the object of attention or attraction. It becomes evident therefore that if the intuitional faculty is to be brought into activity through the study of symbols, the student must feel with, or be in some way identified with, the qualitative nature of the symbol, with the nature of that reality which the symbolic form veils. It is this aspect of symbolic reading that you are asked to study.

  Students should ascertain, therefore, after due study of the form aspect, what the symbol is doing to them, what feeling it evokes, what aspirations it arouses, and what dreams, illusions, and reactions are consciously registered. This stage is an intermediate one between the exoteric reading of a symbol and the conceptual understanding. There is later another intermediate stage between conceptual understanding and esoteric comprehension and application. This latter stage is called “synthetic recognition.” Having studied the form and become aware of its emotional significance, you pass to the stage of grasping the basic idea [10] of the symbol, and from thence to a synthetic comprehension of its purpose. This leads to true esotericism which is the practical application of its living synthetic power to the springs of individu
al life and action.

  I would ask you to render not only an intelligent interpretation of the symbol, but also a recognition of the more subtle reaction of your sensitive feeling nature to the symbol as a whole. Study a total of four symbols a year. First, approach the symbol from its form aspect and seek to familiarise yourself with its outer aspect, with the sum total of lines, triangles, squares, circles, crosses and other forms of which it is composed, and as you do this endeavour to comprehend it from the standpoint of the intellect, using your memory and what knowledge you have, to understand it exoterically.

  Then as soon as the symbol is truly familiar to you and can be recalled to mind with little effort, endeavour to sense its quality, to contact its vibration and to note its emotional effect upon you. This may vary from day to day or it may always be the same. Be simply honest in your noting this astral reaction to the symbol and see where such reactions lead you, remembering always that they are not intuitional but are reactions to the feeling or astral body.

  Finally, take note of what you have found to be, for you, the basic quality of the symbol and then (as in meditation work) lift the whole subject into the mental realm by bringing the focussed attentive mind to bear upon it. This will lead you into the realm of concepts.

  We have consequently the following stages in the analysis of a symbol:

  1. Its exoteric consideration: line, form and colour.

  2. A comprehension in the astral or emotional body of [11] its quality, the reaction of a sensitive response to the impact of its qualitative nature.

  3. A conceptual consideration of its underlying idea, of what it is intended to teach, of the intellectual meaning it is intended to convey.

  4. The stage of the synthetic grasp of the purpose of a symbol, of its place in an ordered manifesting plan, of its true unified intent.

  5. Identification with the quality and purpose of the symbol as it is illuminated by the mind “held steady in the light.” This final stage brings into activity the brain as well as the mind.

  The study of symbols viewed as a whole, involves three stages:

  First, the investigation of a symbol, and the consequent progress of the analyst from one progressive stage of awareness to another, to a gradual inclusion of the entire field covered by the symbol.

  Secondly, an intuitive perception of the symbols to be seen everywhere in the divine manifestation.

  Third, the use of symbols on the physical plane, and their right adaptation to a seen and recognised purpose, leading to the subsequent magnetisation of the symbol with the needed quality through which the idea can make its presence felt, in order that the intuited qualified idea may find proper form on the physical plane.

  Deal, therefore, with the symbols in a wide generalisation, exoteric, conceptual and esoteric, but add to that an analysis of your sensitivity and response to the quality of the symbol.

  Let me recapitulate for a moment. First of all it is valuable to remember that the study of the symbol exoterically [12] involves the use of the brain and the memory. You endeavour to study line and form, number and general external aspects, knowing that each line has significance, all numbers have their interpretation and all forms are symbols of an inner quality and life.

  The study of symbols conceptually carries you inward from the brain to the mind, into the realm of ideas. It sweeps into focussed activity the mental apparatus. You then become aware of the concept or idea which the sign or symbol embodies. You comprehend its meaning and for what it stands. You grasp the purpose for which the form has been brought into manifestation. Your study of number and of line has given you a rich background of knowledge upon the objective plane—a richness in this case dependent upon your own personal reading, mental equipment and knowledge. Your capacity to read a “meaning” into a symbol will be dependent also upon the richness of the meaning you ascribe to the events of your daily life, and your ability to really meditate.

  I would like to make clear to you that there is no set interpretation of any symbol, and that for each human being that symbol—whatever it may be—will convey unique meaning. A lack of interest in symbols presupposes usually a lack of interest in the due interpretation of life forms and their meaning. Also, too much academic interest in symbols may presuppose a tortuous and intricate mind which loves design and line and form and numerical relationships, but which misses entirely the significance of meaning. The balancing in the mind of form and concept, of expression and quality, of sign and meaning is vital to the growth of the disciple and the aspirant.

  The great need for most students is to arrive at meaning and to work with ideas and concepts. This activity will necessitate the use of the mind to understand, to grasp [13] and to interpret. It requires the development of that mental sensitivity which will enable its possessor to respond to the vibrations of what we call the Universal Mind, the Mind of God, the Instigator of the Plan. It presupposes a certain ability to interpret and the power to express the idea underlying the symbol so that others may share it with you. This thought of service and of growth in usefulness must be steadily borne in mind.

  Can you not see how this power to study, to interpret and to penetrate to meaning will further your growth spiritually? Can you believe that through the use of this method you may learn to work more intelligently with the Plan and become a better helper of your fellowman?

  What is there in this objective world that is not the inadequate symbol of a divine idea? What have we in our outer manifestation but the visible sign (at some stage of the evolving purpose) of the plan of the creating Deity? What are you yourself but the outer expression of a divine idea? We must learn to see symbols all around us and then to penetrate behind the symbol to the idea which it should express.

  There is however a technique of study which may be of service to you as you attempt to arrive at an idea and thus study conceptually the many symbols by which we are surrounded. It is largely the technique for which meditation should have prepared you. The difference between this technique and meditation work is mainly one of polarisation and goal. In the study of symbols conceptually, the consciousness is polarised in the mental body, and no attempt is definitely made to contact or involve the soul or ego. Herein lies the distinction between this second stage of symbol interpretation and ordinary meditation. You have exhausted the method of familiarising yourself with the form aspect of the symbol, and you know well its outer [14] contour and externalisation. You know too that a peculiar series of lines (such as, for instance, the three lines forming a triangle) represent such and such an idea or truth or teaching. This is recorded in your brain, drawing on the resources of your memory. The registering of old information and knowledge anent the figures in a symbol serves to pull your consciousness up on to the mental plane and to focus it there in the world of ideas or of concepts. The concepts exist already upon the concrete levels of the mental plane. They are your mental and racial heritage and are ancient mental forms which you can now employ in order to arrive at meaning and significance.

  It is an ancient statement of fact, which Plutarch expresses for us in the familiar words, that “An idea is a Being incorporeal, which has no subsistence of itself, but gives figure and form unto shapeless matter and becomes the cause of the manifestation.” The figure and form you have registered with your brain and memorised, and likewise its activity in time and space, along with its innate capacity to build the form and express through that form a concept or idea. As you work inwards, you are also becoming aware of the nature of the motivating idea through the study of its form and its demonstrated activity, and you are discovering the field of ideas of analogous nature in which the idea embodied in the symbol finds itself. This field of ideas, inter-related and mutually explanatory, is now open to you and you will increasingly find yourself in a position to move in this world of concepts with freedom. To work and live in the world of ideas now becomes your objective and main effort. You train yourself in the recognition of ideas and concepts as they lie beh
ind every form; you begin to think clearly about them and to see the direction in which they lead you and where, within the Eternal Plan, they fit.

  [15] If aspirants will do three things:

  a. Develop the power to visualise,

  b. Train the mind to intuit reality,

  c. Rightly interpret that which is seen,

  they can provide a demonstrating laboratory for the trained Observers of the world.

  One of the things which the developed intuition can do is to break the glamour and illusion which invade the life. One of the things that a group of aspirants, whose intuitional interplay is established, can accomplish, is to aid in the work of smashing world glamour. Such work can be done when you have awakened the intuition, and when your inter-related understanding is firm and true. The Hierarchy will be able to use the world aspirants as an instrument for the breaking of group glamour wherever it may be found. I refer to this possibility in order to incite you all to more rapid and steady growth and effort.

  You have been told that one of the needs lying before all aspirants is to arrive at that intuitional knowledge and that intelligent understanding of glamour, both individual and planetary, which will enable them most definitely to work at its dispelling. That understanding will necessarily be only relative, but in the course of the next few years, your knowledge of the subject and of the methods whereby glamour can be dissipated can be materially increased. This must happen if you work at the problem consciously in your own lives, and attempt to grasp the underlying theory also.

  Very little has been written or taught hitherto anent the subject of glamour, and it may mean much of value if we undertake the consideration of this subject, of its causes, and its effects, and also deal with the technique whereby it [16] can be dissipated and dispelled. It is obvious that I cannot deal with the subject adequately in one instruction, and we will take the next two or three years, therefore, to discuss and study this important matter growing out of the need of the present time and the increased sensitivity of humanity to subtler impressions. It has not been possible for me to do this up till now, as the group was incomplete and the inner cohesion needed strengthening. Now I can do so, as the group members are functioning together with a much increased inner relationship, and a “spirit of love” has been shed abroad among you through the group reaction to each other’s need in the recent period of glamour.