Excerpts from
The History and
Power of Mind
by Richard Ingalese
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Book Description
1902. Contents: Occultism: Its
Past,
Present and Future; Divine Mind; Dual Mind and Its Origin; Art of
Self-Control; Law of Re-embodiment; Colors of Thought Vibration;
Meditation, Creation and Concentration; Lesser Occult of Psychic Forces
and their Dangers; Hypnotism and How to Guard Against It; Higher Occult
or Spiritual forces and their Uses; Cause and Cure of Disease; Law of
Opulence.
-
PREFACE
-
- This book is made up from
personal
notes and stenographic reports of lectures delivered in New York City
during the seasons of 1900-1901-1902, with the addition of some new
matter in the form of amplifications. The compilation is made at the
request of my students and is published primarily for their benefit.
The material is left in the form in which it was delivered.
-
- The book may not appeal to the
orthodox religionist nor to the materialist; but may prove interesting,
if not enlightening, to the agnostic and to the investigator of either
psychic phenomena, or the phenomena of mental therapeutics.
-
- The modern teachings of the
Science
of Mind have not appealed to many thinkers because of the vagueness of
thought and expression of the majority of those who attempt to present
them; and also because of the lack of a working hypothesis I needed to
explain the law under which both psychic and mental phenomena occur.
This book is an attempt toward supplying the latter deficiency by
stating laws under which Mind evolves and operates.
-
- The author does not claim any
original research or discoveries along these lines, having had the
matter herein contained given to him in the course of his study, under
trained minds who had verified these facts for themselves and who
required him to do the same.
-
- The Occult forces of nature
and
their modes of manifestation have been known for ages to certain secret
orders which have not deemed it wise heretofore to give their knowledge
to the world. This age, however, seems, in their judgment, propitious
for the wider spread of such knowledge both because many independent
investigators are discovering for themselves something about these
forces and, in their ignorance, are perverting the use of them - as
witness hypnotism - and because the advanced men of the race have
reached a point where they are desirous of this knowledge, and every
mental demand brings its supply.
-
- "THE HISTORY AND POWER OF
MIND" was
selected for a title because the history of mind is the history of man;
and these lectures first trace mind's, or psychic man's, origin and
development, and then describe the power of mind and its modes of
manifestation.
-
- It may not be amiss to state
in
conclusion that the book is not written for the purpose of
propagandism. Something of the operation of Nature's Laws is described
in these lectures, and the acceptance or rejection of the statements
made will not change the Laws nor affect the author.
-
- R. I.
-
- New York City, October 1st,
1902.
-
-
RETROSPECTION AND FORECAST
-
- The taking over of our books
by
Dodd, Mead & Company gives me an opportunity to revise this volume
and to correct many verbal errors, some of them serious, which crept
into, or were overlooked in former editions. In the two decades which
have elapsed since first these teachings were given to the World my
studies have continued and have been broadened; but I find nothing of a
basic nature to revise in this book. Of course much could be added, but
such knowledge as is permissible to be given out will be issued later
in a separate volume.*
-
- *The philosophic series now
consist
of the following books: "The History and Power of Mind," "Occult
Philosophy," "Fragments of Truth" and "The Greater Mysteries."
-
- I have received many hundreds
of
letters during the period stated, asking for elucidation on various
points covered by the text. Most of these could have been self-answered
if the writers had studied the text more carefully, or had read the two
supplemental books * belonging to the series. But the constant
recurrence of the same questions in so many letters has made it
advisable to offer a few explanations which may prevent uncertainty in
the minds of present or future readers.
-
- Much perplexity has arisen
over the
subject of the "Period of Evolution," briefly sketched in Chapter 1,
and more lightly touched upon elsewhere. This has been particularly
true of readers who have studied the semi-esoteric teachings of modern
Theosophy, of Astrology and of Oriental literature. The esoteric facts
are these: Occultism commences to compute Periods of Evolution from the
beginning of the next Solar Cycle after the stream of involution had
brought the last of the human Egos or Minds from a previous planet to
this Earth.
-
- Now, as modern Astronomy
correctly
states, it takes the Sun something over twenty-five thousand years to
complete its circuit through the Zodiacal signs, and this period of
time is called a solar cycle. In occult or semi-occult literature a
solar cycle is designated as an "Age of the Earth," a "Period of
Mundane Evolution," or "Race Period." There are seven such Sun Cycles
or Periods of activity in which man may evolve on this planet. These
Sun Cycles are divided into twelve sub-cycles or periods, each
consisting of about two thousand years, or the length of time it takes
for the Sun to pass from one sign of the Zodiac to another.
-
- In Oriental literature these
are
called " Sub-Race Periods," and they are also known, among Occultists,
as a "Nation's Age," for it is during such a period that a Nation is
born, matures, grows old and dies. It is interesting to verify this
fact in history, especially in contemporaneous history, for the leading
Nations of Europe are now ending their two thousand year cycle.
-
- This, in a measure, answers
the
questions so often asked, "Have we finished the Sun Cycle of Pisces and
are we in the Aquarian Age?" To both questions the Occultist would
answer, No. We are now concluding the Age of Pisces and hence the
disturbances in every line of human endeavor.
-
- At the end of each Sub-Cycle
and
peculiarly at the end of each Solar Cycle, a re-adjustment in men's
affairs and in the Earth takes place. Those are the days of Judgment
for that Period or Cycle, and it was in reference to the end of the
Piscean Age that the Nazarene Occultist gave the prophecy concerning
the "end of the World," as the King James version has it, or the
"Consummation of the Age," as the revised version of the New Testament
puts it.
-
- Connecting the two thousand
year
cycles are minor cycles, overlapping in an evolutionary sense the
cycles they connect, as a link in a chain. And it is in these
connecting, smaller cycles that the re-adjustments take place.
-
- The writers of the letters
referred
to repeatedly asked, How can you continue to assert that there is an
exact Law of Justice, as you do throughout the book, when all around us
we see so much injustice?"
-
- The answer is plain - as a man
usually pays as he goes, but monthly or yearly settles all outstanding
accounts, so evolving man usually sows and reaps in the same life, but
outstanding, evolutionary debts are settled in full during the minor
Cycles which connect the major ones.
-
- For a concrete example we will
take
the thirty years commencing with 1895 and lasting through 1925. That
Period constitutes an overlapping Cycle of Compensation. During that
time all World, National, Community and Individual wrongs must be
righted. It is the harvest time for men's thoughts and acts.
-
- Necessarily undeveloped man
has not
sown wisely and hence the chaos into which we are rapidly whirling. But
all evil must be swept away before man can commence a new Cycle of
Evolution. It is a sub-conscious reminiscence of the beginning of a new
Major Cycle that has led man to dream of Arcadias and to prophesy
millenniums, for only the good endures.
-
- Prior to 1900 and before the
Custodians of Occult knowledge gave permission to reveal, in these
lectures, esoteric truths, the World had never heard of the colors of
thought vibration, of Cosmic Forces and their colors, of the vibratory
color of man's aura and its connection with Cosmic Forces, nor of the
practical use of such knowledge.
-
- When the World first heard of
these
matters it was incredulous, and even students were in doubt, but time,
which proves all things, has justified the claims of the Occultist and
has shown that all mental phenomena of the modern cults are founded
upon the vibratory theories of mind and matter herein set forth. And
now, on every side, among thinking people and among those who pretend
to think, these heretofore esoteric matters are discussed as common
knowledge and too often are carried to absurd extremes by those who
least understand them.
-
- A careful study of this book,
and
particularly of Chapters VI, X and XI, will open new avenues of
knowledge and show the way to spiritual development in the true and
Occult sense - meaning the development in man of the attributes of the
Spirit of God, which are Omniscience, Omnipotence and Omnipresence. As
man raises his vibrations and draws the higher Cosmic Forces into his
mind and body, his knowledge, force and consciousness expand and he
grows more godlike, until at length, in the fruition of time, he
becomes a god.
-
- Too much stress cannot be laid
upon
this subject, for, after all, our evolutionary aim is to become
something better than we are. One should not deprecate, in any manner,
man's attempt to better his social, financial or intellectual
condition, but man should know that these are all but means to an end -
soul growth.
-
- The struggle engendered by man
in
carrying out his material ambitions gives him courage, perseverance,
patience and strength, also experience which ripens into knowledge.
Thus is character built, the nature of which is dependent upon the
means used by him. One who recognizes that his vocation is but a method
of growth ceases to feel any burden in his work and enjoys the conflict
and the conquest equally. To such a one there is no gradation of labor
nor degradation in service.
-
- By this is not meant that all
labor
is equal commercially, but is equally noble if used as a means to an
end, and, as such, is well done - and in the New Era, after 1925, only
the drones - if any are left - will be without honor.
-
- Most earnestly is it
recommended to
each reader to peruse - not cursorily read - Chapter VIII dealing with
psychic phenomena. The World War, with its necessary attendant famine
and plagues, has swept out of physical manifestation millions of egos,
many of whom carried with them hatred of those left behind. Hatred
begets a desire for revenge, a primitive but powerful instinct. The
medium, to gratify this impulse of excarnated egos, is necessarily
limited to psychic instrumentalities, and herein lie the intensified
dangers enumerated in the Chapter in question.
-
- It is not at all surprising
that a
psychic wave is sweeping around the Earth at the present time and that
tons of books are being weekly turned off the press to supply
information and misinformation concerning the future state of man.
-
- Priesthood has ever held out
hope to
the bereaved ones left behind; but braver souls, feeling doubt
corroding their creeds, have sought from age to age to prove for
themselves the persistency of the personality after physical death. So
general is this impulse at the present time that modern necromancy has
become a parlor pastime, when it is not an effort of love to reach a
dear but unwilling pioneer upon the subjective side of life.
-
- Every Occultist willingly
concedes
that mind is the master of matter and persists after the material form
has disappeared. It is also conceded that in many instances the
communicating excarnated ego is the one whose identity is claimed. But
this does not change the sad fact that more often the identity cannot
be established and that impersonation is practiced to the detriment of
the investigator. There is no certainty in psychic inquiry unless the
investigator is himself an independent clairvoyant, and then there is
but little safety for him unless he has learned to permanently remain
positive or to protect himself with Cosmic Forces.
-
- Many inquirers have
erroneously
concluded that, since all disease has its origin in a mental cause,
only mind can cure; and therefore refuse all material aid in sickness.
This is not necessarily a logical nor a wise conclusion. The mental
cause may have ceased to operate after the physical manifestation, and
in such a case proper material remedies would bring about chemical and
physical changes for the better. If the mental cause still persists,
then both mind and medicine must be used. It is always safer at this
stage of our development to use mental and Cosmic Forces as well as the
natural remedies which a kindly Providence has provided. This is not
meant as recommendatory of mineral drugs, poisons and serums, such as
are too frequently used by some practitioners of the present day. But,
by natural remedies, are meant the various drugless systems, diet,
hygiene and herbs. Nature has provided in most localities herbal
remedies for the diseases most likely to be generated in those
localities, and it is man's privilege to study nature and to learn to
work with her in preserving the physical body so that, in and through
it, he may more highly evolve.
-
- It stands to reason that if a
man
can preserve his body, as an efficient instrument, for a longer period
than is the present average age of men, he has thereby the greater
advantage in the evolutionary race.
-
- For ages an Occult School of
medicine has existed in which the few accepted students are taught the
vibratory rate and chemical action of grasses, roots, herbs and trees,
and particularly the oils and quintessences derived therefrom.
-
- But by far the greatest number
of
inquiries received in all these years pertained to Chapter XII. So many
quaint, queer and pathetic letters were written about the Law of
Opulence that sometimes one wondered if the other parts of the book
were often read. The teachings were intended to supply the demands that
earnest hearts had made along Spiritual, mental and material lines. It
was natural to suppose that the great majority of readers would prefer
to have rather than to be; but one was scarcely prepared to find that
eighty per cent of all inquiries were concerning material possessions.
This was compensated for, in a measure, by those letters which told of
the conquest of self.
-
- Many students, by study and
experimentation, gained a comprehension of the Law of Attraction and
used it successfully along all lines. Many more persons, however, told
of failure, but the letters written clearly revealed the reason - the
writers had failed to understand either the text or themselves. So many
persons had daydreamed, thinking that they were creating and
concentrating. Others who had never earned more than one or two hundred
dollars a month, and were working eight hours a day for that amount,
were disappointed because their mental work of fifteen minutes a day
for a few months had not brought independent wealth.
-
- The majority of the letters
showed
that vanity had been the obstruction to success. Persons who had never
before heard of the power of mind, upon reading the book, determined
that henceforth they would cease to work physically and would use mind
exclusively. They concluded that they were able to dispense with all
centers through which to work - all occupations - and, not having the
requisite knowledge and experience with the Law, and lacking in their
power of concentration, naturally they failed.
-
- The attention of readers is
again
called to the fact that most of us belong to the class designated as
"Physico-mental workers," and that it takes time, effort and experience
to remove ourselves from this class.
-
- The Law of Attraction is the
source
from which we receive; but we must do more than sit at our desks and
demand money, travel, good times and nothing to do. We will find that
all who have succeeded have had an occupation, a center, in the
beginning, which grew enormously under the application of the Law of
Demand.
-
- To acquire wealth, be it soul
wealth
or material wealth, one must possess desire, determination and the
power of concentration. And it is according to the degree in which one
possesses these three attributes of mind that one succeeds. It is so
important to realize this fact that a repetition of it, in a slightly
different form, may be excused, for it embodies the general principles
which bring success.
-
- To use the Law of Attraction
successfully, therefore, one should:
-
- First. Desire intently
to
possess a thing or quality.
-
- Second. Determine, or
will to
possess it.
-
- Third. Concentrate all
mental and physical effort to acquire possession. This is mental
efficiency.
-
- Never yield to disappointment,
for
that is a counter force to the Creative. Never stop working to attain
your object, but keep persistently at it until success crowns your
efforts. By so doing you create a condition which cannot be ignored by
men or by Law; for a pathway of invisible, magnetic cords stronger than
steel is created between you and your object - if you choose to make it
so by your power of Concentration.
-
- Never give up working because
results do not come when you desire or expect them. Discouragement,
disappointment, anger, impatience and doubt in your power to succeed
are the only things that can delay or prevent the consummation of your
hopes and desires.
-
- R. I.
- Los Angeles, California,
- February, 1920.
-
-
-
THE HISTORY AND POWER OF MIND
-
-
LECTURE ONE
-
-
OCCULTISM, ITS PAST, PRESENT AND
FUTURE
-
- To many persons the subjects
discussed in these lectures may appear preposterous, and therefore
those of you who have not studied along metaphysical lines are
requested to hold yourselves agnostically until this entire course
shall be finished. You do not know whether Occultism is true or not;
you are now ready to examine the subject and, after having heard the
entire exposition, you will be in a position to judge whether it offers
a logical, working hypothesis, and whether it is worthy to receive more
of your time and consideration. If it is true it can be demonstrated,
for truth is always demonstrable. You can prove by demonstration each
of the fundamental statements that will be made, as you can prove a
proposition in mathematics. When I say truth is demonstrable, do not
understand me to mean that it is capable of being demonstrated
immediately upon hearing it. Everything must unfold. You cannot raise
your body on a horizontal bar the first time you try because your
muscles are not strong enough; but after your muscles have become
strengthened by practice you may be capable of raising your body to any
position you desire. So it is with a person who has never used his mind
in scientific reasoning or in concentration. He should not flatter
himself that he can immediately accomplish what a person who has
practiced for many years can do. If you use your mind along the lines
indicated in these lectures you will find that there will be a
continuous growth for you, and that the time will come when you can do
anything that you desire. A very large promise, you may say, but if it
is true I assure you it is demonstrable.
-
- Our first subject is
"Occultism, Its
Past, Present and Future." This is an introductory lecture, giving
something of the history of Occultism and of the Occultists in order
that we may know the source from which our information is derived.
-
- The Century Dictionary gives
the
definition of Occultism as: "The doctrine, practice or rites of things
occult or mysterious; the Occult Sciences or their study; mysticism;
esotericism." In the Middle Ages Occult Science or Occultism embraced
primarily what is now known as the physical sciences. It was understood
to mean those things which were unknown, but which by experimentation
might become known. Chemistry, as a branch of Alchemy, was regarded as
one of the Occult Sciences because it was largely unknown, but through
investigation and experimentation it constantly became better known.
But Occultism also had a secondary meaning which was coupled with the
first, namely, mysticism, esotericism.
-
- In ancient days people thought
it
not unwise to attempt the discovery of the unknown through
experimentation with the subjective as well as the objective side of
nature, and the two meanings, that which pertained to the objective,
which was unknown but could be ascertained, and that which pertained to
the subjective, which was unknown but could be ascertained, were both
included in the term Occultism.
-
- Materialism as it grew in
strength
called the unknown (which was becoming known on the objective or
visible side of life) "Science," but stamped the belief in or the
investigation of the subjective side of life as "superstition." And
most people became very much afraid of that word, and became afraid of
being known as superstitious even more than to be known as ignorant;
and such persons preferred to remain ignorant of the Occult. In time
the word Occultism grew to mean that which pertained to the subjective
- that which pertained to esotericism, and at present it is defined as
esotericism.
-
- As you go back in history you
will
find that esotericism has everywhere played a large part in moulding
the thoughts of men. There were always the esoteric and the exoteric
religions and sciences. There always has been and there will be for
ages yet to come one religion for the masses and another for the
students. There have been for a long time, and for some time yet to
come there will be two sciences - one for the materialist, diluted for
the masses, and another for the students of Occultism. You will find
traces of this duality in any religion at any period in history. The
Nazarene, the inspired leader of the Christians, after having taught
the multitude in parables and having withdrawn to one side, was
questioned by His disciples: "Why speakest thou to them in parables?"
He answered: "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." And afterward He
unfolded to His disciples the esoteric side of His teachings, thus
giving them truths that were not for the masses. And in all religions,
whether it be the Egyptian, Buddhism, or that precursor of the
Christian religion - Judaism, there are truths which are revealed only
to the student. In Judaism there was the Jehovic teaching for the
masses, the Cabalistic for the most secret students, and between these
two was a third, the Talmudic, which partook of the nature of both. So
the truth reached all grades of society according to the comprehension
of each - a plan that was adopted later by the Church of Rome with very
great success.
-
- Of course many religionists,
especially those calling themselves Christians, will deny that there is
any esotericism in their faith. But those who are acquainted with the
history of the early Christian Church and the writings of the Fathers,
and those who are familiar with the philosophy of The Logos, and the
mysticism of Paul as shown in his Epistles, will never attempt to deny
it to the educated.
-
- But however violent the denial
of
esotericism may be by the religionist, it will not exceed in violence
the denial of the term "science" to anything pertaining to the occult
by the majority of the modern physicists; yet scorn, laughter or denial
will not blot from the pages of either sacred or profane history the
fact that Magic was and is practiced among all people. The existence of
magic necessitates the knowledge of certain laws and forces which are
as yet unknown to the materialist, though modern science, having gone
almost to the limit of the visible, is now beginning to knock at the
door of the Occult Sciences and to pry into the invisible. It is
already studying the ether, ions, electrical invisibles, atoms and
radiant matter. It is only a few weeks since Flammarion, in one of his
articles, said that he was a student of Occultism, and that henceforth
all progressive men of science would have to study along that line.
-
- According to the teachings of
esotericism Occultism is the science of Divine Unfoldment. The student
of Occultism regards Deity as the All; and is taught that there is not
nor cannot be any manifestation outside of Deity. Whether we look at a
blade of grass, or a drop of water, or upon our planet with its teeming
myriads of men and animals, or look away into space at system after
system of worlds, all is Deity in various states of manifestation. The
Occultist is primarily an evolutionist and says that all evolution is
carried on during vast periods of time, which he calls Cosmic Days;
that Deity idealizes a picture of what It will accomplish during a
Cosmic Day, and then the whole impulse of evolution - which is Divine
Energy or Impulse - is onward and upward, striving ever to reach that
idealization.
-
- Everything in the universe is
an
unfoldment of Deity Itself, and Occultism is the science of that
Unfoldment. It teaches the laws under which that Unfoldment takes
place, not only upon the objective plane of life but also upon the
subjective plane. The Occultist finds that where he merely studies the
modern sciences he is only studying the sciences of effects, for there
is not one of the modern sciences that teaches the cause of phenomena.
Take the subject where modern science has perhaps made as much progress
as in any other line - embryology. We find there is a germ; it has a
form of life; a method of accretion; it reaches a certain point of
development; then ask a scientific man what it is going to be, a fish,
a bird, a reptile or a man, and he cannot answer. Up to this point the
formation of a germ of each kind is identical with the others. But
after this point has been reached there is new accretion, a new form is
assumed, and the germ may become a bird, a fish, a reptile or a man;
but the form that it takes was indelibly stamped upon it from the
beginning. How was it stamped? What determines the diverging point,
what determines the form of consciousness, the form of expression? In
the science of embryology there is no satisfactory answer to be had
because here, as you see, is the study of effects. The cause is not
looked for, is not found.
-
- The student of Occultism says,
I
want to know when the ideal which determined all its future growth was
stamped upon that germ. I want to know why, when it reached that point,
it became a man instead of a bird; why it drew to itself certain
elements and threw off others. I want to know the laws that govern the
subjective side of life; I want the veil to be torn away, that I may
see the cause of form, and not only its effects. This is why he
attempts to study first upon the objective side of life and then upon
the subjective, or to study them contemporaneously.
-
- As materialistic as was the
Nineteenth Century, we find that a few men once more began to turn
their thoughts toward the realm of the unknown and unseen in order to
discover, if possible, the "why" of existence. And certain scientific
men thought it not unreasonable nor undignified to investigate the
Occult or to organize The Society for Psychical Research for the
purpose of investigating these occult subjects. We have seen the great
cult of Spiritualism spreading through the world and have witnessed the
revival of Palmistry and of Astrology and other quasi Occult Sciences.
Then following these, the crowning effort of all, we find that a great
psychic wave swept over the world and man began to realize that he was
Mind and as such was neither bound by time nor by space, but could send
his thoughts in any given direction and could communicate without words
with distant minds; and that mind could compel matter to obey it. With
the awakening of the world the Occult Sciences have again challenged
the attention of the most progressive men of the race.
-
- But man grows tired of
externals and
life after life as he evolves he studies deeper and deeper into
Nature's laws. We do not always accomplish the same amount of study in
each life because we think we have not the time for study. We believe
we have so much else to do that is of much more importance to us. Then
there is the external world with its duties and pleasures and our
attention is so deeply engaged with these things that we have no time
left for more serious subjects. But in each life we take up as much of
the study of these sciences as we have the time and inclination for,
and gradually after many ages have passed we become earnest and devoted
students.
-
- A knowledge of Occult Law may
be
gained in two ways, by original research and by teachers. There are
courageous souls who choose to progress along the lines of personal
experimentation instead of taking the easier and perhaps the better way
of gaining a knowledge of its principles through the aid of teachers.
These strong souls often make terrible mistakes and unnecessary
sacrifices, for, after leaving the objective plane, they come upon the
hidden or subjective side where there are forces and agencies that turn
to naught man's thought and efforts unless both be properly directed.
But even when knowledge has been gained through teachers it does not
put an end to experimentation; because the teacher explains the law and
leaves the pupil to make his own verification after having been taught
how it should be done. The knowledge comes, however, as all real
knowledge must, by experimentation and by experience.
-
- Who are the teachers? They may
be
grouped into three great classes, Masters, Adepts and Students. The
Masters of Occultism are those who, in a prior period of Cosmic
evolution, passed upward through the human stage until they reached the
Divine, and became Gods. When a new Cosmic Day commences, and new
planets are formed, and men are brought into existence for the purpose
of unfolding more and more of the Deity within themselves and enlarging
their consciousness as individualized parts of nature, the Masters are
they who lead and teach the evolving race. The Adepts are those
advanced men of our race who are students of the Masters, while at the
same time they are teachers of their less developed brothers. They are
men who have perfected themselves along certain lines, but have not
reached perfection along all lines. The Students are they who are
studying under these Adepts; they are persons who desire to know the
truth, and have devoted themselves to the study of these particular
sciences. They hold the same relation to the Adepts as the Adepts hold
to the Masters.
-
- There are different grades of
Masters because they who finished their evolution upon their system of
worlds earlier in the great Cosmic Day are stronger than they who
finished later. And so there are grades of Adepts and of Students. We
find that there are everywhere grades of intelligence. In other words,
that which Huxley speaks of as a scientific necessity is true, and
there are intelligences in this Universe as superior to man as man is
superior to a black beetle. Take, for instance, a Patagonian or an
Australian Bushman, and contrast him with an Emerson. What a vast gulf
separates these two intelligences! Yet both are proceeding upward in
their evolutionary career; the one, of course, being in advance of the
other.
-
- And it does not require much
scientific imagination to conceive that there is an infinite gradation
of intelligence because we see such a diversity everywhere. Then it is
only logical to suppose that what is true upon the lower plane of our
daily experience is also true throughout nature.
-
- The Masters and Adepts are the
custodians of the Occult Sciences, which are perfected sciences, it is
claimed, because they cover all departments of nature, both physical
and metaphysical, the objective and the subjective.
-
- Now, all the facts and
principles of
these sciences must be verified by each person as he progresses along
his evolutionary path. I may tell you something that may seem absurd to
you; or you may say "that sounds reasonable," and therefore you believe
it. I may tell you something else, and you say, "I believe that is true
because both the intuitive and rational portions of my nature endorse
it." But you do not know whether it is true or not. In the first case
you have a disbelief, in the next two cases a belief; but before you
have a knowledge, you must verify the truth of my assertion. And so it
is that every student of Occultism must verify each statement of his
teacher in order that he may make it a part of his own being - that he
may know that it is true; otherwise it would be only a belief, and
beliefs do not amount to much, because there are almost as many beliefs
and theories as there are individuals.
-
- In this Cosmic Day Occultism
commenced when the Masters came upon this planet to teach mankind. The
evolution on this planet is divided into a certain number of periods,
and we are at the present time in what the Occultists know as the fifth
period. In the first and second periods very little was accomplished by
man. He was, as it were, in a new world with new sensations and new
experiences, and his life was entirely objective, and largely animal.
His theater of activity was that continent known to tradition as "The
Land of the Gods ... .. Mount Muru," "The Imperishable Isles," or what
we would prosaically call the "Continent of the North Pole."
-
- During the third period of
evolution, man lived upon the continent known as Lemuria - a continent
lying in the Pacific Ocean, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Its Northern
portion was much in the present location of Australia, the Philippines,
and the Islands of the Southern Pacific; all of which constitute the
remnants of that continent now sunken beneath the seas. That periods
occur in which there is a sinking of certain continents, and a rising
of others, is as well known to Physicists as to Occultists. In Lemuria
man passed from his lowest state of animal existence into what we may
call a more rational or human state. His development during this time
is substantially shown in the history of primitive man. Some of the
egos, outstripping the others, succeeded in reaching adeptship along
certain lines, but the great mass of the people lived sensuous and
sensual lives. There was very little spirituality manifested by the
race during this period, and the perversion of natural laws and forces
became marked toward its close.
-
- The most notable event which
occurred on that continent, immediately prior to the cataclysm which
swept it beneath the waters, was the establishment of colonies in
India. The colonists consisted of Masters, the Adepts and the cream of
the race. It was these colonists who built the rock temples of
Elephanta and the other great temples of India - those temples in which
mysticism seems to have had its earlier home; and where, upon their
walls, are painted the strange old symbols, in colors, that indicate
the history and the growth of man.
-
- Those were the souls who gave
to
India its riches in literature and philosophy, and established the
mighty empires which even tradition has forgotten. But it was the
degenerate descendants of these colonists who spread Northward and
Westward, and populated first Asia, and later, Europe.
-
- After the continent of Lemuria
had
passed away, then came the fourth period, with man's field of activity
in Atlantis. Atlantis extended from the West Indies to the coast of
Central and Northern Africa, as we know from the investigations of the
British Government, which spent many years, and large sums of money, in
detemining the extent of the sunken continent; and it was here that
civilization proceeded with tremendous strides. All the accumulated
knowledge of the other periods was stored in the minds of those who had
been the Lemurians, and were then incarnating as Atlanteans. As they
acquired greater and greater knowledge, they not only reached a point
in mechanical development almost as great as our own, but they also
took up the study of Occultism, which became common among the people.
-
- By that time the great Masters
had
retired from physical contact with men, and the Adepts had taken their
places as direct teachers of the people. They moved among men, and were
the kings and rulers, the law-givers and inventors; in fact, they were
the inspirers of the race up to the time it reached its highest point
of development in that period.
-
- Then the continent became
divided
into five great kingdoms, and in each of these there were lodges of
Adepts. At the height of Atlantis' glory, once more the people turned
to sensual abandonment, and the Adepts withdrew into Retreats with
their pupils, for the people refused to listen to them, or to be aided
by them any longer. In the course of time, materialism swept over that
continent, as it has swept over Europe and America; and Occultism was
forgotten by the masses, and remembered only by the few; and then,
gradually, that which was pure Occultism became perverted, and men
began to use their powers criminally. Those who remembered or practiced
Occultism, put into operation mental and certain other forces which
enslaved all those who had forgotten how to use their own forces, or
who were not developed to the same point as themselves. And thus
Atlantis became a continent where a few immensely wealthy, powerful and
strong egos ruled the majority of the people, and made them their
slaves.
-
- But the misuse of Occult
forces
brought its reaction, as it always does, and, as Plato tells us,
Atlantis suddenly became submerged. You remember that when he went to
Egypt he was informed that the last remnants of Atlantis had
disappeared about five thousand years prior to his visit; and also that
the priests had records of the old continent, as well as of their own
country, which extended back thousands of years. These records were
kept by the Occultists who were priests in the time of Plato, and are
still kept in triplicate; one copy has been placed in each of the three
great repositories situated on separate continents.
-
- Before Atlantis went down
those of
the inhabitants who had preserved their purity and who were trying to
lead upright lives, were taken by the Adepts out of the country. Those
living in the Western Empires were colonized in Central and South
America. In Central America that rare civilization which preceded our
own was founded, and was the duplicate in every respect of the one
formerly established in India. The degenerate descendants from the
Central American civilization emigrated to North and South America and
populated them. The degeneracy of these aboriginal Americans was due to
the fact that at this time in that Fourth Period the undeveloped souls
of the Atlanteans were incarnating in those bodies; for it was with the
Atlanteans as it had been with the Lemurians, the strongest souls came
first and became the pioneers. They bore the heaviest burdens and thus
prepared the way for the less developed souls who had not the strength
to do the work that their elder brothers had done. And it should not be
forgotten that the history of the Lemurians and the Atlanteans is but
the history of ourselves. Our strongest and bravest souls came forward
to start the Fifth Period onward in its evolution, as even a cursory
reading of general history will disclose, and they have reappeared from
time to time to manifest their energies in the several lines of human
achievement, in order to teach, help and direct the course of events.
-
- From the Eastern Empires of
Atlantis
the advanced souls went into Africa and laid the foundation of what is
known now as the Egyptian Empire. And this brings us to the Fifth
Period, in which Occultism was again taught popularly and openly among
the people. A study of Egyptian history reveals that during its entire
period there were Occultists-Magicians they were called - who could
produce great phenomena. They were teachers of the people and were the
priests and law-givers; they were the friends of kings and were
consulted whenever there was sickness or national calamity. These
teachers were the Adepts who came in contact with the people.
-
- In the Fifth Period, which is
the
present one, the descendants of the colony which remained in India,
having reached the height of its prosperity and development, passed
Westward and founded the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires. There again
the Adepts moved among men. In both sacred and profane history of those
times we find that the Magi were able to cure all manner of diseases
and to manipulate the laws of nature. Passing upward from Babylon and
Syria to the Mediterranean on the one side and through Egypt to the
Mediterranean on the other, we find that the great remnants of the
Third and Fourth Periods were merged and blended in the Fifth Period in
the Phoenician, the Grecian, the Carthaginian and the Roman peoples.
-
- This is not a statement of
occult
history in full; but is merely the barest outline in order to show you
how Occultism has been presented in the past, and how it has been
preserved for us.
-
- At the beginning of this Fifth
Period we had a new burst of occult knowledge and force, because all
the knowledge acquired in the preceding periods by the egos had been
brought over in these later incarnations, and in the early history of
each of the Nations mentioned Occultism was taught to the people once
more. The Adepts were friends of the people and were freely consulted
by them. But gradually as materialism advanced and sensuality became
the dominant trait of each of these peoples, the Adepts withdrew again
from personal contact with the world - as the great Masters had
withdrawn in previous periods of time.
-
- In Greece materialism in its
most
artistic form began to stamp itself upon the minds of the people, who
turned from spiritual teachings and caused the Adepts to withdraw
entirely from the world. And it came to pass that all magic or
Occultism, for they were identical in those days, was confined to what
is known now as temple magic and was practiced by the priests who were
students of the Adepts. In various Grecian temples mechanical or
ceremonial magic was taught; that is, a knowledge of mental forces
united with a knowledge of chemistry and alchemy, by the blending of
which great phenomena were produced. Some record of this great
knowledge is preserved even in the histories which you have.
-
- Before Occultism in Greece
passed
away one final attempt was made to counteract materialism, and the
Eleusinian Mysteries were founded. In these mysteries the development
and evolution of the human soul were taught in symbolic form and the
wisest men of that age thought it a privilege to be initiated into
these Mysteries. But even this proved unavailing to stem the tide of
materialism and therefore the priests ceased to publicly proclaim or
exert their occult powers. Occasionally some enthusiastic student came
forward and exhibited his knowledge of the Occult by the performance of
a few miracles and marvelous phenomena; but the people as a whole were
too materialistic to be taught anything better or higher than their own
gross beliefs and soon such students had to retire from public work.
-
- Then Christianity arose, and
its
doctrines were received by a great many who, after a brief period of
genuine revival of spirituality, used them for political purposes. The
different orders of the priesthood became the Occult Bodies within the
Christian Church, and up to the Middle Ages the priests in the Church
possessed all the knowledge of Occultism that the world had. And the
Catholic Church is now the only one that has preserved a trace of this
ancient truth. It was during the Middle Ages that the Occultists as a
class withdrew from the Church of Rome and formed secret bodies or
societies, such as the Rosicrucians, in various parts of the world.
-
- At the present day almost all
occult
knowledge is possessed and preserved by secret societies; and the
members of these societies or bodies only teach such individuals as
have reached a point in their evolution which has made them capable of
receiving the higher truths. In this way portions of this secret
knowledge are given to the world from time to time as the world becomes
able to receive them.
-
- The culmination of what is
known as
the Dark Age, in this period of evolution, came in the nineteenth
century, for at that time the world reached its lowest point in
materialism, and from now the tendency will continue to be upward
toward Spirituality. A few Occultists believe that the time has passed
when there is a necessity for guarding these secrets with such jealous
care, and believe that the world is ready to receive more of these
truths than formerly. Then, too, many persons are making discoveries
along these lines and are ignorantly misusing the forces they are
learning to use. So it has been decided to teach the people something
about these forces and how they can and should be used, in the hope of
averting, if possible, the fate of the Lemurians and Atlanteans.
-
- Almost every day you may see
in the
newspapers advertisements in which the offer is made to instruct people
concerning personal magnetism and how to use it; how to be successful,
how to become popular and how to dominate other minds until they become
enslaved. The people are awakening and are beginning to feel a great
desire to know about these Occult forces; and if they do not use them
rightly they will surely use them wrongly.
-
- At the present time various
efforts
are being made to give the occult teachings to such persons as are
fitted to receive them, but they cannot yet be taught in full to the
great mass of people; but should only be given to those who desire to
know the truth and who wish to ally their forces with those of Nature
for the good of others and for benefit to themselves.
-
- Now you are not going to
be
taught all there is about Occultism in these lectures, but only that
particular portion which teaches what the great Universal Mind is; and
after that what you are, what your subjective and objective minds are
and what occult forces each of these minds reaches and controls. Then
you shall be taught how to use these forces for your own upbuilding and
for the hastening of your evolution. We shall confine ourselves to
mental lines, taking fragments of occult history and bringing them
together into a small mosaic which will show you your relationship to
the Universal Mind and how all humanity is but a manifestation of that
great Mind. We shall learn how to build ourselves up along spiritual,
mental and material lines, because this knowledge can be used
successfully along all three. We all want to succeed in life
materially, and most of us want to grow in knowledge and power; and it
is through the use of these forces that we accomplish our heart's
desire. The time is fast approaching when man must learn to use his
mental forces or fail in the great evolutionary struggle - fail for
this entire period - not to take the battle up again until some other
Cosmic Day shall come. In the course of time all men who survive will
become Occultists.
"The History and
Power of Mind " by Richard Ingalese
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