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MORYA FEDERATION

ESOTERIC SCHOOLS OF MEDITATION, STUDY AND SERVICE

The Soul - Mind - Brain and Alignment

A Synthetic Paper for Quest Universal Year Three

By

Michael Stacy

December 12, 2016

Table of Contents

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1 The soul ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2 Scientific Perspective ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………2 Occult Perspective………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4 Universal Soul ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 WorlEd Soul or Oversoul …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Divine Soul………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8 Human Soul……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8 Animal Soul……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8 Aspects of the mind………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9 Scientific Perspective ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10 Occult Perspective………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………13 Mind of God, or Universal Mind……………………………………………………………………………………………………….15 Higher or Abstract Mind ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16 Son-of-Mind …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..18 Lower Concrete Mind………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………19 Physical brain ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..21 Physical Brain Structure………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………21 Scientific Perspective ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….24 Occult Perspective………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………25 Etheric brain ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….27 Scientific Perspective ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….28 Occult Perspective………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………29 Alignment……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..32 What is Alignment?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………33 Types of Alignment:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..34 How is Alignment Achieved? …………………………………………………………………………………………………………..34 Results of Alignment:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………36 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….38 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….40

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List of Figures

Figure 1: A.U.M. Chart VI, The Cosmic Physical Plane. ………………………………………………………………………………7 Figure 2: Fields Contributing to the Birth of Cognitive Science……………………………………………………………………10 Figure 3: Major Regions of the Brain………………………………………………………………………………………………………..22 Figure 4: Brain Areas and Functional Aspects……………………………………………………………………………………………23 Figure 5: Endocrine Glands in the Brain……………………………………………………………………………………………………23 Figure 6: Sense Reception Areas in the Brain…………………………………………………………………………………………….24 Figure 7: Triangles in the head, from Esoteric Healing, p. 581 …………………………………………………………………….30

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INTRODUCTION

In early 2016 I received an inner impulse to study the brain, the mind, and the soul in more depth. Although I con sider my mind to be more scientific and analytical, I do not believe that the thinking faculty of mind is a result of bio-chemical or bio-electrical processes in the brain. I also do not subscribe to the materialistic belief that con sciousness is a result of those same physical brain processes. I wondered if it might be possible to study these dif ferent aspects of Being, or Life, and come to some definitive middle ground which is acceptable to the religious and mystic types, as well as the materialistic scientist.

I thought that to arrive at this middle ground, the study must transcend thinking and beliefs, and seek some type of supporting empirical evidence within all bodies of scientific and philosophical research. My initial questions were centered on what specifically constitutes the brain, the mind, and the soul. It has been easy to find much research into the physical instrument of the brain - it is well studied by neuroscientists. Evidence derived from experience or experiment for the philosophical side is available, but more difficult to reconcile due to its non-physical nature.

In the first section, I present my studies of the soul, which is generally placed in the realm of the mystic. From a scientific perspective, it was the most difficult to study. Since it is not composed of ‘physical’ matter as usually considered, there remains an antagonistic attitude toward soul by many scientists. There seems to be a general attitude that if something cannot be measured with the currently available instruments, it obviously cannot exist.

Conversely, the occultist “studies the mysteries (concealed, esoteric) of life, seeking greater knowledge of the hidden and ageless wisdom.”¹

In the second section, my research into the mind has, in some ways, been even more difficult. Cognitive scientists gather together many different disciplines in order to research the workings of the mind, yet the research is gener ally based from a materialistic perspective. Neuroscientists look for the mind within the physical processes of the brain, finding few answers and many more questions. Psychology and psychiatry study the mind from a different angle, but they are often not considered ‘actual’ or ‘real’ scientists by the materialists, so their research is there fore considered suspect.

The results of my studies into the physical and etheric brain are presented in the third and fourth sections, looking at both scientific and occult perspectives. For most scientists studying the brain, the etheric fields do not exist. For the occultist, where everything is a form of energy (witnessed in Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity), the etheric fields are just as real as the material fields.

In the fifth and last section, I present the results of my studies into the occult ideas of alignment. I wondered how consciousness and its development might be related to the brain, the mind, and the soul. Can expansions of con sciousness be realized through the relation (alignment) of these aspects of Being?

In these investigations, I thought it important to study not only the composition of the brain, the mind, and the soul, but also how each functions. Can understanding how and why they function lead to a better understanding of each, and their relationship to each other? For each to develop, grow, and function properly, is a certain type of nourishment necessary? Can a relationship between the brain, the mind, and the soul be established scientifically, and how might these relate to consciousness?

From these initial questions, I began my research into both the scientific literature and the Ageless Wisdom in its many sources, with the intent to understand, as deeply as possible, the divergent perspectives. I have found that few of the purely materialistic scientists have a mind open enough to consider the possibility that there is more to life than that which can be measured by their instruments. Mystics and religionists have beliefs which do not nec

essarily hold up to the scientific methods of research. Occultists try to bridge the two positions by putting forth hypotheses for testing.

Note that the generalizations I have indicated above about scientists, materialists, occultists, etc. do not mean that all people within one or another group hold to that particular belief. There are a wide range of beliefs to be found within all groups. An atheistic scientist like Carl Sagan, although not accepting the concept of some higher being, can still express highly spiritual ideas, such as are found in his book (turned into a movie) Contact.

¹ Carol E. Parrish-Harra, Ph.D., The New Dictionary of Spiritual Thought (Tahlequah, OK: Sparrow Hawk Press, 2002), s.v. “occultist.”

THE SOUL

I began my research into the soul by searching in several dictionaries. This has been an interesting study because there are a number of definitions and ideas about what it is that constitutes a, or the, soul, although I did not find the term in any of the medical dictionaries I consulted. Some of the traditional definitions regard it as “a distinct entity separate from the body… believed to survive death and be subject to happiness or misery in a life to come… the seat of the feelings or sentiment… or the attributes of God in man.”² I believe that those definitions apply to the understanding of the general population of humanity. Another definition describes it as “A projection of the MONAD that creates personality and experiences through it while becoming conscious.”³ This definition tends more to that understanding of the occultist. In general, I found that the definitions about soul seem to be di rected toward being an aspect of an individual rather than that of a group.

I then sought to obtain a deeper understanding of what may constitute soul, how it may relate to us as individuals and in the many forms of groups, and how it may constitute an aspect of Life itself. In this effort, I began from the widest perspective possible, and then through steps, tried to relate it to the individual. In all types listed within the Occult Perspective, I have tried to show how ‘soul’ is “an aspect of divine energy in time and space.”⁴ We are told that just as the solar Logos limited itself to meet a self-realized plan and intent, so also the human monad has limited itself in a like manner.

Scientific Perspective

Discussing the concept of soul seems to be a difficult subject within the scientific community. The materialists, who appear to be the most outspoken, are those who consider the three states of physical matter - solid, liquid and gaseous - to be the only reality. To them, if it cannot be measured with the currently available instruments, it ob viously does not exist. As an example of the current thinking of the materialists, Dr. Julien Musolino, Ph.D., a cognitive scientist and Associate Professor at Rutgers University directing the Psycholinguistics Laboratory, and holding a dual appointment in the Department of Psychology and the Center of Cognitive Science, has published a number of books, one of which is The Soul Fallacy: What Science Shows We Gain From Letting Go Of Our Soul Beliefs. An excerpt from this book has been published on Salon.com under the title “You don’t have a soul: The real science that debunks superstitious charlatans.” Dr. Musolino writes:

Belief in the soul is also very much alive in North American culture today, as the results of numerous polls demonstrate. In my own interviews of college students enrolled in upper-level undergraduate psychology classes like the ones I regularly teach at Rutgers University, I have found that a majority of students also be lieve that they have a soul. What’s more, these intuitions are constantly reinforced by a wealth of books, TV shows, movies, and pronouncements made by writers and gurus of all stripes who purport to have found con vincing evidence for the existence of the soul. Belief in the immortality of the soul was even featured as the cover story of the October 15, 2012, issue of the magazine Newsweek, with the title “Heaven Is Real: A Doc tor’s Experience of the Afterlife.”

In sharp contrast to popular opinion, the current scientific consensus rejects any notion of soul or spirit as separate from the activity of the brain [emphasis added]. This is what Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, called “The Astonishing Hypothesis.” In Crick’s words, “You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.” Reflecting on what he calls the scientific image of persons, the philosopher Owen Flanagan stressed that we “need to demythologize persons by rooting out certain unfounded ideas from the perennial philosophy. Letting go of the belief in souls is a minimal requirement. In fact, desouling is the primary operation of the scientific image.” The weight of the scientific consensus is distributed over many disciplines and includes, as we would expect, the sciences of the mind (psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science).⁵

² Jess Stein and Laurence Urdang, eds., The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, The Unabridged Edi tion, (New York: Random House, 1973), s.v. “soul.” ³ Parrish-Harra, The New Dictionary of Spiritual, s.v. “soul.” ⁴ Alice A. Bailey, Education in the New Age (New York: Lucis Publishing Company, 1954), 18. ⁵ Julien Musolino, “You don’t have a soul: The real science that debunks superstitious charlatans,” Salon.com, 25 Jan. 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/01/25/you_dont_have_a_soul_the_real_science_that_debunks_superstitious_charlatans/__. In following this materialistic perspective, most research and investigation into the mind and consciousness has been centered within the physical structure of the brain. It appears that funding sources control the areas of re search and investigation, and much of that funding is provided by various departments of federal governments. However, a different view is offered by Dr. Robert Lanza, M.D., Adjunct Professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Head of Astellas Global Regenerative Medicine (division of a pharmaceutical company), and Chief Scientific Officer of the Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine. His specialty is stem cell research. The research conducted by Dr. Lanza and his colleagues was voted the year’s top story in 2014 by Discover Mag azine. In the article “Does The Soul Exist? Evidence Says ‘Yes’,” Dr. Lanza writes: The idea of the soul is bound up with the idea of a future life and our belief in a continued existence after death. It's said to be the ultimate animating principle by which we think and feel, but isn't dependent on the body. Many infer its existence without scientific analysis or reflection. Indeed, the mysteries of birth and death, the play of consciousness during dreams (or after a few martinis), and even the commonest mental op erations - such as imagination and memory - suggest the existence of a vital life force - an élan vital - that ex ists independent of the body. Yet, the current scientific paradigm doesn't recognize this spiritual dimension of life. We're told we're just the activity of carbon and some proteins; we live awhile and die. And the universe? It too has no meaning. It has all been worked out in the equations - no need for a soul. But biocentrism - a new “theory of everything” - challenges this traditional, materialistic model of reality. In all directions, this outdated paradigm leads to in soluble enigmas, to ideas that are ultimately irrational. But knowledge is the prelude to wisdom, and soon our worldview will catch up with the facts… While neuroscience has made tremendous progress illuminating the functioning of the brain, why we have a subjective experience remains mysterious. The problem of the soul lies exactly here, in understanding the na ture of the self, the “I” in existence that feels and lives life. But this isn't just a problem for biology and cogni tive science, but for the whole of Western natural philosophy itself… Recently, biocentrism and other scientific theories have also started to challenge the old physico-chemical paradigm, and to ask some of the difficult questions about life: Is there a soul? Does anything endure the rav ages of time? Life and consciousness are central to this new view of being, reality and the cosmos. Although the current scientific paradigm is based on the belief that the world has an objective observer-independent existence, real experiments suggest just the opposite. [emphasis added] We think life is just the activity of atoms and particles, which spin around for a while and then dissipate into nothingness. But if we add life to the equation, we can explain some of the major puzzles of modern science, including the uncertainty principle, entangle ment, and the fine-tuning of the laws that shape the universe.⁶ The controversy within science regarding the soul, and other states of awareness, also surrounds what is called the “Near Death Experience” (NDE). Many books have been published by medical doctors about the NDE, beginning with Dr. Raymond Moody in 1975 in Life after Life, which detailed his research into the subject. Other doctors have personally experienced the phenomenon, thereby readjusting their worldview and prompting them to write about their experiences. Recent books published by doctors about their own NDE experiences include those by Dr. Mary C. Neal, M.D. in To Heaven and Back, and by Dr. Eben Alexander, M.D. in Proof of Heaven. Those personal experiences and research into the subjective side of life is countered by the materialistic scientists. They explain the entire NDE phenomenon is a result of abnormal functioning of dopamine and oxygen flow. “Re cently, a host of studies has revealed potential underpinnings for all the elements of such experiences. “Many of the phenomena associated with near-death experiences can be biologically explained,” says neuroscientist Dean Mobbs, at the University of Cambridge's Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.”⁷ This article goes on to admit that the scientific evidence only suggests a link between the NDE and abnormal brain ⁶ Robert Lanza, M.D., “Does The Soul Exist? Evidence Says ‘Yes’,” Psychology Today, 21 Dec. 2011, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/biocentrism/201112/does-the-soul-exist-evidence-says-yes__. ⁷ Charles Q. Choi, “Peace of Mind: Near Death Experiences Now Found to Have Scientific Explanations,” Scientific American, 12 Sep. 2011, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/peace-of-mind-near-death/__. function, and does not claim absolute proof. However, it seems that for many of the materialists, the lack of proof of a physical nature constitutes a proof of lack for a non-physical nature. Occult Perspective For the occultist, all macrocosmic and microcosmic life is composed of a trinity of aspects. Whether it is called life-consciousness-form, spirit-soul-matter, or some other nomenclature is used, there is a Father-spirit aspect, a Mother-matter aspect, and the combination or marriage of these two - being the Soul-consciousness aspect. Spirit never wholly enters into the form nature, but overshadows the form with its intermediary - which is called the soul. It is a product of bringing together spirit and matter, and is therefore considered the Son of God. It is also an expression of the mind of God, which can be thought of as the cosmic principle of intelligent love. It is the soul which then directs the building of the forms in the objective world. The soul “through the quality of love, produc es the fusion of appearance and of quality, of awareness and of form.”⁸ As we grow in consciousness, we first begin to see the three aspects of divinity within ourselves. Then we start to recognize them in every part of our environment. Finally we are able to relate that which is within ourselves with the similar aspects found in all other forms of divine manifestation. As we harmonize these relations between forms, we make adjustments in our physical plane life. This leads to a growing rapport with the soul hidden in all forms, thereby eventually producing right relationships between all kingdoms of nature. Within this harmoniza tion lies the basis of brotherhood and unity. The soul aspect is found in all kingdoms of nature, and is expressed through qualities, colors, vibrations, charac teristics, and latent powers which demonstrate potential. Soul characteristics are developed through the interplay between spirit and matter, and also their effect upon each other. It is this conscious response to matter which forms the basis of soul consciousness. “Therefore the soul might be defined as that significant aspect in every form (made through this union of spirit and matter) which feels, registers awareness, attracts and repels, responds or denies response and keeps all forms in a constant condition of vibratory activity.”⁹ Within the vegetable kingdom, it is the soul which produces the response of plants to sunshine and the opening of flowers. Within the animal kingdom, it is the soul which enables animals to hunt their prey, love their master, and follow instinctual life. In the human kingdom, it is the soul which makes us aware of our environment and group, and enables us to live our normal life in the physical/emotional/mental worlds. It also helps us discover that this human soul is dual, and that part responds to the animal and part responds to the divine. Most of humanity is not functioning as purely animal or as purely divine, but are functioning as human souls. This duality of the animal and the divine is one way to interpret the symbol of the Sphinx found in Egypt. There is a soul of the universe which can also be recognized as functioning at different vibrations and stages of development. There is a consciousness within matter itself. This consciousness is expressed through the atom, the molecule, and cell from which all forms are made. This can be seen in the solar system, the planets, and all life therein. There is the intelligent sentient consciousness responsible for the coloring, shape, and qualities of mineral and vegetable forms. There is the animal consciousness which produces the many species, with their distinctions and natures in all animal forms. There is the human consciousness which fluctuates between the animal and the divine. This is shown in the great battle between the lure of matter and the pull of spirit. Finally there is a group consciousness attained by those who have entered into a wider realization of Life. This is represented by the fifth kingdom of nature in its many divisions or ashrams. “The soul therefore may be regarded as the unified sentiency and the relative awareness of that which lies back of the form of a planet and of a solar system. These latter are the sum total of all forms, organic or inorganic, as the materialist differentiates them. The soul, though constitut ing one great total, is, however, limited in its expression by the nature and quality of the form in which it is found and there are consequently forms which are highly responsive to and expressive of the soul, and others which - owing to their density and the quality of the atoms of which they are composed - are incapable of recognising the higher aspects of the soul or of expressing more than its lower vibration, tone or color. The infinitely small is recognised, the infinitely vast is assumed; but it remains as yet a concept until such time as the consciousness of ⁸ Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology - A Treatise on the Seven Rays - Volume I. (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1962), 41. ⁹ Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, or The Way of the Disciple. (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1951), 36. man is inclusive, as well as exclusive. This concept will be understood when the second aspect is contacted and men understand the nature of the soul.”¹⁰ The soul of all, or Universal Soul, is a focal point for divine Light, and is inclusive of all the lesser differentiations of soul as discussed above. As consciousness, the anima mundi (world soul) animates all forms of life below the animal kingdom. The animal soul animates the bodies of all animals, including the human body. The human soul provides sensitivity to all sub-human expressions of life, and has an added principle of self-awareness plus an awareness of the divine soul. The spiritual soul is the source of consciousness for the physical, emotional and mental realms. The goal of all current human evolutionary processes is unity with and as this spiritual soul. Yet it must ever be remembered that the term ‘individual soul’ is used by the lower mind to realize and understand the various aspects of the One Soul reality. From the One Life are expressed seven qualities of divinity. In the Ageless Wisdom these are called the rays. Each of these rays embodies an idea which can be expressed as an ideal, and so produce the pattern molding all forms in accordance with the evolutionary plan. For the human, the soul pattern is the spiritual goal and destiny which is eventually imposed upon the personality. Considered as Light, the universal soul embodies all of the rays with their inherent colors, tones, qualities, and vibrations. As differentiations of that universal soul become mani fest, they begin to take on specific qualities. For instance, the soul for the entity of the entire human kingdom is currently found on the fifth ray. The soul of each unit within the human kingdom will be found on, or controlled by, any one of the seven rays. The Soul is the One who uses the form, but is (usually) not seen by the form - no matter on which type of soul we hold our focus. Thus, the phenomenal and observable world is only a small portion of a much greater unseen, and perhaps not sensed, reality which energizes the form and works with the evolutionary plan. There are two stages needed to reveal the soul nature within the form. These stages, and the knowledge to be expressed through the form, include: 1) Recognition, through the five senses and the mind: to appreciate the form nature; and 2) Concentration, where the senses negate the form: so that one slips behind the material veil and achieves harmony with the soul. As we seek a deeper understanding of consciousness, it leads to an increasing realization of a developing response of the inner, or subjective, life to its environment. It leads eventually to an ideal of a unified Existence which is the synthesis of all lines of evolution (considered as the kingdoms of nature), or a concept of a Central Life blend ing and holding together all evolving units of matter (such as the atom) and of consciousness (such as human be ings). The process of evolution unfolds the life within all kingdoms - manifest or unmanifest - until all of those kingdoms and groups are merged into that One Nature which is the aggregate of all the states of consciousness. “This is the God to Whom the Christian refers when he says ‘in Him we live, and move, and have our being’; this is the force, or energy, which the scientist recognizes; and this is the universal mind, or the Oversoul of the phi losopher. This, again, is the intelligent Will which controls, formulates, binds, constructs, develops, and brings all to an ultimate perfection. This is that Perfection which is inherent in matter itself, and the tendency which is latent in the atom, in man, and in all that is.”¹¹ This understanding of evolution does not look for an outside Deity as a magical evolutionary creator, but it is the process latent within the world itself. It will gradually bring order out of chaos, good out of seeming evil, and then transform temporary imperfection into ultimate perfection. Devotion is an important attribute in the evolution of consciousness. It grows from a sense of dissatisfaction with current conditions, and then correctly chooses the path to follow. As we learn to discriminate between the unreal (considered as the objective world) and the real (considered as the subjective world), we proceed from one tempo rary satisfaction to the next, until we attain a unity with the highest ideal possible. At first we find this in the soul, and eventually the unity is with God. All of the abilities which we consider as psychic are inherent within the capabilities of the One Soul. Depending on where they are found in the fields of Being for the human, some are expressions of the animal soul, others are of the human soul, and yet others of the divine soul. Our ability to express these psychic gifts is also dependent upon which of our major chakras (centers in the etheric body) are primarily open, functioning, and being used. The gifts of clair voyance and clairaudience are related to the solar plexus, the animal soul, and the astral plane. Those of higher clair voyance and higher clairaudience are related to the throat and ajna chakras, the human soul, and the mental plane. Comprehension, healing and divine vision are related to the head, heart and throat chakras, and the divine soul. Note ¹⁰ Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 39. ¹¹ Alice A. Bailey, The Consciousness of the Atom. (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1961), 21. that the greater aspects of soul function can always include the lesser aspects, but not the reverse. These psychic powers can manifest “when the soul becomes consciously active and controls its mechanism through the mind and the brain.”¹² This is displayed as a wide range of grades between the lowest type of psychic personality and the highest type of gifted spiritual teacher. Each of the soul types touched upon above is described more fully as follows: Universal Soul Occult literature identifies this as the soul of the universe, which is displayed in and grows through all manifesta tion. It continues even when the illusion of individuality is overcome. It is also considered to be the consciousness of the Logos which brought the universe into existence, and it is the originating source of the divine human soul. There is said to be a relationship between Buddhi (heart and mind blended and balanced) as the Universal Soul or Mind, and our divine soul which is the vehicle for spirit (considered as the Spiritual Triad). This is described as the sensitive response entity linking spirit and matter, or life and form. There are two types of energy which flow through this Universal Soul in varying quantities: the force of will (atma) and the force of love (buddhi). The Universal Soul is a direct emanation from unmanifested primordial matter, and, as the soul of all things, in cludes all other differentiations of soul discussed below. This soul is a focal point for the Divine Light, with evolu tionary goals being enlightenment, and the development of inclusiveness. This light of divinity is what is referred to when Sri Krishna remarks ““Having pervaded this entire universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain.” That frag ment is the soul of all things. That soul brings light and spreads enlightenment.”¹³ In continuing to develop the inclu siveness of soul, humanity synthesizes that which has been achieved in all prior cycles of evolution - in the human and all lower kingdoms of nature. As this soul gives the spark of life to all manifestation, its substance will be found on all seven of the systemic planes (see Figure 1), and may well include energies from higher cosmic planes. World Soul or Oversoul This is the planetary expression of soul in a different consideration of the Whole, having a “sense of oneness with all beings and with the supreme Reality to which the mystics have always testified.”¹⁴ It is thought that this is the one conscious entity, being the Thinker and the one registering feeling, which reveals the character of God. In another aspect, it is also called the anima mundi, or the spirit or soul of the Earth. Being the embodiment of con sciousness of our planet, it is comprised of the totality of all forms of life in all kingdoms of nature, and is the sen tient factor in substance itself. As such, it is responsible for all natural phenomena, whether known or unknown, recognized or unrecognized, by science. The world soul is developing the outstanding characteristic of inclusive ness from a planetary perspective. We are told that the major effects of this developing inclusiveness occur through the activities of the spiritual Hierarchy, with secondary effects being expressed in humanity through the seeking of higher spiritual values and ideologies. Although there are many types of diverse forms, all souls are identical with the world soul. In learning the nature, quality, note and key of any one soul, those of all souls on the evolutionary path are revealed. This underlying planetary consciousness relates and coordinates the separate lives and functions of all kingdoms of nature through a vast and intricate sensory system, through the interplay between spirit and matter, and through their effects upon each other. There is a correspondence to this planetary system within the human being, seen in the separate func tions of all organs which are unified through the nervous system. The world soul is endlessly creating forms from undifferentiated matter, then restoring the substance of those physical forms to the great reservoir of etheric substance (which we think of as death). Restoring substance to the reservoir is a great act of restitution, an activity of the principle of death, and it acts under the Law of Attraction. As the world soul functions through all planetary schemes, the Law of Understanding begins to act. This empha sizes the brotherhood of humanity and identifies all souls with the world soul. Eventually, this will “be recognised in the racial consciousness, as well as the oneness of the Life which pours through, permeates, animates and inte grates the entire solar system.”¹⁵ This soul again is likely composed of substance from all seven systemic planes. ¹² Alice A. Bailey, Externalization of the Hierarchy, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1957), 9. ¹³ Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume II, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1955), 158. ¹⁴ Alice A. Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1932), 54. ¹⁵ Alice A. Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1949), 47. _{Divine Sou}l _{Human Sou}l _{Animal Sou}l Figure 1: A.U.M. Chart VI, The Cosmic Physical Plane. Divine Soul I understand this to be the true spiritual human soul, called the Spiritual Triad (see Figure 1, composed of sub stance of the atmic, buddhic and manasic planes). This aspect of each of us is a reflection of our inner divine Be ing or Monad. The inclusiveness we are developing is that of the group within the world of souls, the fifth king dom of nature. This expression of the world soul is lifted from life in the physical, emotional and mental planes and into the world of hierarchical activity. When we attain this state of Being, the divine soul has become consciously active and in control of the personality vehicles through the mind and brain. It can be said that divinity has been contacted, the mind as we understand it (the reasoning lower mind) is no longer a hindrance, there is a conscious identification with the indwelling Christ presence, and one has entered into God. The higher powers available to the divine soul include infallible knowledge through spiritual perception, unerring judgement through intuition, and the power to reveal the past and the future. “These higher powers come into play when the head and heart centres, as well as the throat centre, are brought into activity as the result of meditation and service.”¹⁶ Human Soul The human soul is a mixture of the animal soul and the divine soul, and they must slowly become blended and fused. We eventually relate to this expression of soul, which I think of as the aspect of our nature found on the higher mental plane, sometimes referred to as the causal body or egoic lotus (see Figure 1). It constitutes the Holy Ghost aspect of the threefold human being. There was a period long ago when humanity was a spiritual race, and this soul was an objective being whose existence could not be denied. As humanity descended deeper into the dense physical realm, it clothed itself in terrestrial garments, and the soul became “too deeply buried under physi cal clothing to reassert its existence, except in the cases of those more spiritual natures, which, with every cycle, became more rare.”¹⁷ Yet this soul exists, although it is not eternal or divine, as is our spirit. It is said that this soul aspect of each of us expresses itself through two forms of energy, that of life and that of consciousness. These energies flow into and through our physical bodies, thus controlling our outer appearances. The energy of life flows into and is centered in the heart, and uses the blood stream to animate every part of our bodies. Thus, the heart is the seat of the life-principle, and we are told that “the blood is the life.”¹⁸ The energy of the intellect, or the consciousness-principle, flows into and is centered in the brain, and uses the various parts of the nervous system for its expression. Thus the head is the seat of the reasoning mind and of the spiritual con sciousness. Our self-conscious or personal soul “is an integral part of the universal Soul, and because of this can become aware of the conscious purpose of Deity; can intelligently cooperate with the will of God, and thus work with the plan of Evolution.”¹⁹ One problem faced by humanity is the sublimation of the animal soul. Through a struggle lasting ages, the divine soul is eventually liberated, and the ‘human soul’ is no longer needed. Animal Soul This is an aspect of the world soul acting through the animal kingdom, and through the animal, or lower, nature of the human being. It is the spark of life imprisoned in, but animating, animal bodies. Within the human being it corresponds to the Holy Ghost aspect of divinity. I think that perhaps this soul has its greatest relationship with the dense physical plane (see Figure 1). Certain psychic powers are inherent within animal bodies, and are therefore common and shared between animals and humans. For the vast majority of people, these powers have dropped below the level of consciousness and so have become unrealized and useless. Typical of these powers are astral clairvoyance, clairaudience, the astral vi sion of colors, and similar such phenomena. These, along with similar phenomena occurring on mental levels, put humanity in touch with aspects of the world for which the personality exists. ¹⁶ Alice A. Bailey, Externalization of the Hierarchy, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1957), 9. ¹⁷ Helena P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled: A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, Vol. II - Theology, (New York: J. W. Bouton, 1877), 362. ¹⁸ Bailey, Education in the New Age, 18. ¹⁹ Bailey, Esoteric Psychology - Volume I, 58. ASPECTS OF THE MIND Here again we come up against differences of opinion and belief between materialists and non-materialists about what it is that constitutes the mind. Medically, it is considered by many to be a function of the brain, and the defi nition is “the faculty, or function of the brain, by which an individual becomes aware of his surroundings and of their distribution in space and time, and by which he experiences feelings, emotions, and desires, and is able to attend, to remember, to reason, and to decide.”²⁰ As thought of by ordinary people, the Random House Dictionary includes forty-four definitions of various types, including “1. (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the process of the mind… 3. intellect or understanding, as distinguished from the faculties of feeling and willing; intelligence… 6. Intellectual power or ability… 12. psychic or spiritual being, as opposed to matter… 17. (cap.) also called Divine Mind. Christian Science. the concept of the noncorporeal as the single source of life, substance, and intelligence…”²¹ etc. Finally, a spiritual definition is given as “The registration of knowing for an individual or group, ranging from the lowest point of survival instinct to the subtlest waves of consciousness held in MIND-STUFF. In the human realm, mind extends from instinct to intellect to intuition, expressing itself through various ways of knowing. Brain is mechanism, not mind.”²² All of these definitions and opinions can lead to some amount of confusion. So, what really is the mind and where might it be found? Might it be possible to bridge the understanding of the materialistic scientists with the many understandings of the general populace, or with the understanding of those more spiritually inclined? In a letter to Allan O. Hume, Master K.H. wrote “…did you ever suspect that Universal, like finite, human mind might have two attributes, or a dual power - one the voluntary and conscious, the other the involuntary and unconscious or the mechanical power. To reconcile the difficulty of many theistic and anti-theistic propositions, both these powers are a philosophical necessity.”²³ [emphasis added] Those in several fields of science study the mind from the standpoint of their beliefs, whether as an aspect and/or function of the brain itself, as an unknown something separate from the brain, or as cognitive reactions to sets of stimuli. Within each of the fields of science, there are also schools of thought about how best to discover the hid den workings of the mind. For the materialists, the only way to uncover the reality is to analyze the individual parts by using scientific method protocols. Others recognize that the scientific method is limited when studying thoughts, emotions, memories and perceptions which cannot be sensed or recorded with current instrumentation. In the occult literature there have been multiple ideas presented about the mind, suggesting a number of ways in which it is considered: 1) That in which all intellectual functions occur; 2) An energetic center, or chakra, for re cording all kinds of impressions, where we can choose to act, or not, on those impressions; 3) An entity separate from the personality, soul, or inner God, and having a life of its own; 4) A mechanism, with the brain and nervous system as integral parts; 5) A defense mechanism which has been constructed over a vast time; 6) A means whereby we can contact other parts of the universe not physically accessible; 7) A non-physical structure that can be studied scientifically, and which has its own diseases; or 8) Just a word symbol “for an aspect of man which is responsive in one direction - the outer world of thought and of affairs - but which could be equally responsive in another - the world of subtle energies and of spiritual being.”²⁴ In this study of the mind, I present the scientific perspective first, followed by the occult perspective. It must be noted that in both of these perspectives, the mind has been studied in numerous ways to gain certain specific or targeted understandings. Each discipline, and field within each discipline, is trying to understand what it is, what constitutes its substance, where it is, how it works, how consciousness might be related to the mind, and what benefits result from the specific scientific studies. ²⁰ Elizabeth J. Taylor, ed., Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 27^th Edition, (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1988), s.v. “mind.” ²¹ Stein and Urdang, eds., The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. “mind.” ²² Parrish-Harra, The New Dictionary of Spiritual Thought, s.v. “mind.” ²³ A. T. Barker, ed., The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. and K.H. (London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., 1923), 137. ²⁴ Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, 102. Scientific Perspective With a strong materialistic perspective, much of the scientific community equates the human mind with processes that occur within the brain by components of the nervous system, which are then expressed in intelligent conduct. Those scientific disciplines typically falling within the materialist camp are the neurologists and the cognitive sci entists. Others seeking to understand the mind and its workings, but do not necessarily consider it as an integral part of the physical brain, are the psychologists and psychiatrists. Yet it must be noted that materialists and non materialists can be found in each camp, so there are no hard-and-fast rules in this regard. The field of cognitive science is interdisciplinary, with these scientists borrowing from such fields as those who study linguistics, psychology, computer science, philosophy, neuroscience, sociology, biology, and anthropology (See Figure 2). In general, those in this field undertake the scientific study of the mind and its processes through the functions of cognition (“that operation of the mind by which we become aware of objects of thought or perception; it includes all aspects of perceiving, thinking, and remembering”²⁵). In studying intelligence and behavior, these scientists focus on how the nervous system represents, processes, and transforms information related to emotion, perception, attention, memory, language, and reasoning. Cognitive science, as a relatively new discipline of study, began in the 1950s with the supposition that the mind is not only connected to the body, but that the body influences the mind. This was counter to the prevailing beliefs in the dualistic notion that the mind is sepa rate from the body, which was written about by Rene Descartes in Meditationes de prima philosophia: “there is a great difference be tween mind and body, inasmuch as body is by nature always divisi ble, and the mind is entirely indivisible. For as a matter of fact, when I consider the mind, that is to say, myself inasmuch as I am only a thinking thing, I cannot distinguish in myself any parts, but apprehend myself to be clearly one and entire; and although the whole mind seems to be united to the whole body, yet if a foot, or an Figure 2: Fields Contributing to the Birth of Cognitive Science. arm, or some other part, is separated from my body, I am aware that nothing has been taken away from my mind.”²⁶ Two basic ideas were developed from this: “reason is disembodied because the mind is disembodied and reason is transcendent and universal.”²⁷ In the early days of cognitive science, with computer science also just emerging, the mind was thought of as a computer program separate from the body, and the brain was the general purpose hardware. However, at that time cognitive scientists did not actually think that the mind was separate from the body, but they also did not believe that the physical body affected cognition. This began to change with the publication in 1980 of Metaphors We Live By, from the research of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. From this research, the beliefs of the mind being embodied in the brain began to take greater hold in academia. This theory is said to be continuing to increase in popularity and research, with the theory of mind being similar to a computer, and of behavioral theory lessening in importance for research. So, it might be thought of that cognitive science has been undergoing an identity crisis, where the study of mind within this discipline may be split into two factions. One would be the science of information processes, which in cludes perception, cognition, language, and some aspects of motivation, emotions and consciousness. This would be called the ‘true cognitive science’ which can be studied empirically. The other model would be the science of con sciousness itself, where phenomenal aspects and the higher forms of consciousness are beyond the ability of the in formational models to explain. In this is an acknowledgement that the scientific method which includes only infor mation obtained through currently available instruments, is unable to answer questions about underlying causes. ²⁵ Taylor, ed., Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, s.v. “cognition.” ²⁶ Rene Descartes, Meditationes de prima philosophia, (page unknown). ²⁷ Samuel McNerney, “A Brief Guide to Embodied Cognition: Why You Are Not Your Brain,” Scientific American, 4 Nov. 2011, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/a-brief-guide-to-embodied-cognition-why-you-are-not-your brain/. Through its interdisciplinary approach, cognitive science is said to have created models of cognitive bias and risk perception; in the area of economics it has influenced the development of behavioral finance; it has generated new theories in mathematics, artificial intelligence, persuasion, and coercion; and has influenced linguistics, the phi losophy of language, and epistemology. Proponents of the disciplines within cognitive science believe they have been influential in understanding the functional systems within the brain structure, such as speech production, auditory processing and visual perception, as well as having obtained a better understanding of how damage to particular areas of the brain affect cognition. In reviewing all of its achievements, I have found nothing specific within the literature about cognitive science describing where the mind is within the brain, what specifically it is and of what substance it is made. It does not really explain how and from where thoughts arise, although it is attempting to discern how the mind works. Neuroscientists work specifically with the brain, and consider the mind as a function of brain activity. “The key philosophical theme of modern neural science is that all behavior is a reflection of brain function. According to this view - a view that is held by most neurobiologists and that we shall try to document in this text - the mind represents a range of functions carried out by the brain. The action of the brain underlies not only relatively sim ple behavior such as walking and smiling, but also elaborate functions such as feeling, learning, thinking, and writing a poem. As a corollary, the disorders of affect (emotion) and cognition (thought) that characterize neurotic and psychotic illness must result from disturbances of the brain.”²⁸ An intense effort in brain research was begun in 2013, through the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Depart ment of Human Services, with the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies^SM (BRAIN) Initiative. This is part of an increased effort of the neuro-research collaboration begun in 2004 called the Blueprint for Neuroscience Research. The mission for this effort states “Over the past century, researchers have made breath taking progress in understanding the anatomy, cell biology, physiology and chemistry of the brain. Yet many fun damental mysteries remain, including how brain function translates into mental function and why brain function declines with age. Recent advances in neuroimaging, genomics, computational neuroscience, engineering and other disciplines have put us on the brink of another great era in neuroscience, when we can expect to make transformative discoveries regarding brain function in health, aging and disease.”²⁹ [emphasis added] With the totally materialistic view held by most neuroscientists, it will likely be very difficult for them to change their beliefs about the potential for the mind to be distinct from the physical brain. Those who may think differ ently will be hampered by the withdrawal of research funding for projects other than those specifically addressing the brain structure and nervous system. As psychologists and psychiatrists study behavior, thought, the mind, and all aspects of consciousness and the unconscious, their approach to the mind is generally different from the neuroscientists. Many believe the mind is separate from, and not found in, the brain. There are still some interested in how physiological and biological pro cesses affect cognitive functions and behaviors. Both individuals and groups can be subjects of their research and treatment. Those in the field of psychology usually focus on social, behavioral, or cognitive aspects of this sci ence. Although psychologists and psychiatrists practice within the same general fields, there are some differences. Psy chiatrists have completed medical training, are medical doctors, and can prescribe medicines. Psychologists may have masters or doctorate degrees, but they are not medical doctors and cannot prescribe medicines. Although both can be involved in clinical therapy and counseling, much of this activity has been given to social workers with limited training (due to the limited reimbursement schedules of insurance companies for counseling, and an expansion by big pharma in pushing drugs for treatment). The pharmacological approach is considered a quick fix, and so less costly. When one looks inside the skull at the brain, what is seen is gray and white matter. What cannot be physically seen are the thoughts, emotions, memories, dreams, perceptions, cognitions, etc. that are related to the mind and mental processes. To study what cannot be seen, scientists obtain raw data coming from human behavior. “For a ²⁸ Eric R. Kandel, M.D. and James H. Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., eds., Principles of Neural Science, Second Edition. (New York: Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., 1985), 3. ²⁹ National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Re search, n.d., https://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov/factSheet/bp_factsheet.pdf. psychologist, human behavior is used as evidence - or at least an indication - of how the mind functions. We are unable to observe the mind directly; however, virtually all our actions, feelings and thoughts are influenced by the functioning of our minds. That is why human behavior is used as raw data for testing psychological theories on how the mind functions.”³⁰ Psychology has branched into a number of sub-specialties, such as 1) clinical: as an integration science, theory and practice; 2) cognitive: studies internal mental processes; 3) developmental: studies psychological growth over a life span; 4) evolutionary: studies how adjustments during evolution have affected human behavior; 5) forensic: used in the process of criminal investigation and the law; 6) health: studies how health can be influenced by be havior, biology and social context; 7) neuro: studies brain functions in relation to behaviors and psychological processes; 8) occupational: studies peoples performance at work to understand how organizations function; and 9) social: studies how behavior and thoughts of people are influenced by the actual or implied presence of others. Psychiatrists are trained to diagnose and treat mental, emotional, addictive, and behavioral disorders such as psy chotic, mood, anxiety, and substance-related disorders; adjustment disorders; sexual/gender identity disorders, and psychosomatic illness which create physical illness (and vice-versa). Their medical training provides their under standing of the biological, psychological and social components of illnesses. There is usually some sort of talk therapy to diagnose and treat problems, but they can also use pharmacological aids. They seek to take a holistic approach, as every aspect of human life affects our psychology. Psychiatrists have been given another definition of mind: “mind comes from minding, paying attention. In old English gemynd, akin to remind, was derived from terms indicating to warn and to intend. The Sanskrit manas means to think.”³¹ This psychiatry textbook gives a case-history example of the mind-brain relation to highlight the definition provided. In the case given, a girl suffered a serious head injury, but the brain was uninjured and the mind was not scrambled. The writer of this section of the textbook, Karl H. Pribram, M.D., explains: The diagnosis rested on the truism that scrambled brains result in scrambled minds. But the truism, because of its pervasive validity, can blind one to the subtle aspects of the mind-brain relation. For instance, the close as sociation of mind to brain may lead one to suspect uncritically that mind and brain are the same. That would be as absurd that stating that the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas are the same as insulin regulation of glu cose metabolism. Minding is a function of the entire organism’s interacting with its environment, just as glu cose metabolism is a function of the organism’s metabolizing environmentally derived nutrients. What is common to brain and mind is their organization, much as what is common to a computer’s hardware and the various levels of programming software is the information being processed. On the whole, people accept the special relation between brain and conscious experience but are not at all agreed on the subtleties inherent in the nature of the relation or on the consequences that the understanding of that nature may have on their understanding of themselves and their relationships to others. In that respect people have apparently come no further than the philosophers of the past two millennia. Each of the philosophical stances toward the mind-brain relation has merit as long as it is restricted to the da tabase that defines the stance. Thus what becomes important is the special relation between various brain pro cesses and the variety of mental processes. On the other hand, what is ontologically neutral to the material brain and mental (psychological) processes is order, order as measured scientifically in terms of energy, en tropy, and information.³² The text then describes varieties of brain organization through the localization and distribution of function, through hierarchy and non-hierarchy, and serial and parallel processing. It also describes the role of basil brain systems (including the amygdala, caudate nucleus, and the hippocampus) in organizing the mind through emotion and motivation, and voluntary and involuntary behavior. It gives a variety of descriptions for conscious experi ence, such as corporeal reality and extracorporeal reality as part of objective consciousness, conduct and narrative as part of narrative consciousness, and includes a section on transcendental consciousness. ³⁰ Christian Nordqvist, “What is Psychology” What are the branches of psychology?,” Medical News Today, 14 Aug. 2105, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/154874.php__. ³¹ Harold I. Kaplan, M.D. and Benjamin J. Sadick, M.D., eds., Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry/IV, (Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins, 1995), 328. ³² Kaplan and Sadick, Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry/IV, 328.

In his book The Interpretation of Dreams published in 1900, Sigmund Freud hypothesized a topographical model of the mind, dividing it into three regions: the conscious system, where perceptions from the outer or inner envi ronment come into awareness, and need some amount of psychic energy to be expended; the pre-conscious sys tem, where events, processes and contents are brought into conscious awareness by focusing attention, such as on a memory; and the unconscious system, where mental contents and processes are kept out of conscious awareness by the force of censorship or repression. His theory came about from the significance of dreams he noted in his patients as they free-associated in therapy. He found that the meaning of the dreams was usually hidden or dis guised.

Freud also developed a structural theory of the ego, dividing the mental apparatus into three major functional parts. The id is the dark inaccessible part of our personality, but it is not synonymous with the unconscious, be cause both the ego and superego have unconscious components. The ego spans all three topographic dimensions of conscious, preconscious and unconscious. Verbal expressions, and logical and abstract thinking, are associated with conscious and preconscious functions of the ego, with the unconscious part holding the defense mechanisms. The superego establishes and maintains one’s moral conscience on the basis of a complex system of ideals and values internalized from one’s parents, which came from the resolving the Oedipus complex. Many of the activi ties of the superego occur unconsciously, such as self-criticism, comparisons to others, aggressive drives, etc.

All mental disorders have been classified by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statisti cal Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which is correlated with the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The DSM “attempts to describe what the manifes tations of the mental disorders are; only rarely does it attempt to account for how the disturbances originate. The definitions of the disorders usually consist of descriptions of the clinical features.”³³ The tools of the psychiatrist for treating diagnosed mental disorders include psychotherapy, pharmaceuticals, and supplemental nutrients.

In spite of all the psychological and psychiatric theory on how and why the mind works, and there being general agreement that the mind is separate from the brain, there is no definitive answer on what it is or where it can be found.

Occult Perspective

I suggest that the materialistic scientific perspective is not found to be satisfactory for the majority of thinking people. Those who are not purely materialistic suggest that mind is distinct from the brain, that there is “a subjec tive substantial reality, which can use the brain as its terminal of expression and which it can impress in order to express those concepts and intuitions which a man can consciously utilize.”³⁴ The mind is not something para normal or supernormal, and only in the possession of a gifted few. Instead, it is available to be used by all educat ed persons (the use of which should be one of the goals of the educational system worldwide).

The Ageless Wisdom teaches us that the mind is the mediating factor between soul and brain, and it relates soul knowledge with sensory and emotional impressions received by the brain. For the personality on the first stages of the spiritual Path, this could be the lower mind mediating between the soul (son-of-mind) on the higher mental plane and the physical brain. For a soul-infused personality, this might be seen as the higher mind mediating be

tween the true soul (Spiritual Triad) and the physical brain. Through right training and control of the lower mind, it becomes the agent of the soul, making the lower nature, or personality, the automatic server of the soul. Also through this control, we are able perceive knowledge of our soul purpose and of coming events.

Therefore, to become efficient and useful as a conscious unit in the body of humanity, we must learn to coordinate the brain and the mind. This coordination occurs as we grow in knowledge and intellectual awareness. We are told that the key to this process is meditation, so that the mind and brain both become controlled. Slowly the brain becomes just a tool of the controlled mind, as the later pulls from active memory, the environment, and the con

tent of the subconscious as we learn to live more effectively in the outer world.

What is mind control? Perhaps we should consider it as the power to make the mind do what we want, to think as we choose, and to be receptive to ideas under our specific direction. For most people, the mind functions as a re ceiver of outer world impressions, through the five senses, which are then transmitted by the brain. For the more

³³ Kaplan and Sadick, Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry/IV, 671. ³⁴ Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, 121.

advanced humanity, the mind is becoming receptive to the unusual field of contact we call soul. As soul transmits thoughts and higher desires through the mind (acting in the nature as a sixth sense), the brain becomes the sensi tive receiver of those impressions. This works similar to the brain being the sensitive receiver to the five senses of physical perception, which is occurring constantly. By working in two directions, the mind then becomes the in strument of the soul, and is the unifying agent between soul and personality.

We are told of a future science of the mind, to be named the Science of the Antahkarana. This will teach how to use mental substance to bridge between the personality and soul. It will use the substance of the three higher lev els of the mental plane for this symbolic bridge, to facilitate the flow of consciousness, or awareness, as the per sonality and soul are brought into a unity or at-one-ment. Eventually, our lower mind will be bypassed, and our real Self will control the physical brain. This will then enable us to make decisions and understand truth without the reasoning factor of the lower mind. This will also result in a continuity of consciousness that will end the fear of death, end a sense of separateness, and bring responsiveness to impressions from the spiritual realms to the brain consciousness.

We are taught that “thoughts are things”³⁵ and “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”³⁶ These adages fall within the realm of what is called the lower, or concrete, mind. When followed, they can bring about control of the lower mind and personality, thereby affecting our brain and emotions. When thinking has been raised to the abstract levels, and an ‘as if’ type of behavior is implemented, then we have a disciple trying to live as if the soul is in constant control, and his/her expression is that of soul purpose. When thought is free from the forms created by the lower mind, any conditioning by the soul, and the connection between the lower and higher minds (antahka

rana) has been somewhat built, then some direct communication begins between the Spiritual Triad and the brain of the personality. Often, as we are proceeding through these stages, our brain is not capable of recording all that our mind can comprehend. We are advised to stop “gauging your capacity to understand and instead simply to brood and reflect.”³⁷

For the average person, the mind is generally just recording what the brain has received from the senses and passed along. For those more thoughtful than average, the mind is doing more than just recording the impressions received. It is analyzing information, correlating impressions with similar incidents, and studying causes and ef fects. Then, by using the substance of the mental plane, the so-called ‘chitta’ or ‘mind-stuff,’ thought-forms are created and mental images built. Thus begins an opportunity for the mind to reverse the typical process (sensory input from brain to mind) and create impressions upon the brain.

The substance of the mental plane is in constant motion, and is activated by the minds of individuals or groups. When set in motion by the will and a carefully designed idea in the mind of a thinker, mental telepathic work can be carried out. This involves establishing a relationship between two minds, then sending an idea, impression or thoughtform from one to the other. When an adequate alignment between mind and brain has been established, there will be a response in the receiver’s brain to the thought sent by the transmitter. Depending upon the align

ment achieved, the response to be realized and registered in the mind and brain can be almost instantaneous, or it may take days or even weeks.

For the mystic and one who is just beginning to meditate, the mind is found to be capable of wider and deeper impressions. One finds that when the mind has been properly disciplined, ideas coming from spiritual realms and communicated by the soul (both one’s own and that of others) can be received and recorded, and then transmitted to the brain. Our spiritual usefulness increases as we find that our field of contacts includes both the objective and subjective worlds. We do not achieve this by making the mind passive and receptive, striving to create a ‘blank’

mind, or by self-hypnosis. Instead, one must change their mental focus to a higher reality through concentration, and thereby move towards illuminating the mind by the soul. Through the occult meditation exemplified through Raja Yoga, we use the mind to expand ordinary knowledge into spiritual wisdom, and are then able to manifest our divine nature.

As the newer education for the Aquarian Age unfolds, there will be taught a better understanding of contact be tween soul and brain, as it is mediated by the mind. The result will be a steadily increasing soul contact. The mind

³⁵ Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, 243. ³⁶ Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume I. (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1944), 390. ³⁷ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume II, 263.

will then be used more in a dual manner, as it both penetrates into the world of ideas and illuminates life on the physical plane. This will result in a synthesis of human activity, with higher values and spiritual realities being expressed as never witnessed before by humanity.

For those knowing the mind as the link between soul and brain, the laws of thought will then be analyzed and in terpreted to achieve an understanding of how ideas are intuited, ideals are promulgated, and how mental concepts are built. Eventually this education will include teaching about the mind and its relation to 1) the etheric body un derlying the nervous system; 2) the physical instrument of the brain itself; 3) the seven major chakras and their relation to the nervous and the endocrine systems; and 4) the brain as it coordinates and directs activities through the nervous system.

As everything is some expression of energy, the mental plane and the minds therein are usually more receptive to certain energies than others. This fifth, or mental, field of energy expression is governed by the fifth ray, that of Concrete Science or Knowledge, noting that “Every Ray affects in more or less degree the plane or subplane which is its numerical correspondence…”³⁸ The mental body for most people will be governed by and receptive to, or said to ‘be on,’ either the fourth ray of Harmony through Conflict or the fifth ray of Concrete Science or Knowledge. For disciples, the ray for the mental body can also be the first ray of Will or Power, or the third ray of Creative Active Intelligence. For each incarnation, the soul will choose which mental ray will best meet its evolutionary goal.

Another way to think about consciousness is that it is ‘awareness,’ or the focus of our attention. We can be fo cused in our mind, and so then may be becoming sensitive to stimuli from both the brain and the soul. This state of consciousness is suggested to be found within all minds, from the microcosm of the atom to the macrocosm of the solar Logos, and in all stages of awareness in between. It is all minds, being the apparatus of thought, which are responsible for every form found in our system. “All these forms, with all intermediate forms are dependent upon some life, endowed with the capacity to think, and through thought impulse to modify and influence sentient substance, and build it into forms.”³⁹

In the esoteric teaching, we are told about the three aspects of mind of the individual to be found on the mental plane. I surmise that these aspects also relate to each group, humanity as a whole, and the mind of God in its totality. It is appropriate to study each aspect of mind and thereby achieve a deeper understanding of what constitutes each. In following the occult method, I have begun with the most inclusive and ended with the least inclusive type of mind.

Mind of God, or Universal Mind

From the perspective of the individual, this is the mind found within that aspect of Being called the Monad, the Presence, or the God Within, which is an aspect of divine intelligence found on the 2^nd or Monadic plane (see Figure 1). From a more inclusive perspective, this Universal Mind is the all-knowing aspect of the Creator - per haps thought of as the planetary Logos, or even the solar Logos. There is in this Mind also a relation to the third ray energy of active intelligence. We find that Logoic will and purpose is being worked out through two aspects of one great quality. These two aspects of that quality are: the mind of God which is love, and the love of God which is intelligence. We are told that the divine evolutionary plan, emanating from the Mind of God, is to pro duce relationship between spiritually conscious humanity and the form nature: by developing full divine aware ness, through material incarnation, and use of the principle of mind.

As a center of energy, it may be considered as the thinking process of the planetary Logos, a focal point of divine Light, and also the soul of all things (with its major attribute of enlightenment). This divine aspect holds the knowledge, wisdom, and reason of what is called the Arcana of Wisdom, or the ‘raincloud of knowable things.’ “The raincloud is a symbol of that area of the as yet unrevealed purposes of God which can be immediately re vealed if the world disciples and initiates care to “penetrate to the point of precipitation.””⁴⁰ This universal store house of knowledge can be accessed by those whose minds have been sufficiently quieted and controlled, and held steady in the Light. In this mind is found all the spiritual hope, expectancy, and dynamic intention underlying the evolutionary process. As our worlds of form (physical, emotional and mental, as well as the systemic etheric

planes) are a creation of God’s thought, they can be considered as the sum total of the mind of God. ³⁸ Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1951), 466. ³⁹ Alice A. Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1950), 408. ⁴⁰ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume II, 313.

Perhaps another way to understand the Mind of God, or Universal Mind, is the manner in which it is expressed - through the lower or concrete mind, through the higher or abstract mind, and through intuition. The intuition can be thought of as a direct contact with the Mind of God at a more advance period of experience, and it gives a slight revelation of the purpose underlying all hierarchical work for humanity. As it is concerned entirely with group activity, it has naught to do with personality life. (This understanding of intuition is quite different than that which most people think). As we enter this Mind of God, we become sensitive to divine thoughts, which we then work out as ideas and ideals, and base our life and work on them.

The evolutionary plan forever involves expansions of consciousness, to initially include the material world and eventually include the spiritual world. On the physical plane, consciousness is confined and limited in order to develop intelligence. It emerges on the mental plane into the full freedom of the illumined mind, reflecting the divine soul consciousness of the initiate (disciple of the 3^rd degree). For this person the idea of ‘consciousness’

has been transcended, all self-interest and self-referencing is gone, and s/he has become a focused point of light within the mind of God. Through this illumined mind, the Plan, Purpose and Will of God is revealed. The mind of the initiate “is distinguished by a sense of Wholeness, and of synthesis.”⁴¹ This is the thread which leads back to the realm of the Universal Mind, and then one knows without controversy that “all is well, for all is planned, and divine purpose is steadily working out its objectives.”⁴²

Might the Mind of God have its own ray structure? Perhaps in this system its primary is the third Ray of Active Intelligence, sometimes called the “acute energy of divine mental perception.”⁴³ From the energy of this third Ray of Aspect (related to Shamballa) come the four Rays of Attribute (related to the Hierarchy), of which the fifth ray is said to be a substantial key to the Mind of God, admitting humanity into the mysteries. These clues suggest the Logoic mind to have a third ray/sub-fifth ray energy condition.

There are three signs of the zodiac most directly related to the Mind of God as it is expressed through humanity. The lower mind recognizes the essential duality of all manifestation, and has a relationship to Gemini, the Twins. The higher mind balances the pairs of opposites through illumination, and has a relationship to Libra. The Son of-Mind, or soul, synthesizes the higher and lower, thereby relating the Universal Mind to those two lower aspects of the Mind of God. The sign of this relationship is Aquarius.

Mercury is the Messenger of the Gods, and is the agent of the third aspect of divinity (active intelligence) from one point of view, and of the second aspect of divinity (love-wisdom) from another point of view. He is consid ered therefore as embodying both the higher and lower mind of God. Mercury also rules the bridge between the higher and lower minds (the antahkarana), whether of God or of humanity.

Higher or Abstract Mind

This is the aspect of mind within that which is called the Spiritual Triad (see Figure 1), which might be considered as the true Soul. It is found on the first, or atomic, subplane of the Manasic plane, and is therefore composed of the substance of that state of Being. This is the aspect of mind working with the patterns or blueprints from which forms are built. In this is suggested a symbolic door (as a means of access) separating the soul-infused personality from the higher realms of contact and awareness, those of the intuition or pure reason, whereby the Universal Mind is contacted.

The abstract mind, as the lowest aspect of the Spiritual Triad, is the agent of interpretation for the Monad, and is meant to express the principle of manas as self-awareness. The goal of this principle is to achieve the Logoic pur pose of the mental plane by devotion to the evolutionary Plan, and by serving that Plan no matter the cost, as best it can be understood. We can then consider the goal to be transmuting manas into wisdom, and in conjunction with the lower mind, produce the self-consciousness of the human being. This allows those in the human kingdom to contact both the lower kingdoms of nature and higher spiritual realities. One way we do this is by cultivating goodwill as a way of life.

⁴¹ Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, 123. ⁴² Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 359. ⁴³ Alice A. Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations - A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume V, (New York, NY: Lucis Pub lishing Company, 1960), 558.

The newer teachings about the aspects of mind, and their relation to the initiations, are meant to appeal to the higher mind and the soul, and eventually to the intuition. They seek to focus more on the realities of meaning, and of cause and effect. Although this appeal may not be as colorful and desirable to the personality, it is expected to “produce more creative results and lead the neophyte along a safer road, with fewer disappointments and fail

ures.”⁴⁴ Beginning on the Probationary Path, and through the period of discipleship, the advanced members of humanity increasingly sense the Higher Mind of the Spiritual Triad. By the time of the third initiation of Trans figuration, when the lower self has become controlled, the energy of Will from the Spiritual Triad begins to be sensed.

The Science of Impression is one of the newer teachings for the future. It is concerned with creating sensitivity between the abstract mind, the soul (son-of-mind), and the lower mind. This triangle of mind is a reflection of a triangle formed by the Monad and the two higher aspects of the Spiritual Triad, and is then reflected in a triangle formed by the soul, lower mind and etheric body. When the higher and lower minds are correctly related, the head, ajna and throat centers will work together as intended.

The higher mind is the caretaker of ideas, transmitter of the intuition, reflection of the divine nature, and conveyor of illumination to the lower mind, once a relationship has been established between the lower mind and soul. This aspect of mind gives the power to understand what is not concrete or tangible, such as aspects of the divine Plan as it affects life in the physical, emotional and lower mental realms. The world of philosophy (which tends to be abstract) seeks to work within this world of ideas.

Cosmic etheric substance is composed of the four higher subplanes of our seven systemic planes (see Figure 1). Being able to work in and with this substance indicates that the abstract mind has awakened, and it is starting to impress the lower mind. Intuitions coming from the buddhic plane are ideas “clothed in etheric substance, and the moment a man becomes responsive to those ideas, he can begin to master the techniques of etheric control”⁴⁵ This is all part of a great creative process, as ideas are progressively clothed with substance and matter of the lower planes, until they have taken on physical forms.

As one’s consciousness is raised into the higher mind and strives to think as a 3^rd degree initiate, substance of the Spiritual Triad on the atmic plane will begin to be sensed. The Triad is the transfiguring agent working through the higher mind. Although the personality and lower mind will continue to be used, one’s sensitivity to emotions will begin to fall below the threshold of awareness and into the realm of instincts. One’s thinking and awareness also will begin to occur in terms of life and being, rather than that of form, and that which holds Life/Being to the physical plane. Consciousness, as understood by the personality, bears little relation to the livingness expressed in and through one who has achieved this higher state.

How can we grow into that higher awareness of the abstract mind? One way to do this is to seek answers to our own questions, rather than to rely upon those further on the Path. This stimulates the abstract mind so that we are able to successfully find the necessary answers. Another factor for this inner growth is the conscious building of the antahkarana so that our Master’s energy can be perceived. As we receive impressions from the abstract mind, a body of thought becomes available when needed for helping other people and for growing world service.

We are told that the Spiritual Triad is on a subray of the Monad. In one sense, this could be considered to be the soul ray. As the abstract mind is a component of the Triad, this mind may be most responsive to that monadic subray energy, or said to be ‘on’ that ray. This can be any one of the seven energies of the One Life. “This subray bears upon its stream of energy many groups of Egos, and the initiate is therefore made aware not only of his ego

ic group and its intelligent purpose, but of many other groups, similarly composed.”⁴⁶

The influence of the first ray of Will or Power is that which most completely reveals the abstract mind. This is a reflection of the will aspect of the Spiritual Triad found on the atmic plane. It energizes the egoic lotus will petals. Then, via the nearly complete antahkarana, the illumined personality (fused and blended soul and personality) is joined with the Monad. There remains only a purified instrument, colored by the soul ray, for the use of the One Life in service.

⁴⁴ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume II, 283. ⁴⁵ Alice A. Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1950), 189. ⁴⁶ Alice A. Bailey, Initiation: Human and Solar, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1951), 121.

Mercury has much to do with the mind in all its aspects, and is said to embody the expression of both the lower and higher mind of God, is the synthesis of manas-buddhi being expressed through the human soul, and is said to rule the antahkarana which is so important in reaching the abstract mind. It brings in a quick, intuitive mind that relates the inner spiritual person with the outer personality such that their “future unity of purpose, plan and effort is assured.”⁴⁷ It reveals the Spiritual Triad (spiritual will, spiritual love, and higher mind) to the soul, and thereby carries the disciple to the third initiation.

Son-of-Mind

This is the aspect of mind within that which is called the Egoic Lotus, Causal Body, or soul. It is found on the second or third subplane of the Manasic plane (see Figure 1), and is therefore composed of the substance of either of those states of Being. Through meditation we contact the soul, which is in reality our higher Self, and in time identify with that Self. In that identification as soul, we can serve by creating the living forms through which light, truth, and help can reach others. This is the principle of intelligence which is called “the Solar Angel, the Agnishvattas, the Christ principle, etc.”⁴⁸ In completing the alignment process in meditation, and in purifying the triple lower nature, our lower bodies begin to vibrate in harmony with the note of our soul, and our soul begins to dominate.

It is at the third initiation that the son-of-mind, or soul, has shown control of the personality, which then becomes just an agent of the soul. As a creator in mental substance, one now works with the divine Plan, and turns one’s attention from life in the lower worlds to that in the Spiritual Triad. This is expressed most fully through the egoic lotus love petals. It is related to the second, or love, aspect of the Spiritual Triad, and in this way to the buddhic plane. In space and time it is eternal, but in duration it is not.

The evolutionary process for our planet is about developing the mind and its various aspects. We are told that the three aspects of mind most important for this process are the son-of-mind, the abstract mind, and the Universal Mind. In this developmental process, the sacred word (OM) has a special purpose for the fifth root-race. Through its use, humanity will reveal the nature of our inner Identity - the son-of-mind.

The soul is the individualized mind with which religions claim to deal. It is a product of thought by the Universal Mind. It is characterized “by pure mind, pure reason, pure love, and pure will.”⁴⁹ It is our higher identity which thinks, perceives, analyzes and discriminates. The fifth principle of manas, or mind, is what makes a human being human, but it also makes us a prisoner to form and this planet, and vulnerable to attacks on the form nature. When the soul, or son-of-mind, controls and uses the fifth principle of manas, the spiritual person is able to become free from every kind of form, from disease, and from death.

The purpose of the soul and its body is to work through the mental principle in developing the personality through a long cycle of incarnations. Once the factor of consciousness becomes raised enough so that there is a direct line of communication between personality and monad, the lower and higher mind are fused. When this has occurred the soul has served its purpose, and neither the personality nor soul vehicles are needed. Then, at the 4^th initiation the causal, or soul, body is destroyed. Life can now work through the duality of monad and spiritual triad.

Throughout its existence in time and space, this form nature of the soul is said to be found on any one of the seven rays, along with its group. When a soul is found on one of the four rays of attribute, there is a likelihood at some point that it will transfer to a ray of aspect. Yet we are also taught that all the sons-of-mind are governed by the second aspect of all the seven rays. As such, it reflects the lower love aspect of divinity, and holds the results of all knowledge which has been transmuted into wisdom, and illuminated by the intuition.

Mercury is a symbol of the versatile energy of the soul, as it is the mediator between spirit and matter, and yet is the result of their union. It displays the synthesis of manas-buddhi, or mind-wisdom, through that human soul. Venus emphasizes the son-of-mind as the instrument of God’s love, transmuting knowledge into wisdom. It is a symbol of the gift of mind and divinity, and the Christ principle brought into matter.

⁴⁷ Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology - A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume III, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1951), 436. ⁴⁸ Bailey, Education in the New Age, 5.

⁴⁹ Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Healing - A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume IV, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1953), 511.

Lower Concrete Mind

This is the aspect of humanity which is currently undergoing the greatest development. The physical body was developed in the Lemurian root-race. The emotional nature was developed in the Atlantean root-race. In this, the Aryan root-race, the goal is for development of the lower, or concrete, mind. (It must be noted that more and more units of humanity are also beginning to use the higher mind and to think abstractly). The aspect of lower mind provides the faculty for reasoning, and is intended to be the agent of the human soul. It is also this reasoning mind which has a focus on the constructs of time and space. It has a tendency to question and quibble, return to the past, and fear the future.

The lower mind has five primary activities. As such, there is a correspondence to the fifth principle of manas as it is manifested on the fifth plane - through developing self-will, selfishness, and separateness, which show a trend of life on the physical plane. These five activities include correct knowledge, incorrect knowledge, fancy, sleep, and memory. The activities are said to be the lower shadow of human mind, which is itself a reflection of the uni

versal mind in some mysterious manner. Only by turning one’s thoughts to higher matters in order to overcome these five activities of the lower mind, achieving non-attachment with the lower mind, and identifying with the higher mind, can this mystery be solved. Thus, the “lower mind is intended to be the channel for the pure inflow of higher mind energy.”⁵⁰

We learn that thoughts are things. It is this lower mind that engages in creating those thought-forms from ideas or ideals that we sense. From the thought-forms we create is born the world of illusion. As the masses of humanity are just beginning to use the lower mind, they are becoming increasingly subject to illusion. However, this is an important stage of mental development, training, and testing, and “one through which they must pass or they will lose much valuable experience, leaving undeveloped their powers of discrimination.”⁵¹

This lower mind is the so-called mental unit within the egoic body, and is the receptive location for learning and knowledge. As such, it is concerned with accumulated information from the factual world, with memory, and the recovery of past knowledge. It has a relation to the egoic lotus knowledge petals. As the lower mind develops, it cherishes all which it has learned. This can result in such a mental focus that this mind can become closed to all differing thoughts and ideas. However, when it is allowed to open so that new theories and hypotheses may be accepted, it is often discovered that old truths are not lost, but have found their proper place in a larger picture.

For at least the last century, education has been concerned with organizing the lower mind, so that there can be an accumulation of facts. This is information which can be collected, collated, handed out, digested, and regurgitated so that people are able to compete with all the information that other people possess. But in developing the lower mind, there is always a danger of criticism becoming a major factor. Criticism can often be seen as a characteristic of mental types and coordinated personalities. It can lead to separativeness, as opposing groups use personal at

tack and invective destructively. Criticism swings mental and emotional substance into activity, and makes a strong impression on the brain cells which then works out into speech. When this occurs the lower mind becomes a barrier to the free play of higher visions. “The stream of human thoughts and of opinions is that of the public consciousness and of the lower mind.”⁵² However, if done correctly, the analysis of opposing forces or groups can be used scientifically leading to equilibrium.

In the future education, teachers will be concerned with linking the aspects of the concrete mind with the aspects of the abstract mind. The aspects of mind will then be taught to be centers of energy, which must be consciously linked via a stream of energy, to be accomplished through quiet control. In a subtle way, the result will be the transmuting of knowledge into wisdom.

The lower mind will still be the recorder and reflector of all input from the five physical senses, the emotions, and thoughts it has picked up from its environment. Yet, through training in the future, it will also become sensitive to soul impressions, eventually to serve the soul automatically. Service activities for a greater good will then become a motivating factor in a student’s life, which will result in a growing sense of inclusiveness (being a key to under

standing consciousness). As this occurs, the lower mind will begin to function in an unconscious manner similar to the rhythm of the physical heart - as the heart functions without thought input. Eventually, as lower mind func- ⁵⁰ Bailey, Esoteric Psychology - Volume I, 76. ⁵¹ Bailey, Education in the New Age, 178. ⁵² Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 491.

tioning is replaced by the higher mind, the one who has become an adept will come to know the lower mind as an illusion which no longer exists in consciousness or Being.

As the reasoning principle in humans, the lower mind is that with which the educational systems work, and is also dealt with by psychologists. In using this mind, our lives are filled with interest, ideas are expressed through the written and spoken word, and we receive beauty through the creative arts. That on which our attention has been focused for centuries has been material satisfactions, and this mind has made our material civilization what it is today. We find, particularly in the developed countries, those who have both awakened the lower mind and are demanding more material goods as a higher standard of living. To satisfy the material demand, science has be

come committed to finding only that which is provable through the physical senses, and to increasing material desires. Meanwhile, the lower mind continues to receive the training which makes for a material civilization, by developing our memory, and expanding our ability to analyze and separate. This continues leading to a world em phasizing the fields of economics and finance.

In lower types of humans, average persons, and in soul-infused personalities, we are told that there is a break in consciousness between the lower and higher minds. This break in consciousness must be bridged by creating a channel of energy (antahkarana) to relate the forms and their forces (three lower bodies) to their originating sources (Spiritual Triad as soul, and ultimately the Monad). While we have this break in consciousness, we be

come aware of many pairs of opposites. Much of the suffering which comes from developing the lower mind is due to “anticipation, memory, imagination, the power to visualise, remorse, and the inherent urge to reach out af ter divinity, which brings with it a sense of loss and of failure.”⁵³ We can, however, affect changes in conscious ness through creating alignment between our mental aspects.

After feeding the lower mind for countless incarnations with the impacts of the senses and emotions, we receive an urge to rise above the pettiness and discord of the ‘normal’ world, and seek the higher consciousness of the unseen subjective world. How is this accomplished? In a way, it is by starving the elementals of the lower mind, and of the emotional and physical planes. We starve these elementals by stilling our lower mind, through concen

tration, by developing a habit of continual occult meditation, and by living in a recognized higher consciousness until it has become stabilized. Then our threefold lower nature becomes simply the instrument through which the soul serves the Plan.

The fifth ray is active on the fifth plane, which is that of the soul and the higher and lower minds (see Figure 1). This ray is an embodiment of the principle of knowledge, and due to its close relationship with the third ray, it might be said to have a most vital relationship with humanity. When it is in full activity there can occur a shifting of God’s evolving life into new spheres of awareness. This occurred in the Lemurian root-race when individuali

zation birthed the human kingdom into the world. The power of this ray is also increasing as we approach the Aquarian Age, as the fifth ray is transmitted through Aquarius.

The ray structure for the lower mind might be the one most easily determined. For most of humanity this aspect of mind will be governed by, or be ‘on,’ the fourth or fifth rays. The lower minds of disciples may also be governed by the first or third ray. In analyzing our mental aspect, we should think about how we solve problems; the meth ods we use to analyze data; and the manners in which we speak and communicate. Are these aspects linear, logi cal, seeking evidence, or focusing only on facts as in a left-brain method (likely ray five). Or are we entertaining, colorful, dramatic, intuitive, poetic, humorous, or short on details as in a right-brain method (likely ray four).

Attributes of a first ray mind may include being rapidly moving/highly active, firm and sharp, focused and brief, seeking only the essentials, large-mindedness, and being decisive, but it can also tend to think in isolation.

Attributes of a third ray mind may include having prolific thoughts, thinking abstractly, being highly analytical, being fluid and versatile, and tending to theorize and philosophize, but it can also be very busy, become quite wordy, become entangled in a web of thoughts, be absent-minded, or be vague.

Attributes of a fourth ray mind may include having a great imagination, being sensitive to beauty, having an abil ity to see perspectives of both or all sides, and seeking to be a bridging force, but it can also be prone to indeci sion, be vacillating, tend to contrariness, and can tend to exaggerate.

⁵³ Bailey, Esoteric Psychology - Volume I, 250.

Attributes of a fifth ray mind may include seeking clarity and precision, maintaining strict methodologies, being inquiring and objective, and tending to be separative and cautious, but it can also be quite rigid, prone to narrow ness, seeking only the material nature, lacking perspective, and tending to criticize.

Again we have the planet Mercury, this time illuminating the lower mind as it mediates between personality and soul. It initially produces conflicts in the oppositions found between the pairs of opposites. Mercury is the tradi tional ruler of Gemini, as a symbol of the lower mind and a cause of the duality underlying all manifestation. In this we first recognize the Self and the Not-Self, which is really an illusion. However, as the lower mind is illumi nated, illusions are dispelled and the conflicts resolved.

PHYSICAL BRAIN

In this part of the study we are examining the physical brain, and its connection with other parts of the body. The word ‘brain’ has its roots in Anglo-Saxon (braegen), Old English (bræg(e)n, bregen), Low German (brägen), and Dutch (brein). In anatomy and zoology, the brain itself is defined as “1. Anat. Zool. The part of the central nerv ous system enclosed in the cranium of man and other vertebrates, consisting of a soft, convoluted mass of gray and white matter and serving to control and coordinate the mental and physical actions.”⁵⁴ I found this definition to be consistent with those found in the medical dictionaries consulted. The important physical aspects of the brain itself include: it is found within the head or cranium, it is part of the central nervous system, and it consists of a soft mass of tissue. A synonym for the word ‘brain’ is encephalon.

The central nervous system connects all other parts of the physical body to this mass of nerve tissue, so that the brain registers sensory input and sends out responses to that input. It is the nerve cells which conduct impulses from receptor organs to the brain, and then carry away response impulses to the affected tissues and organs. Also there are glands within the physical brain which connect with, and control, the endocrine system (linked by the blood stream). The hormones produced by these ductless glands have specific effects on organs and tissues, or a general effect on the entire body, depending on the specific gland being studied.

This organ called the brain is an interconnected and interpenetrating mixture of matter in solid, liquid, and gase ous (not in free form, but at the molecular level) states - just like the physical body as a whole. We can relate these three states of matter with the three lowest subplanes of the systemic physical plane, being known as the solid, liquid, and gaseous states of matter (see Figure 1). But what of the etheric states of matter, of which some scientists are just beginning to investigate? As these states have not yet made it into the mainstream of scientific thought, they will be considered more closely from an occult perspective in the following section.

Physical Brain Structure

The brain and mental processes have been studied for millennia. In Sumerian records and on Mesopotamian clay tablets, both dating to ca. 4000 B.C.E., are reported psychotropic effects of poppies and alcohol. The first written record about the nervous system was found on a papyrus written by an Egyptian surgeon that has been dated from ca. 1700 B.C.E. From those ancient times to the present, the composition of the brain, its structure, and its many functions have been studied through surgical techniques and a variety of scanning methodologies. The most re

cent intense study is being advanced in the U.S. through the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neu rotechnologies^TM (BRAIN) Initiative. The intent of this research is “aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. Long desired by researchers seeking new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, this picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and pro vide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought.”⁵⁵ Funding for this research initiative is provided in part by the National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,

⁵⁴ Stein and Urdang, eds., The Random House Dictionary, s.v. “brain.” ⁵⁵ National Institutes of Health, The Brain Initiative, last updated 13 Oct. 2016, https://www.braininitiative.nih.gov/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1__. Food & Drug Administration, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the White House Brain Initia tive, plus a number of private foundations and institutes, major universities, and private industries. Past studies of the brain have revealed much about the physical structure, such as the cellular makeup; the shape, size, and divisions into lobes; types of activity and processes occurring within lobe areas, etc. According to mod ern neural science, and most neurobiologists, “the mind represents a range of functions carried out by the brain… the disorders of affect (emotion) and cognition (thought) that characterize neurotic and psychotic illness must re sult from disturbances of the brain.”⁵⁶ The following provides some basic information regarding brain structure. The physical brain consists of two types of cells. Nerve cells, or neurons, are the basic building blocks and signal ing units of the nervous system. These cells are quite large and complex, with four structurally defined regions consisting of the cell body or soma, the dendrites, the axon, and the presynaptic terminals of the axon. Nerve cells generate active electrical signals, with each region of the brain having distinctive signaling functions. Glial cells (neuroglia or supporting) are typically small and do not generate active electrical signals. These are usually found between nerve bodies and also between axons. There are several types of glial cells and they are thought to serve six distinct functions, such as providing firmness and structure, removing debris, and providing the insulating sheath for axons. The brain is the major part of the central nervous system, which consists of six main areas or parts (see Figure 3). These bilateral and essentially symmetrical parts include the: 1. Spinal cord: receives information from skin, joints and muscles and sends out both reflex and voluntary mo tor commands. It also receives sensory information from internal organs and controls many autonomic functions. 2. Medulla oblongata: the lower part of the brain stem. A beak-like extension of the spinal cord. This area controls heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, swallowing, vomiting and coughing. 3. Pons and cerebellum: the mid-part of the brain stem. It modulates force, range of movement, pos ture, balance and coordination. The pons connects the left and right hemispheres of the cerebellum to each other, and the cerebellum to other brain re gions. Although not part of the brain stem, but commonly grouped with the pons, the cerebellum is important for determining timing sequences and pat terns of muscle activation during movement, and may also play a role in reflex modification and mo tor learning. 4. Midbrain: the upper part of the brain stem. It plays important roles in communication, and in control of skeletal muscles, vision and hearing. Figure 3: Major Regions of the Brain. The three parts of the brain stem are related to control of the structures in the head and neck, rather than the trunk and limbs. It contains systems which innervate blood vessels, the glands in the head and neck, and the soft inter nal organs of the body. 5. Diencephalon: contains two key relay structures: the thalamus, which processes most of the information reaching the cerebral cortex from the central nervous system, and the hypothalamus, which controls many vi tal functions such as hunger, thirst, body temperature, and hormone secretion. The pineal and the pituitary glands are also found within this area of the brain. 6. Cerebral hemispheres: the largest of the major brain regions, believed to hold the seat of reason, planning, memory, and sensory integration. It is considered by neuroscientists to be where conscious thought originates, and it influences subconscious functions of the lower brain regions. ⁵⁶ Kandel, “Brain and Behavior,” Principles of Neural Science, Second Edition, 3. The totality of the cerebral hemispheres is called the cerebrum (see Figure 4). Its surface is a convoluted layer of matter, called the cerebral cortex, where most processing of sensory inputs occurs. The cortex is divided into two hemispheres by a longitudinal fissure. Each of the two hemispheres is segmented by deep grooves into four dis tinct lobes, with each having specialized functions. The frontal lobe works with planning and movement, and handles the most complex thoughts. The parietal lobe handles the processing for many different senso ry areas, and might be an association area. The oc cipital lobe, at the back of the brain, is responsible for input and output related to vision. The temporal lobe is concerned with auditory, learning, memory and emotions. It must be noted that each of the hemi spheres is responsible for the opposite side of the body, i.e. the right side of the body is handled by the left side of the brain, and vice versa. Although quite similar in appearance, the two hemispheres are not completely symmetrical in structure, nor are they equivalent in function. Within this overall structure of the physical central Figure 4: Brain Areas and Functional Aspects. nervous system are three major sets of functional sys tems. The sensory system provides at least three types of input: visual, tactile, and proprioceptive (ones position in space) information. These inputs are fed to the motor system which issues commands to the muscles throughout the body on the basis of integrated information about the sensory periphery. The third major set is the motivational system which stimulates interest in initiating and completing behavioral sequences. This regulates motor output to the muscles as a reflection of one’s interest in an activity. It also coordinates the activity of the motor system with the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the endocrine system, the soft internal organs, and the cardiovascular system. In any behavioral act there is a constant interplay between the various components of the sensory, motor, and motivational systems so that motor output can be varied if any change is detected in the sensory periphery. The endocrine system is a network of glands that produce, store, and secrete chemicals called hormones which promote proper body function (see Figure 5 for the endocrine glands in the brain). The hormones are spread through the bloodstream (as a system of communication working in a way similar to the nervous system), and work to regulate internal processes of growth and development, internal balance, energy levels, reproduction, and response to stimuli. Three glands of this system are located within the head. These are the: 1. Pineal gland: It is located near the center of the brain, and is considered somewhat mysterious, as its function was discovered last of the endocrine glands. It was once called the “third eye” due to its connection to light. Descarte considered it to be the seat of the soul and where all our thoughts are formed. Alt hough scientists have widely rejected Descartes view, they continue to study its full purpose. Melatonin is the only hormone which it is known to produce and release. This hormone regulates circadian rhythm and also certain re productive hormones. Release of this hormone is impacted by light levels. 2. Pituitary gland: It is located at the base of the brain, and has two parts with very separate func tions. The front lobe produces and secretes hormones, while the back lobe only releases hormones produced by the hypothalamus. It is often called the ‘master gland’ because its hor mones control other parts of the endocrine sys Figure 5: Endocrine Glands in the Brain. tem. However, the pituitary gland only acts after being prompted by the hypothalamus. The front lobe of this gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone ([ACTH] which stimulates the adrenal glands to produce hor mones); follicle-stimulating hormone ([FSH] which works with LH for normal functioning of the ovaries and testes); luteinizing hormone ([LH)] which works with FSH for normal functioning of the ovaries and testes); growth hormone ([GH] maintains a healthy body composition in children, and in adults it maintains healthy bone and muscle mass, and affects fat distribution); prolactin (stimulates breast milk production); and thy roid-stimulating hormone ([TSH] stimulates the thyroid gland in hormone production). The back lobe of this gland releases oxytocin and anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) which are produced in the hypothalamus. 3. Hypothalamus: It is located between the thalamus and pituitary gland. It is involved in many functions of the autonomic nervous system and receives information from all parts of the nervous system. It is thought to be the link between the nervous and endocrine systems, and is considered by some to be the most essential of the glands. This gland secretes oxytocin (involved in body temperature, sleep cycles, ability to trust, orgasms, and release of breast milk); anti-diuretic hormone ([ADH] increases water absorption by the kidneys); corticotro pin-releasing hormone ([CRH] works with the pituitary gland to stimulate the adrenals in regulating metabo lism and immune response); gonadotropin-releasing hormone ([GnRH] works with the pituitary gland to en sure normal functioning of the ovaries and testes); growth hormones ([GHRH and GHIH] works with the pi tuitary gland to maintain a healthy body composition, aids in maintaining healthy bone and muscle mass, and fat distribution); prolactin hormone ([PRH and PIH] works with the pituitary gland in stimulating or inhibit ing breast milk production); and thyrotropin releasing hormone ([TRH] stimulating the release of thyroid hormones). Most of us have been taught about the five physical senses (seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touch) and how they relate to our perception in and of the outer world. Some scientists and researchers suggest that we use a greater number of senses, perhaps as many as twenty, in interacting with our external and internal environments. Although the Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary indicates a wide variety of what to include in our faculties of perception, for many there is not a clear definition of what constitutes a separate sense, nor is there agreement on where the borders may occur be tween responses to related stimuli. So there is ongoing research with the non traditional senses such as balance and acceleration, temperature, pain, propri oception (location in space), a number of other internal senses (those normally stimulated from within the body), and perceptions not based on specific senso ry organs (such as time). Figure 6 shows the general areas where Figure 6: Sense Reception Areas in the Brain.Scientific Perspective the five major senses are thought to be located within the brain structure. Most neurologists view the physical brain not only as the receptor and transmitter of impulses in response to stimuli, but also the source of thinking and the storehouse of memory. “One of the last frontiers of science, per haps its ultimate challenge, is to understand the biological basis of mentation: how we perceive, act, learn and re member. What rules relate the anatomy and physiology of the brain to perception and movement? Can these rules be discerned best by examining the brain as a whole or by studying its individual nerve cells and their important molecular constituents? How do genes contribute to behavior, and how is gene expression in nerve cells regulated by developmental and environmental processes?”⁵⁷ Based on the view of most neurologists (as stated in this med ical textbook), the mind is part of the brain structure. On another hand, most psychiatrists have viewed the mind as separate from the brain structure, as they work with the study, treatment and prevention of mental disorders. In the past, treatment programs emphasized low doses of ⁵⁷ Kandel, “Brain and Behavior,” Principles of Neural Science, Second Edition, 1. psychotropic drugs, individual psychotherapy, family education, and focusing on social adaptation which together resulted in decreased symptoms and increased wellness. This model of treatment has been used by experienced, pragmatically minded clinicians. More recently, psychiatry has turned toward pharmacology and newer antipsy chotic drugs by forgoing the complexities of a biopsychosocial model for a simpler, more authoritarian model that states that mental illness is a disease of the brain. “Acknowledgment of any nonexplicitly neural factors is seen as opening the door to those who dismiss mental illness as metaphysical, fake or the result of a moral failing. By these lights, meaningful interventions for those struggling with mental illness must be biochemical or anatomi cal.”⁵⁸ In the early 19^th century, ‘psychiatry’ and ‘mental medicine’ were founded by Johann C. Reil and Phillipe Pinel respectively. Their diagnostic models combined brain functioning, psychic events, and environmental stresses, taking into account such factors as excessive grief, extreme experiences like war, miscues of reason, troubles in brain development, and nervous sensibility. Over time, some psychiatric doctors veered off into forms of mysti cism while other, materialistic, doctors dismissed the mind and sought all answers for mental illness within the brain. By the late 19^th century neurologists and psychologists went to separate corners of the brain/mind divide. Psychiatry has attempted to resist that artificial separation by including genetic inheritance, nerves, brains, the self, consciousness, and impacts of the social world. Yet, there have been those attempting to ‘purify’ it by either stressing the brain or the mind, nature or nurture. This has resulted in pendulum swings in psychiatric practice as advances in knowledge tipped the scales to one side or the other. The shifts have been useful for scientists as they tend to generate research programs. Unfortunately, the swings have generally proven to be destructive and limit ing for patients. In the most recent swing, the U.S. National Institutes for Mental Health has implemented a re quirement that clinical researchers must explicitly focus on a physical target, such as a biomarker or neural circuit, in order to receive funding for research. This can be problematic for those seeing the mind as separate from the brain, as psychiatry has not been able to identify any biomarkers or circuits for its major illnesses. Although a deep divide between the proponents of ‘brain’ and those of ‘mind’ continues, we will ultimately be better off finding a middle ground rather than choosing sides. “The distinction between medical and psychological will likely become less sharp in the years ahead, as certain genetic or other biological differences will be linked to psychological vulnerabilities…. A robust psychiatry of the future will surely claim a wide purview, from the cel lular basis of behavior, to individual psychology, to family dynamics, and finally to community and social phe nomena that affect us all.”⁵⁹ Occult Perspective For the occultist, the brain is the physical instrument which is sensitive to impression from the physical senses, the emotional nature, and the mind. It is believed that the right hemisphere of the brain connects us to imagina tion, the intuition, and the ability to respond and bond with others, while the left hemisphere evaluates, analyzes, and reacts in order to guide responses to the outer world. If we were to consider the brain as having three parts, then “the animal part of our being operates from the REPTILIAN BRAIN, i.e., the sympathetic autonomic nervous system that keeps us breathing, digesting, and performing other involuntary functions. Its greatest concern is sur vival. The MAMMALIAN, or mid-brain, knows the need for socialization; this is the seat of self-esteem. The NEO CORTEX is the center of EGO structure as a result of human INDIVIDUALIZATION and is divided into left and right hemispheres, each with its own characteristics. Left: masculine in nature, rational, cognitive, analytical, positive, sequential, linear, active, goal-oriented, concrete, explicit; Right: feminine in nature, artistic, intuitive, playful, imaginative, physical, gentle, spontaneous, diffuse, visual, holistic, emotional, nonverbal, integrative.”⁶⁰ Our emotional consciousness may not be separable from the physical brain. While emotions can definitely affect our moods and the reactions sent into our physical bodies, brain activity can equally affect our emotions. Many have studied and learned about the effects of emotions on the body and vice-versa, but the causes, or how they occur, are veiled to materialistic scientists. When we learn to keep our brain and emotional body receptive to ⁵⁸ George Makari, “Psychiatry’s Mind-Brain Problem,” The Opinion Pages, The New York Times, 11 Nov. 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/opinion/psychiatrys-mind-brain-problem.html?_r=0__. ⁵⁹ Steven Reidbord, M.D., “A Brief History of Psychiatry,” Psychology Today, 20 Oct. 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sacramento-street-psychiatry/201410/brief-history-psychiatry__. ⁶⁰ Parrish-Harra, The New Dictionary of Spiritual Thought, s.v. “three-brain concept.” higher or spiritual impulses, our chakras below the diaphragm become quieted, and our minds are then freed from lower desires. The physical brain is the receptor of thought impressions from the mind. These impressions are received by the brain and nervous system in a similar manner as impressions received from the senses and the emotions. It can therefore be considered as both a receiver and transmitter of signals which come from both the lower and higher aspects of our being. Just as we are able to register and respond to numerous sensory impressions simultaneously in the brain, so are we able to register many thought impressions simultaneously. As we grow mentally, and we improve our ability to contact the lower mind through the brain, the lower mind often begins to act wildly leaving us with an overload of thoughts. Some may call this the ‘monkey mind.’ During sleep, our brains are impressed with dreams, forebodings, prescience and prognostications from both low er and higher states of consciousness. We receive these impressions more or less distinctly depending upon our receptivity. There are times when we are taught subjectively during sleep for our spiritual growth, and sometimes we are able to bring that teaching through into our brain consciousness. That which we are able to bring through is of great value, as a technique is established for opening a channel from higher to lower. Whatever these thoughts are which have been impressed on the brain, impulses of like nature are irresistibly attracted. Some believe that every thought, expressed or not, produces changes in the substance of our brains, and in our auras as well. Helena Blavatsky, a founder of Theosophy, quotes Baron Von Liebig, considered as a founder of biochemistry, from his book Force and Matter “Physiology has sufficiently decisive grounds for the opinions, that every thought, every sensation is accompanied by a change in the composition of the substance of the brain; that every motion, every manifestation of force is the result of a transformation of the structure or of its substance.”⁶¹ [emphasis by HPB] So, just as occultists are taught that like attracts like, even scientists in the nineteenth century recognized that changes occur in the brain substance as a result of thought. In Agni Yoga we are told that “If you know that an exalted, self-denying thought physically changes one's aura and even induces rays from the shoulders, then you already know one of the great mysteries of the world. Each visibility is the reflex of a material reaction. Thus, if irritation generates imperil, then each exalted thought must create an opposite beneficial substance. And so it is.”⁶² The electrical activity in the brain, which materialist scientists have found and studied, is considered by the oc cultist as fohat (the intelligent cosmic electricity or fire from which all is brought into manifestation) being the ideas of the Universal Mind impressed upon matter. If this electrical activity is considered to be thought, in the human it originates in the etheric chakras and then moves into the physical brain. “It is not the brain substance that thinks. It is time to recognize the fact that thought is born in the fiery centers. Thought exists as something ponderable but invisible, and it must be understood that a lever is not a furnace. Already many truths are knocking for admission, but only thinking about the fiery centers can be of assistance toward correct interpretation.”⁶³ This chakra, or fiery center, in the human head is the anchor point for a stream of energy called the consciousness thread. It is this stream of energy that controls the brain, and then through the nervous system it directs activity and awareness throughout the body. Our brain has evolved during the evolutionary process. Anthropologists agree with this, and also theorize about it, as they study the cranial capacity of ancient human skulls. For them in general, the larger the brain, the more ad vanced the human intelligence, thought, and perhaps of consciousness. The occultist recognizes the consciousness of the brain itself, which leads to an aspiration for mental and spiritual control. The importance of the emotional nature must be noted, in its time and place, for its purpose and usefulness in relating higher impressions with low er impressions so that they can be registered in the brain consciousness. Time is a word concept about daily living, with it being just a succession of events registered by the brain con sciousness. We try to understand the natures of both time and space as they relate to events. This is truly a great mystery to us. In the future, there will be a study when the “sense of speed as registered by the brain, plus the ca pacity or incapacity of a human being to express this speed, will, when properly approached, reveal much that ⁶¹ Helena P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled: A Master Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology, Vol. I - Science, (New York: J. W. Bouton, 1877), 250. ⁶² Helena Roerich, Signs of Agni Yoga: Hierarchy, (New York: Agni Yoga Society, Inc., 1977), 422. ⁶³ Helena Roerich, Signs of Agni Yoga: Fiery World, Book II, (New York: Agni Yoga Society, Inc., 1946), 234. today remains a mystery.”⁶⁴ We must remember that brain consciousness is different than mind consciousness. For the advanced human with a focus of consciousness in the mind, developing a group attitude will be easier while out of incarnation than it is when limited and conditioned by the brain consciousness while incarnated. Just as there is a specific energy, or ray, that conditions, or controls, the soul and the mind, so it is for the brain. When it is said that the physical body is ‘on’ a particular ray, it means that the atoms and cells of the brain, in par ticular, are colored, conditioned, and motivated by that particular energy. For most of humanity this will be either the third or seventh ray. For advanced humanity, the physical body and brain may also be conditioned by the first or sixth ray. We can discern this to a large extent by seeing whether the body is strong, stocky, muscular, active and busy, athletic, can be pushed for hours without nourishment, or fall asleep any time (ray three); or if it more delicate, graceful, in need of more regular meals, and needs an orderly environment (ray seven). With each incar nation our body, and hence our brain, may be conditioned by a different ray energy. Attributes of a first ray body and brain may include being strong, hardy, lanky, and having a ‘thick skin,’ but they can also tend to be tight, awkward, stiff, and not ‘touchy-feely.’ Attributes of a third ray body and brain may include being resilient, robust, agile, adaptable, casual, and having an ease with the physical plane, but they can also tend to need movement, be restless, and be disorderly. Attributes of a sixth ray body and brain may include obesity and water-retentiveness. Attributes of a seventh ray body and brain may include being graceful, refined, habitual, and trainable, and having planning and organizational skills, but they can also tend to have an intense need for routines, be over-sensitive to the environment, and have a lack of resilience. Interactions of the differing rays controlling the five vehicles of expression (physical, emotional, mental, person ality and soul) create a field of potential conflict and yet of opportunity. We often work under great stress physi cally. Emotionally, we must learn to detach from the many pairs of opposites and find the narrow middle path. Mentally we are developing the power to think, which keeps us active. When we handle these many opportunities with discernment, so that we remain calm and unaffected by outer conditions surrounding us, we then adapt and learn harmonious relationships. In the future, our correct adjustment to inner group relationships must be added to the adjustments we are making in our outer relationships. “The conflict in the brain consciousness of the evolving human unit begins to assume importance when the man starts to recognise these controlling energies, their source and their effects.”⁶⁵ Many people think that mental work is exhausting, and it can seem that way. However, excessive thought does not necessarily tire the brain, but instead may contribute to the interchange of higher substances within it. Occult teachings tell us that thought is transformed into substance, and this substance permeates all Cosmos. This leads to the (true) idea that ‘thoughts are things.’ We are told that esoterically there are a number of causes of mental diseases. “Smoking, drinking, sexual overindulgence, lack of sleep, overeating, irritation, a wearying depression, envy, treason, and many horrors of darkness cause the overstrain which is ascribed to mental labors.”⁶⁶ Perhaps we should ponder on these as causes of a ‘tired brain.’ There is another activity which strains our brain cells. This is the type of meditation we enter when we live a one pointed life continuously every day. When thus engaged, it “brings quiescent cells into activity and awakens the brain consciousness to the light of the soul.”⁶⁷ When followed over a period of years, this type of meditative life, which always includes some type of higher service, leads to control of the personality vehicles by the soul. It also wakens and brings into higher activity all of the chakras, especially stimulating the base chakra. ETHERIC BRAIN In the Ageless Wisdom, etheric substance underlies the physical body, and in a manner of speaking, is a blueprint for that form nature. Etheric substance is, and provides, the vitality necessary for sustaining life in the dense phys- ⁶⁴ Bailey, The Destiny of the Nations, 32. ⁶⁵ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, 700. ⁶⁶ Helena Roerich, Signs of Agni Yoga: Fiery World, Book I, (New York: Agni Yoga Society, Inc., 1969), 646. ⁶⁷ Bailey, Externalization of the Hierarchy, 18. ical world. It is the “true substantial form, the framework, the ‘scaffolding’ to which the physical body necessari ly conforms”⁶⁸ The form in which this energy substance appears can perhaps be seen as a network of crisscrossing threads, like a matrix forming a protective web. As this etheric form applies to the physical body, I think that it also applies to the physical brain, just as the threads of energy (nadis) overlie the nerves. In the esoteric teaching, the systemic physical plane (seventh plane of the cosmic physical) consists of seven sub planes (see Figure 1). The lowest three subplanes are perceivable by our physical senses, and consist of the dense physical, liquid, and gaseous (starting at the lowest). The four higher subplanes are not perceivable by our physi cal senses, and consist of the etheric, super-etheric, sub-atomic, and atomic (again starting at the lowest). I conjec ture that the etheric brain consists of some amount of matter from each of these four higher subplanes, with the percentage from each being dependent upon one’s place on the spiritual Path. Scientific Perspective Some parts of the scientific world have only (relatively) recently begun to investigate those substances and worlds of being which are not perceivable with the normal physical senses. Although Soviet research began in the 1920s with a program at the Leningrad State University Institute for Brain Research, it began to really flourish in the old USSR in the 1960’s as “the Stalinist taboo against all things psychic vanished with a bang.”⁶⁹ At that time, scien tists in the USSR which were enlisted into studying extra-sensory perception included physiologists, geologists, engineers, physicists, and biologists. These investigations were occurring at least in the USSR, Bulgaria, Czecho slovakia, and Poland. The objective was a desire to prove that occurrences outside of ‘normal’ circumstances come from some laws of the mind, and that these psychic abilities may be taught and used by anyone. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was also investigat ing paranormal phenomenon, with the intent to give an edge to the U.S. military. Differing from the approach by the USSR, the focus in the U.S. was the exploration of the human mind by psychologists. The results of these studies, apparently, were much less than expected, as “according to a 1973 DARPA-commissioned study entitled “Paranormal Phenomena”: “the U.S. has failed to significantly advance our understanding of paranormal phenom ena.””⁷⁰ Although many within the scientific community are still of the opinion that there is no reality beyond the physical, research continues through a number of avenues, perhaps most notably in the area of consciousness. One of the leading research organizations may be the Institute of Noetic Sciences, founded by astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. His experience on the return trip from the moon gave him a profound sense of universal connectedness, and led him “to conclude that reality is more complex, subtle, and mysterious than con ventional science had led him to believe. Perhaps a deeper understanding of consciousness (inner space) could lead to a new and expanded understanding of reality in which objective and subjective, outer and inner, are under stood as co-equal aspects of the miracle of being.”⁷¹ There are other explorations and experiments continuing, particularly within college psychology departments conducting research, such as in mental telepathy. The research is being met with varying degrees of success. (I believe the degree of success is dependent upon the level of consciousness of the test subjects). However, the lack of sustainable success in these experiments reinforces the general disdain by the scientific community. Other ex periments are combining the work of neuroscientists and computer engineers to create brain-to-brain interfaces as a crude telepathic technology. This has been done by using an EEG to capture electrical signals from one brain, which are then sent over the internet to a computer which translates them into impulses delivered to a recipient’s brain. Unfortunately, none of these research methods are directly seeking to discover the etheric nature of the physical realm as taught to occult students. However, this will eventually change in the field of medicine. “The ⁶⁸ Parrish-Harra, The New Dictionary of Spiritual Thought, s.v. etheric body. ⁶⁹ Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Bantam Books, 1971), 3. ⁷⁰ Larry Greenemeier, “U.S. and Soviet Spooks Studied Paranormal Powers to find a Cold War Advantage,” Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2008, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/us-and-soviet-spooks-studied-parano-2008-10-29/. ⁷¹ “What are the Noetic Sciences,” n.d., http://www.noetic.org/about/what-are-noetic-sciences__.

next great move in medicine will be to recognise the fact of the etheric body, the physical substance which under lies dense matter.”⁷²

More directly related to the etheric field is the study of plasma, which has sometimes been referred to as the fourth state of matter, since it is not solid, liquid, or gaseous. Although the research and experiments cross and combine many scientific fields, and plasma science “has contributed significantly to our society and will continue to do so, it is not yet adequately recognized as a scientific discipline.”⁷³ Perhaps in the future this research will provide the proof needed to overcome the general impasse between the scientific community and the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom.

Occult Perspective

The etheric body is said to form the blueprint, or be the underlying basis, for the construction of the physical body. It is also sometimes called the vehicle of prana, which is called the life-force permeating the universe. We are told its purpose is to receive and store radiatory light and heat from the Sun, and then, through the spleen, transmit this ener gy throughout the physical body. Prana is also said to be the life principle and force aspect of the soul, and therefore this soul force, “through the medium of the etheric body the soul animates the form, gives it its peculiar qualities and attributes, impresses upon it its desires and, eventually, directs it through the activity of the mind.”⁷⁴ There is a stream of energy, called the consciousness thread, which originates in the soul and anchors in the head. Another stream of energy, the life thread, originates in the Monad and anchors in the heart. Together, these two threads are called the sutratma.

I suggest that the etheric body may be seen, occultly, like a web of energy threads overlying and interpenetrating the physical form. Wherever these threads of energy intersect we find the chakras. The seven major chakras have twenty-one intersections; the twenty-one lesser, or minor, chakras have fourteen intersections; and the forty-nine, or many hundreds, of smaller chakras have seven intersections. There are five major etheric chakras behind the physical spine (being the base, sacral, solar plexus, heart, and throat) and two outside the head (being the ajna and crown). Each of these seven major centers in the body is expressed physically through the endocrine system, and has an effect on certain organs. The major etheric centers and their relation to the endocrine glands and the physi cal organs are stated to be as follows:

Center Endocrine Gland(s) Organ(s)

Head or Crown Pineal Upper brain, right eye

Ajna, between the eyebrows Pituitary Lower brain, left eye, nose, nervous system Throat Thyroid and Para-thyroids Breathing system, alimentary canal Heart Thymus Heart, blood, circulatory system, vagus nerve Solar Plexus Pancreas Stomach, liver, gall bladder, emotion, nervous system Sacral Gonads (testes and ovaries) Sex organs

Base of Spine Adrenals Kidneys, spinal column

Much of our physical well-being is dependent upon the health of the spleen (an externalization of a minor chakra) and the correct alignment of our spinal column. Misalignment and congestion in these physical structures may indicate some difficulty in the link between our etheric and physical natures, which may result in illness and diffi culties in the physical form. Pranic energy must be properly assimilated and distributed for the physical body to function as intended. The health of the endocrine glands may also be an indicator of the condition of the chakras. We are instructed to study the condition of the “glandular equipment, studying it from the standpoint of its rela tion to the seven major centres in the body. In many cases, the glands indicate the condition of the centres.”⁷⁵

Just as the physical body has an ‘etheric double,’ I suspect this is true of the brain as well, as it is part of the phys ical body. The two major centers in the head are directly related to the faculties of mind and of motion. The first, being the head, or crown, center embodies spiritual energy, demonstrates as Will, as the higher mind, and as the ⁷² Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 197. ⁷³ Panel on Opportunities in Plasma Science and Technology, Plasma Science: From Fundamental Research to Techno logical Applications, https://www.nap.edu/read/4936/chapter/1__, (National Academy Press, 1995), 184. ⁷⁴ Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, 57. ⁷⁵ Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, Volume II - A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume II, (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1942), 479. intuition. The second, being the ajna center, is related to the lower mind, our psychic nature, and hence the ‘third eye’ of psychic sight. As our spiritual life grows and the two major head chakras become more active, these two glands will begin to function more actively. “The molecular movements of the pituitary gland develop psychic sight, but for the spiritual, highest sight, there should also be movements of the pineal gland. The radiations or emanations of these two glands, when unified, bring the highest results.”⁷⁶ In addition to these two major etheric centers and their corresponding glands, we are told of a third head center which is not listed with the named major or minor etheric centers. This is called the alta major center. Occultly, one reference identifies this as a ‘congery of nerves,’ with the corresponding gland to be the carotid, with these located “at the top of the spine, where the cranium and the spine make approximate contact.”⁷⁷ My initial thought was that there must be an etheric double for the alta major center, but there is none listed which would ‘fit the bill.’ If there had been an etheric center listed, I thought that it might have been related to the hypothalamus gland, which is the third endocrine gland in the brain. But the reference is directly to a ‘nerve center,’ and so might be related to the three-part brain stem. There are no references to a carotid gland in the recent medical lexicon. Another hypothesis relates the alta major center with the hindbrain and the vagus nerve. “In the head triangle, the alta major chakra has a unique position, first because of its relationship in the head triangle and second, due to its powerful link to the cerebellum, the medulla oblongata, the spine and vagus nerve. The cerebellum is part of the hindbrain and controls voluntary muscles and, therefore, movement – and is energetically linked to the root or base chakra. The medulla oblongata, also part of the hindbrain which is closest to the spinal cord and is involved with the regulation of heartbeat and heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and the reflex centers, as is the vagus nerve. The medulla is energetically connected to the throat and heart chakras.”⁷⁸ Ms. Barsotti then goes on to sug gest that the carotid gland “could represent what we see as the reticulum and currently call the RAS and reticu lar formation. To know if there is a correlation here, I assume a proper investigation will have to wait until there is a more robust imaging detector than the fMRI, since we cannot easily see the RAS using this current technology.”⁷⁹ The reticular formation in the brainstem is “a protoplasmic network in cells,”⁸⁰ and therefore, to me, does not seem to relate to what may be the alta major center and the carotid gland. In Esoteric Healing, we are given a different possibility for the alta major center. That is the reference relating it to the carotid gland. The carotid gland, or body, is an old medical term used for a group of cells which are found where the carotid arteries in either side of the neck split, with one side supplying blood to the brain, and the other side to the face. “Lying in the bifurcation of the common carotid artery on each side, is a small body, about 5x3x2.5 mm in its various dimen sions, of doubtful origin, of unknown function, and occasionally giving rise to a definite tumor formation. This is the so-called ‘carotid gland’ or ‘carotid body.’ It is oval in shape, reddish brown in color, and is closely connected with the sympa thetic nerve fibers which surround the carotid ves sels.”⁸¹ As there is a carotid artery on each side of the neck, therefore there would be two of these bodies or glands. Finally, we are told that the alta major center is formed where the spinal column connects with the ⁷⁶ Helena Roerich, Letters of Helena Roerich, Book One: 1929-1938, (New York: Agni Yoga Society, Inc., 1954), 7. ⁷⁷ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 960. ⁷⁸ Tiffany Jean Barsotti, “A Proposed Spiritual Axis of the Bodymind: How the Reticular Activating System (RAS), Va Figure 7: Triangles in the head, from Esoteric Healing, p. 581 gus Nerve and the Alta Major Chakra Axis May Be the Nexus of Bodymind/Spirit Consciousness,” Master of Theology The sis, Holos University Graduate Seminary, 2010, 95. ⁷⁹ Barsotti, “A Proposed Spiritual Axis of the Bodymind,” 96. ⁸⁰ Taylor, ed., Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, s.v. “reticulum.” ⁸¹ Richard H. Miller, M.D., F.A.C.S. and Frederick E. Garland, M.D., “Tumor of the Carotid Gland,” The Boston Medi cal and Surgical Journal, (Volume 191, October 9, 1924), 659. skull. This places it at the lowest part of the back of the head, presumed to be outside of the head as are the other etheric centers. But, unlike the other etheric centers which are constituted of etheric matter of the higher subplanes (particularly in disciples), the alta major center “is formed of the lowest grade of etheric matter: matter of the fourth ether.”⁸² So, what the alta major center is, and its relation to the carotid gland remains a deep mystery, particularly when it is also identified as one of the major head centers, instead of the ajna as being a major center. “Healers would do well to remember that when the three centres in the head are linked up and the magnetic field is therefore set up and the radiance is present, the healer can then use the ajna centre as the directing agent for this “dispelling radi ance.” It is interesting to note that the two major centres in the head (corresponding to atma-buddhi, or the soul) are the head centre and the alta major centre, and that these correspond esoterically to the distributing agents of the right and the left eyes, as do the two glands in the head: the pineal gland and the pituitary body. You have, therefore, in the head three triangles, of which two are distributors of energy and the third is a distributor of force.”⁸³ Perhaps what is of true importance is that the awakening of these three centers in the head is an indica tion of growing soul influence over the personality. It is from these centers that the soul will illuminate the per sonality, and that light will spread to the entire physical plane life, until “the whole life of the Personality is sub jected to the will of the Ego.”⁸⁴ In the Ageless Wisdom teachings, we are told that within the etheric matter in the region of the head are seven centers of force (“three major and four minor”⁸⁵), and that these are linked to and have a direct correspondence with the other centers in the body. It is through these head centers that soul force is circulated throughout the body. As the rate of vibration within these seven head centers increases, so the seven major etheric centers of the body are brought into resonance, which then stimulate the analogous physical centers. As the lower centers are stimulated, the force returns to the head centers furthering their power. “It is in the linking up of the centre with its counterpart in the head that illumination comes.”⁸⁶ Development of the etheric centers must be scientifically pur sued to avoid danger. When the seven head centers have awakened, then their counterparts in the etheric body can also be safely awakened. The seven head centers referred to in the preceding paragraph have a relationship with our seven principles (vital energy; desire, feeling; concrete mind; abstract mind; intuition; spiritual will; and monadic). Within the head the three major centers include: 1) the head (sahasrara) center: also called the well, crown, or thousand-petaled lotus, embodies spiritual energy and is expressed through Will, intuition, and the abstract mind, and is condensed in the pineal gland; 2) the ajna center: between the eyebrows, is expressed through the concrete mind, and desire and feelings, is linked with the heart center, and is condensed in the pituitary gland; and 3) the alta major center: links with the four lesser head centers and the throat center, is expressed through vital energy, and it is a mystery as to what its physical component might be. We are also told that these seven lesser head centers are all synthesized by the crown center. The seven lesser head centers have a correspondence with seven etheric centers in the body, which include 1) the head considered as a unit; 2) the heart; 3) the throat; 4) the solar plexus; 5) the base of the spine; 6) the spleen; and 7) the organs of generation (understood to be the sex organs). We are told that these seven head centers are a reflection in the hu man microcosm of the seven stars of the Great Bear (being the seven head centers of “HIM OF WHOM NAUGHT MAY BE SAID”⁸⁷). Along with the correspondences shown within the human unit and in the greater cosmic Being, there is also “a vital and significant correspondence to be found between the seven head centres and the seven groups of Egos on the mental plane, and there is an occult analogy between the three head centres (pineal gland, pituitary body, and the alta major centres) and the expression of these seven groups of Egos in the three worlds. This is a most important esoteric fact, and all students of meditation upon the laws of at-one-ment must take this analogy into consideration.”^{88 82} Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1129. ⁸³ Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 581. ⁸⁴ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 964. ⁸⁵ Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 74. ⁸⁶ Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 290. ⁸⁷ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 182. ⁸⁸ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1206. What are these seven etheric/emotional/mental head centers, and what are their physical correspondences? We have not yet been given specific information about where and what they are, but we do have some clues. The seven ener getic head centers are divided into three major and four minor centers, “with their union and consummation seen in the gorgeous centre surmounting and enveloping them all.”⁸⁹ The three physical centers corresponding to the three major energetic centers are the pineal gland, pituitary gland, and the body related to the alta major center. We are also told that the “four lesser centres are blended in that centre which we call the alta major centre and need not con cern us.”⁹⁰ From the information given, we can speculate that the four lesser head centers might have some relation ship in the physical brain with the solar plexus, the base of spine, the spleen, and the sex organs. In studying the physical brain for this paper, I have not yet been able to identify where these areas may occur. None-the-less, as the seven head centers respond to soul energy, the centers in the body are “affected along the line of purification and control.”⁹¹ The centers in the head, like those in the body, do not radiate and glow all at once. Each center in the body and in the head radiates differently, glows with different colors, and so produces a complex blended tone. In the head, “normal thinking utilizes only certain groups of centers, and it would not be good for all the centers to flash out at once. Only during a high state of ecstasy can a harmonious radiation of all the centers be noticed. But such a ten sion cannot be achieved often, otherwise the physical body would burn up.”⁹² To protect ourselves on this spiritu al journey, we are told to “make haste slowly,”⁹³ using common sense and recognizing the factor of time to read just the habits of a lifetime. During initiatory ceremonies (commencing with the third) when the One Initiator applies the Rod of Power, the flow of force from the Monad is initially directed to the seven head centers, and finally to the “radiant head center above”⁹⁴ which synthesizes the lesser seven head centers. In my understanding, the center named “the thousand petaled lotus” is the one synthesizing the seven lesser centers. As each lower center in the body is vitalized, the corresponding head center is also vitalized. The energy of each lower center is then transferred to the correspond ing head center. Eventually the seven centers in the body and the seven centers in the head become synchronized, and rotate in unison. ALIGNMENT We have now studied the various aspects of the soul, the mind, and the physical/etheric brain. In some manner, each of these aspects of our true nature must be somehow linked. The name we have been given for creating these relationships is ‘alignment.’ Both before and during researching this aspect of our growth in consciousness, a number of questions came to me: 1) What exactly is alignment? 2) What types of alignment are there? 3) How is alignment achieved? 4) What are the results of the achieved alignments? In this section we try to find and under stand the answers to these questions. From all the energies and forces expressing through our chakras, in our rayological structure, and in astrological influences, we are “a mass of conflicting energies and an active centre of moving forces with a shift of emphasis constantly going on, and with the aggregation of the numerous streams of energy presenting a confusing kaleido scope of active inter-relations, interpenetration, internecine warfare, and interdependence until such time as the personality forces (symbolic of divine multiplicity) are subdued or “brought into line” by the dominant soul.”⁹⁵ Perhaps a more proper use of the term ‘alignment’ might be the bringing into correct relationship our various lower natures by our soul. The present evolutionary goal for humanity as a whole “is the alignment of his threefold Personality with the body egoic, till the one straight line is achieved and the man becomes the One.”⁹⁶ For a disciple, the goal is a di- ⁸⁹ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 168. ⁹⁰ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 169. ⁹¹ Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 200. ⁹² Helena Roerich, Supermundane, the Inner Life: Book IV, (New York: Agni Yoga Society, Inc.), 1938, 811. ⁹³ Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 198. ⁹⁴ Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 139. ⁹⁵ Bailey, Esoteric Psychology - Volume II, 340. ⁹⁶ Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 5. rect alignment with the chakras, the physical brain and the soul. Before the goal can be achieved for the group or the individual, the physical, emotional, and mental bodies must be stabilized, coordinated, and controlled. This is a requirement for an integrated personality through which the higher Self can function in full consciousness on the physical plane. Since the three lower bodies are needed, and are of equal importance in serving the divine Plan, our development must not be lopsided. By wisely coordinating our outer expression, our inner divinity may then manifest in some avenue of world service, and we will then become of real use to the Hierarchy. When we consider how we may best serve to manifest our understanding of God’s plan, it is important that we be able to think clearly so that the ideas we receive may be expressed accurately. Our brains must be sensitive re ceivers of our highly developed and trained minds. We must be intelligent workers in this service. “Just to love God is not entirely sufficient. It is a step in the right direction, but devotion, unbalanced by good sense and brains, leads to much stupid action and much unconsidered effort.”⁹⁷ In order to become truly sensitive servers, the gaps between the lower mind, the soul as son-of-mind, and higher mind must be bridged. Because religious traditions talk about making the ‘at-one-ment’ or attaining ‘alignment,’ this seems to have always been sensed or realized. However, our personality is seldom aligned with soul con sciousness. Our astral nature is usually out of alignment, displaying violent emotions or vibration, or an unsteady restlessness. Sometimes our mental body acts as an obstruction, stopping soul impulses from reaching the brain. It takes much work through many incarnations to calm the emotional body, and to build a mental body that acts as a filter and not a barrier. The goal for alignment in our mental body should be that it becomes an agent for the Spiritual Triad, and a trans mitter of thoughts and wishes of our soul. Our emotional body should become a reflector of buddhic impulses coming from our causal body and from the astral permanent atom. What is Alignment? In consulting several types of dictionaries, I found that it can apply to both physical and metaphysical concepts. The term itself has generally been defined in relationship to straight lines: medically as “1. The act of arranging in a straight line;”⁹⁸ or traditionally as “1. an adjustment to a line; arrangement in a straight line;”⁹⁹ but it is also spir itually defined to be an energetic adjustment, as “attuned to, on a wave length with, working in consort with.”¹⁰⁰ Since the materialistic scientific perspective has generally not recognized a soul, and it considers the mind as somehow a part of the brain, there does not seem much left with which to have a relationship created. So, the spir itual definition is the one which I have chosen to gain a deeper understanding. From an occult perspective, the types of relationships we seek to build come from creating and adjusting lines of energies and forces. The intent of this process is to allow direct contact between the higher and lower aspects of our being. It is a process leading initially to a fusion of personality and soul, and later to what is called the “mys teries of identification.”¹⁰¹ These alignments occur on the evolutionary path, either naturally or by being con sciously directed by a soul-inspired personality. When we choose, as a spiritual disciple, to take the more direct route, our outer lives can become more difficult and yet more joy-filled. All that we see manifested is a form of energy, as Einstein theorized in 1905. The forms with which energy is clothed is a basic sphere. We see this best in the atom (microscopically) or the solar system. Fundamentally then, we are told, alignment is an unimpeded communication between the center and the periphery of that sphere - at any and all levels. Within the sphere, energy and forces are transmitted through an alignment achieved on all lev els, and always occurs through the use of the first aspect of divinity, that of the Father or Will. “It deals with the transmission of electric fire. It is important to bear this in mind, as it preserves the analogy between the macro cosm and the microcosm with accuracy.”^{102 97} Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 239. ⁹⁸ Clayton L. Thomas, M.D., M.P.H., ed. Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Edition 15, (Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, 1986), s.v. “alignment.” ⁹⁹ Stein and Urdang, eds., The Random House Dictionary, s.v. “alignment.” ¹⁰⁰ Parrish-Harra, The New Dictionary of Spiritual Thought, s.v. “alignment.” ¹⁰¹ Alice A. Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations - A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Volume V, (New York, NY: Lucis Pub lishing Company, 1960), 62. ¹⁰² Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1135. Types of Alignment: There are a number of types of alignment which we have to consider, and these occur as processes leading to ex pansions of awareness. An early stage of these processes involves a focused, concentrated effort, and is based on ray type and soul purpose. They may be expressed as any type of soul service, where the motivating factor is a higher good, and is generally achieved through much effort. Eventually we discover that a path between soul mind-brain has been created, and it gives us a definite soul contact. For our general physical plane life condition, we have three centers where the life force enters and is transmitted throughout our bodies - the spleen, the heart and the head. We also have many centers, or chakras, throughout our bodies. But the major chakras up our spines, in particular, must be open and functioning well together for our best health. The chakras of our etheric body must also be linked with the corresponding centers in our emotional and mental bodies. When these are all opened and aligned, these centers will register and transfer energies coming in to our form nature as a result of the alignments between soul and personality, that with our ashram, and with our Spiritual Triad. This alignment is directed from a head center, and requires many incarnations to be completed. Then, we slowly become able to discern the rays governing our physical, emotional and mental natures, leading to our personality ray beginning its control, and in time, our soul ray will dominate our personality. Physically for optimal health, our spinal column must be in line from side-to-side, and have the correct curvature from front-to-back. This permits the best reception and transmission of impulses between our body and brain. We must also create and maintain a steady contact between our mind and emotional body, so that our mental control is continuous and our emotions are not running rampant. (Functioning as a sentient, emotionally vital person was an evolutionary goal in an earlier root-race). Mentally, we must create the optimal conditions to facilitate a similar reception and transmission between our brain and the mind as that occurring between our body and brain. Spiritually, this reception and transmission must be developed between the brain, lower mind and the soul. Further along the evolutionary path, when the lower mind of our personality has fused with the soul (as son-of-mind), the relationship being established is between the higher mind of the Spiritual Triad and the soul-infused personality. Ultimately in the realm of human evolution the relationship, or alignment, must be established between the Monad and the Spiritual Triad as an expression of service in the world. There must be an alignment created and stabilized between our soul and brain, with the energy moving through our mental and emotional bodies. This line of energy subdues our lower nature, and wakens our brain conscious ness to soul awareness. There must be an alignment created and stabilized between our soul and personality, whereby soul is in control, resulting in our conscious relation to the Kingdom of God. There must be an alignment created and stabilized between our soul-infused personality and the Ashram, so that there is a conscious relation with the Master of the Ashram. There must be an alignment created and stabilized between the initiate (of the 3^rd degree) and the Spiritual Triad. In this comes a growing recognition of the monadic energy entering one’s life. How is Alignment Achieved? The various alignments previously described are the objectives for those following certain disciplines of life and stages of growth through meditation. How do we achieve the desired and expected relationships for each of those types? We are told of two factors to consider in this regard. The first factor is that of coordination, which is re sponsible for integrating the physical, emotional and mental aspects of the personality. The second factor is that of alignment, which relates to control of the personality by the soul by creating a direct line of contact, and a free flow of energy, between the soul and the brain, using the mind as an intermediary. The very basics of achieving accurate alignment involve a quiet mental attitude where our lower mind has become controlled, having a stable emotional body not prone to upheavals, and a poised etheric body with higher vibration matter being built in. The early stages of the alignment process require intense concentration and meditation. Lat er, the alignments become almost instantaneous, and our attention can be turned to other work. The Masters of the Wisdom have learned mantrams and certain modes of work which can help disciples to speed up the evolutionary process of consciousness expansion. However, these are seldom used. Instead, the safer and normal process is to let each disciple learn for her/himself “through experience, experiment, frequent failures, oc casional success, mature reflection and introspection, and frequent incarnation…”¹⁰³ By this method of learning about the types of energy and our various bodies, we become aware of the forces within ourselves. We can then learn how to use the achieved alignment in order to consciously manipulate energy, and so physically manifest our intended soul service. First, we should look at our motivation for creating and maintaining these relationships. Our motives are general ly derived from our level of knowledge and understanding (mental body), and our devotion to some cause and love for humanity (emotional body). If our motivation is for personal gain of any type, this is an expression of selfishness which will be detrimental to our spiritual life. Therefore, we must enter into this work with a sense of selflessness. Second, we must enter into the discipline and training involved in a concentrated and one-pointed practice of meditation. This technique of the mind eventually produces the correct and unimpeded relationship, called align ment, not only between our personality and Monad, but also between the seven etheric centers in our body. The type of meditation must include intentionally visualizing and identifying with and as those higher aspects of our being, and of creating the link between our higher and lower natures. The link which we build is a stream of con scious mental substance, called the antahkarana or rainbow bridge. We are told of three stages in building this bridge in meditation: 1. Creating an alignment between mind-brain by understanding our inner nature regarding the etheric body and the chakras. This shows the mind is controlling the brain and the emotional nature, and is brought about through the concentration aspect of meditation. The result is an aligned personality with its attention focused in the intellect. 2. Creating an alignment between brain-mind-soul so that the integrated personality is steadily expressing the in dwelling soul. This shows that the soul is in control of the mind, and this is brought about through meditation. This brings the mind, which is focusing all its lower energies, into direct relation with the soul by an act of the will. 3. Creating an alignment between lower mind-soul-higher mind, thereby illuminating the personality. In this stage the mind reflects the light and knowledge of the soul, and the brain is illuminated. A great deal can happen psychologically and physiologically in meditation. Our mind can become controlled by the soul, with thoughts becoming quicker and clearer. We can then record impressions from both the objective and subjective worlds. As this is occurring, our emotional nature is being controlled by the mind, which is becom ing still and untroubled, and presenting no barrier to the inflow of spiritual knowledge to our brain. These effects also produce changes in our brain, particularly in the area of the pineal and pituitary glands, where the soul and personality centers of force are located. Third, we strive to be conscious of how we are using and directing energy - physically, emotionally and mentally. When used in conjunction with daily occult meditation, watching our use of energy can produce greatly increased efficiency in our lives. As part of the factor of alignment, we must develop having the attitude of being the Observer, the soul, as we pay closer attention to our daily duties as a disciple - how and what we think of ourselves, and what we say and do. “The goal is to develop the powers of observation which are those of the soul, and the cultivation of the power to register, through the medium of the brain, the thoughts of that divine Perceiver.”¹⁰⁴ Through the alignment created by identifying with and as the soul, by decentralizing from our personality desires, and in having a greater focus on service to others, our soul love will be released more fully into our personality life, thereby increasing our use fulness in Hierarchical service. Sometimes the factor of alignment is that of the personality with the soul, which is done by calling in the power of the egoic lotus knowledge petals to the brain. This is a stage that involves refocusing our mind toward that higher reality, “holding the mind steady in the light,”¹⁰⁵ and seeking identification with and as soul. In this we learn to ¹⁰³ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 1131. ¹⁰⁴ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume I, 194. ¹⁰⁵ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age - Volume I, 298. visualize our mind as a center of pure light, as a reflector of soul light, and a transmitter of soul wisdom to the world. A higher stage of this activity is to invoke the energy of the egoic lotus love petals to the brain. In this way, knowledge will then be added to wisdom, expressing as love. Another aspect in understanding the use of energy in alignment is that of purifying our physical vehicle, subduing our emotional vehicle, and stabilizing that alignment with our lower mind through the use of the will. “The mental body, then, is in direct communication, unobstructed and free from interference, straight through to the physical brain.”¹⁰⁶ There must be a certain percentage of matter from the third physical and emotional subplanes for our personality to recognize and obey our soul. When this occurs, matter from the two highest physical and emotional subplanes are then built into those two form natures. Our lower mind is used in this process which aligns our three lower bodies. In this process, matter built into our physical and emotional vehicles which came from the lower subplanes of the dense physical and astral planes is cast out, and matter of the higher subplanes is built in. This ties into our use of the Sacred Word in meditation, through which, when rightly sounded, alignment automatically occurs, lower vibration matter from one or the other of our bodies is dispersed, and more adequate vehicles for illumination are created. Fourth, we train ourselves in the work of perception. Our soul, mind, and brain must all be trained, but they each have different orientations and focus. We must train our brain to be receptive towards impressions coming from the mind, instead of only registering and recording sensory inputs from our bodies and emotions. We must then train our minds to be receptive to ideas and impressions coming from the soul, rather than just recording all outer information. “In time we can acquire facility and practice in utilizing either brain or mind actively or passively, and eventually bringing about a perfect interplay between them and finally between the soul, the mind [Page 141] and the brain.”¹⁰⁷ Results of Alignment: As we follow the processes to create alignment, when the various degrees of alignment have been achieved, by expressing good intentions, and by desiring to serve and love, we can experience and realize a number of general effects, which may include: our mind becomes illumined; there comes a sense of power flowing through our per sonality bodies; we realize an awareness of the divine Plan; and world needs and the soul capacity to meet those needs enters our consciousness. It should be noted that we must take great care in the alignment process to avoid effects which cause problems for individual and group growth. Occult meditation transforms human desire into spiritual will, which is our higher will in serving God’s purpose. In meditation, the first stage objective is to visualize and establish alignment. Its ultimate result is in producing an alignment which may be seen in individuals, groups, and planetary life. “Fundamentally, meditation is to assist alignment and so permit of contact with the Higher Self; hence its institution.”¹⁰⁸ Our three centers of life-force may not be in proper relationship due to our basic mistakes and centuries of wrong living. This may lead to our heart center between the shoulder blades being out of place, or our spleen being of abnormal size, and with all three centers just not functioning in the best working order. The sex organs can be stimulated, which is a most undesirable condition for spiritual growth. Master DK tells us that its basic cause is in the low types of modern dance (see Letters on Occult Meditation pgs. 197-198). This ref erence is likely to the swing dances of the Big Band era, or those seen in the movie “Dirty Dancing,” and “Danc ing with the Stars” as seen on U.S. television. I surmise that much of the dancing which has developed since the 1950’s may also fit in this category. The rhythmic movements of modern dance tie into the forces and the lowest type of matter found in the emotional body. The correct awakening, functioning and alignment of the seven etheric centers in one’s body will eventually bring to that person a full expression of divinity. The etheric body becomes receptive to the seven streams of energy coming from the seven planetary centers, bringing in a sense of unity with the planetary Logos. These energies are used to perfect one’s endocrine system, which results in “a “perfect man”—physically perfect, emotionally stable and mentally controlled.”¹⁰⁹ The perfected endocrine glands then show strength, alertness, and aliveness. ¹⁰⁶ Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 1. ¹⁰⁷ Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition, 140-141. ¹⁰⁸ Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 9. ¹⁰⁹ Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 621. There can be an alignment achieved of instinct, intellect, intuition, and identification. In meditation our lower concrete mind, the group mind, the hierarchical mind, and the universal mind become related. Through its “invoc ative, demanding, fusing, receptive and distributory”¹¹⁰ nature, it builds the antahkarana, controls the head center as a point of focus, and controls the ajna center as the distributor of spiritual energy. This leads to a conscious alignment of the chakras of disciples, as well as of Humanity, Hierarchy and Shamballa. Our three major centers (head, heart and throat) are illuminated when the etheric/physical, emotional, and mental bodies are aligned with the causal body through certain rhythmic movements, intense aspiration and ardent desire. This comes from an inflow of force from the higher Self. Along with this illumination may come an inner sight, inner hearing, or an inner sense of vibration. When our physical, emotional, and mental bodies have been stabilized and aligned, the real work of our soul can be completed. Our mental body can come into direct communication with our physical brain, while holding our physical and emotional bodies ready for action. We might see this type of alignment in the great thinkers of hu manity, who developed their lower mind. When intense aspiration and ardent desire are used in aligning these three bodies with the soul, the effect is a flow of energy into the head, heart and throat centers, and they become more alive and luminous. In aligning our three lower vehicles, purity is necessary. When they become aligned the flow of force will be un impeded, with the effects seen in both a material sense (setting loose the energy of substance which weakens the hold of the Lunar Lords on those holding the form nature together) and a psychic sense (stimulating conscious ness and thereby acquiring latent psychic powers). Then, the flow of force affects the pineal gland, pituitary gland, and alta major center so that “man becomes psychically aware in the physical brain of the higher influ ences, happenings and powers.”¹¹¹ This alignment occurs through correct occult meditation, preparing the aspirant for his/her field of service, and brings about a right relationship between student and Master. When our mind and brain have become aligned, mental telepathy on the lower mental planes becomes possible for the integrated personality. As this degree of alignment is achieved through our conscious aspiration, into our life (as disciples) we face difficulties, problems and situations as tests of character and karmic adjustment. “But the compensation is adequate if disciples would be more occupied with the inner realities and less engrossed with the outer difficulties.”¹¹² With the alignment and control of our etheric body by the soul, we may often find this expressed in greater physi cal vitality rather than as qualities in consciousness. If there is imperfect alignment between our soul, mind, and emotional body, we may find poor reception from the higher mental planes, truths transmitted by our soul will likely be distorted, and there could be a dangerous trans fer of force to undesirable chakras (from an evolutionary standpoint of aspirants). The lower, or unready centers, can then become overstimulated, resulting in disastrous effects. When our soul, brain, and heart are aligned and in contact, intuition from the Buddhic plane is evoked, which can then be awakened and used in dispelling illusion. When the soul, mind and brain are in right relationship and functioning properly, it will show a person who is “in stinctively correct, intellectually sound, and intuitively aware.”¹¹³ This is indicative of humans who are civilized, cultured, and spiritually awake. (This type of alignment should be one of the goals for the future education). When this has been achieved, one can focus the mind on work in the objective world as an efficient member of society, or focus it on spiritual work and function as a true son of God. This shows a person who is living simul taneously in the outer world and the Kingdom of God. This type of alignment may be displayed by the great lead ers of humanity, those who are able to persuade others through emotion and intelligence. In this alignment and contact, soul energy from the higher levels of the mental plane is evoked. The energy can be awakened and used in dissipating glamours, bringing illumination into the astral plane. Through this, direct knowledge of our soul becomes a fact and reality in our lives, and not just a belief and hope. Intuitional telepathy ¹¹⁰ Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume II, 198. ¹¹¹ Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 886. ¹¹² Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, Volume II, 603. ¹¹³ Bailey, Education in the New Age, 50. on the higher mental planes becomes possible as the means of communication between souls. The Soul, or Think er, enters into the divine Mind and transmits thoughts to the aligned aspirant. In this alignment, the soul functions through the personality in full waking consciousness as the controller of the physical body. Through regular and daily meditation (suited to each individual based on ray type, stage of discipleship, and point in evolution) our personality and soul are aligned, and linking with our Master may occur without being deceived by emotional plane glamours and illusions of the many entities masquerading as Teachers and Masters. As inte gration of the soul and personality occurs, the ajna center becomes increasingly active. The ultimate effect of the alignments achieved during the meditation process is the purification, adjustment and control of our three personality vehicles. Each of these then becomes attuned to the note of Soul, which is in pro cess of becoming synchronized with the Monad. In achieving control, that aspect of Soul on the mental plane is now expressed by: immediate manifestation of thought on the physical plane, perception being independent of the sense organs or the mind, and mastery over substance. The alignment spoken of is achieved in the life of the adept who has conquered death and no longer requires rebirth. “Matter has been brought into a state where its vibration can synchronise with that of the soul, and the result is that - for the first time - spirit can make its presence felt, for “matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of soul on this plane of experience and the soul is the vehicle for the manifestation of spirit on a higher turn of the spiral. These three are a trinity synthesized by life which pervades them all.””¹¹⁴ CONCLUSION This study has led me into five distinct areas of exoteric and esoteric knowledge. One could spend a lifetime with in each area of study, and still not arrive at all that is to be known, or shared. It is important for each of us to rec ognize that study and knowledge, in and of itself, is useless if it is not used for expressing a higher purpose. I found that I was able to answer some of my initial questions, at least partially. Answers to other questions are, as my wife says, ‘a mystery of the universe.’ Although there is still a preponderance of those in the scientific field who accept only that which can be measured with the physical senses and their available instruments, there is a growing trend to accept and believe some theo ry of a ‘soul’ existing as a part of our being. This is being led, perhaps, by materialistic scientists who are experi encing the inexplicable, such as the ‘near-death-experience.’ In this their worldview became unalterably changed, and they feel compelled to write about it. Eventually the soul (in its several types, responsibilities, relationships, and unity) will be studied, known, and taught as a scientific fact. Ultimately, the mystics and the scientists will come together in oneness of thought and purpose. The mind, as an instrument of thought and consciousness separate from the brain, is still undergoing the same type of disagreement between scientists and many others, as we see with the soul. Neuroscientists who deeply study the brain continue to look for the mind and source of consciousness within the nerve fibers and physical structure. Those who study thought and consciousness, primarily in the fields of psychology and psychiatry have learned that perception and mentation cannot be found in the nerve fibers, but only the effects are seen. This im passe will not be overcome until materialistic scientists broaden their worldview to include the unseen realms. Eventually, the mind (in its many types, stages, and ultimate unity) will come to be recognized, and a new era will dawn in education and the sciences. The physical brain continues to undergo intense scientific study, as people look for answers which will only be found in the study of the mind, and its many aspects. Our brain is a necessary receiver and transmitter of impres sions from both the objective and the subjective realms. Until it is properly trained, it is like a radio or television which is not correctly tuned to a specific station. All that we receive is perceived as static. Much of the research now focused on the physical instrument could be redirected to the study of the mind, soul and etheric worlds. I hypothesize the etheric brain to be a blueprint for the physical brain, as we are taught that the etheric field over lies all of the nerve fibers. Within the etheric structure, where the nadis cross, are the centers, or chakras. There are seven head centers, three being major (head, ajna and alta major) and four minor (undefined but synthesized ¹¹⁴ Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 369. by the alta major). 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