Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle

by Alice A Bailey

  VII. THE SCIENCE OF IMPRESSION

  [41] The entire subject of telepathic communication can be approached under a more subjective designation or name, but one which is interpretive of the more universal and prior stage than that of direct telepathic reception. The occultist ever approaches the subject connected with the evolutionary process from the angle of the whole and then the part, from the periphery to the centre, from the universal to the particular. Among Themselves, the Masters do not deal with telepathy as a science warranting consideration, endeavour and impartation; They are concerned primarily with the Science of Impression. The term most often employed by Them is the esoteric equivalent of what the average person means when he says, “I have an impression.” Impression is the subtlest reaction (more or less accurate) to the vibratory mental activity of some other mind or group of minds, of some whole, as its radiatory influence affects the unit or aggregate of units.

  The first stage of correct telepathic reception is ever the registering of an impression; it is generally vague at the beginning, but as a thought, idea, purpose or intention of the sending agent concretises, it slips into the second stage which appears as a definite thoughtform; finally, that thoughtform makes its impact upon the consciousness of the brain in the location lying just behind the ajna centre and consequently in the area of the pituitary body. It can appear also in the region of the solar plexus centre. But for those Lives Who have surmounted life in the three worlds and Who are not conditioned by the triple mechanism of the personality, the impression is the factor of importance; Their consciousness is impressed, and so sensitive is Their response to the higher impression, that They [42] absorb or appropriate the impression so that it becomes a part of Their own “impulsive energy.”

  This is by no means an easy subject for me to elucidate, and the reasons are two:

  1. The members of the Hierarchy (among Whom I have the status of Master) (Discipleship in the New Age I, 777) are Themselves in process of learning this Science of Impression. This They do on the levels of the abstract mind, of the intuition, or of manas and buddhi.

  2. The science is as yet without a vocabulary. It is not limited at any stage by thoughtforms but it is limited by word forms; and it is therefore a difficult problem for me to pass on any information anent this subtle mode of communication of which telepathy is in fact but an exoteric externalisation.

  Sources of Impression to the Three Planetary Centres

  Impression, as an art to be mastered both from the angle of the impressing agent and of the impressed recipient, is definitely related to the world of ideas. As far as our planetary Life is concerned, there are certain great sources of impression and one or two of them might here be noted; you will thus gain some idea of the subtlety of the whole subject, of its close relation to energy impacts and of its group reception as differentiated from individual reception, as is the case in any telepathic rapport.

  1. The impression of Shamballa by:

  a. Members of the Great White Lodge on Sirius. The recipients of this impression are the highest Members of the Great Council, presided over by the Lord of the World. So subtle is this impression [43] that these Great Lives can only receive it with accuracy when in full joint conference of the entire Council, and also after due preparation.

  b. From one or other of the constellations which are at any particular time astrologically en rapport with our planet. This impression can only be received by the Great Council when sitting in conclave with a majority of its Members present. This, I would have you note, does not entail the attendance of the entire Council.

  c. From a triangle of circulating energy, emanating from the two planets which—with our planet, the Earth—form a triangle in any particular cycle. This impression is received by the three Buddhas of Activity for distribution to the Hierarchy.

  d. From the planet Venus, the Earth’s alter ego. This makes its entrance via the Lord of the World and three of His Council Who are chosen by Him at any specific time to act as recipients.

  These are the major entering impressions, recorded by what is glibly called “the Universal Mind,” the mind of God, our planetary Logos. There are other entering impressions, but to them I do not refer, as any reference would be meaningless to you.

  2. The impression of the Hierarchy by:

  a. Shamballa itself through the medium of groups within the Great Council; these step down the impression which they register so that the Hierarchy—as a whole—may cooperate with the purposes intended by those who are forming the needed Plan. [44]

  b. Certain great Lives Who, at specific times and according to cyclic rhythm, or in times of emergency, are swung into this type of activity. For instance, one such time would be the Full Moon period, which is a time of reception by the Hierarchy as well as by Humanity; an instance of the second type of activity would be the Wesak Festival, or those acute crises when intervention is required from sources far higher than those with which the recipient is usually en rapport. Such a crisis is fast approaching.

  The first type of impression is rhythmic, recurrent and therefore cumulative in its intended effects. The second type of impression is the result of invocation and evocation and is dependent upon both the recipient and the agent.

  c. That great group of divine Contemplatives who are trained to act as an intermediate receptive group between Shamballa and the Hierarchy. They receive impression from Shamballa and transmit it to the Hierarchy, thus enabling the Members of the Hierarchy to receive it as “a sharpened impression” and to register it accurately because the emanating impression has passed through an area within the divine Mind where it is enhanced by the trained perception and the determined receptivity of this group. They are called, in the East, the divine Nirmanakayas. I only mention Their occult name so that you may learn to recognise Them when you meet reference to Them.

  d. The Buddha at the time when the Wesak Festival is celebrated. He then acts as a focal point or as the “distributor of the impression”; He then has [45] behind Him (little as you may realise it) the entire impressing force of the Buddhas of Activity Who are to Shamballa what the Nirmanakayas are to the Hierarchy.

  Let me here interpolate a remark which may prove helpful and illuminating. We are dealing (as you will undoubtedly have noted) with the reception of impression by groups or by aggregations of groups composed of living Beings Who have Their own agents of distribution or impression. The entire evolutionary history of our planet is one of reception and of distribution, of a taking in and of a giving out. The key to humanity’s trouble (focussing, as it has, in the economic troubles of the past two hundred years, and in the theological impasse of the orthodox churches) has been to take and not to give, to accept and not to share, to grasp and not to distribute. This is the breaking of the Law which has placed humanity in the position of guilt. The war is the dire penalty which humanity has had to pay for this great sin of separateness. Impressions from the Hierarchy have been received, distorted, misapplied and misinterpreted, and the task of the New Group of World Servers is to offset this evil. These Servers are to humanity what the Buddhas of Activity are to Shamballa, and the group of divine Contemplatives (the Nirmanakayas) are to the Hierarchy. It might be stated therefore that:

  1. The Buddhas of Activity are Themselves impressed by the WILL of God as it energises the entire planetary life.

  2. The Nirmanakayas are impressed by the LOVE of God as it demonstrates itself as the attractive force which impulses the Plan inspired by the Purpose. In other words, it is the Hierarchy, impelled to action [46] by Shamballa, or the Will-to-Good, externalising itself as goodwill.

  3. The New Group of World Servers are impressed by the active INTELLIGENCE of God; they translate this divine impression and step it down in two great stages, therefore, bringing it into concrete manifestation.

  We now carry this conception of divine impression down to the level of the human consciousness.

  3. The impression of Humanity by:

  a. The
Hierarchy, through the stimulating of ideas. These demonstrate through a steadily growing and enlightened public opinion.

  b. The influence of the Ashrams of the Masters as they affect the aspirants of the world, the humanitarians and the idealists. These impressing agencies, being seven in number, constitute seven different streams of impressing energy which affect the seven ray types. The united Ashrams, forming the great Ashram of the Christ, affect humanity as a whole; this great united Ashram works solely through the New Group of World Servers whose members are on all rays, of all grades of development, and who work in all the various departments of human living and enterprise.

  c. The activity of the New Group of World Servers about which I have already written in my various pamphlets; therefore repetition is not necessary. (A Treatise on the Seven rays, II, 629-751. A Treatise on White Magic, 398-433)

  It will be obvious to you that I have only touched upon a few, a very few, of the impressing forces of the planet, and have [47] enumerated only a few of the major groups which are—in their intrinsic nature—both recipients of impression and agents later of the impressing agent. When we arrive at the human family, this reciprocal activity is blocked by human selfishness; it is this “interruption of impression” and this “interference with the divine circulatory flow” which (as I have said above) is responsible for sin, for disease, and for all the various factors which make humanity today what it is. When the free flow of divine energy, of divine interplay and of spiritual purpose is re-established, then evil will disappear and the will-to-good will become factual goodwill upon the outer physical plane.

  In the statements given above in connection with the three great planetary centres you have the basis for the new and coming Approach to Divinity which will be known under the expression: Invocative and Evocative religion. It is this new Science of Impression which forms the subjective basis and the uniting element which binds together the entire realm of knowledge, of science and of religion. The fundamental ideas which underlie these great areas of human thought all emanate from intuitional levels; they finally condition the human consciousness, evoking man’s aspiration to penetrate deeper into the arcana of all wisdom, for which knowledge is the preparatory stage. This Science of Impression is the mode of life of the subjective world which lies between the world of external happenings (the world of appearances and of exoteric manifestation) and the inner world of reality. This is a point which should be most carefully taken into the calculations of the occult investigators. Impressions are received and registered; they form the basis of reflection for those aspirants who are sensitive enough to their impact and wise enough to record carefully in consciousness their emanating source. After due practice, this period of brooding upon the registered [48] impression is followed by another period wherein the impression begins to take form as an idea; from that point it follows the familiar course of translation from an idea into a presented ideal; it then comes under the invocative appeal of the more concrete-minded until it finally precipitates itself into outer manifestation and takes form. You will see, therefore, that what I am doing is to take the student a step further into the world of reception and perception and point him to the more subtle contacts which lie behind those concepts which are regarded as definitely nebulous and to which we give the name of intuitions.

  The Science of Impression—if studied by the disciples in the world and by the New Group of World Servers—will greatly facilitate the presentation of those ideals which must and will condition the thinking of the New Age and will eventually produce the new culture and the new civilised expression which lies ahead of humanity, superseding the present civilisation and providing the next field of expression for mankind. This science is, in fact, the basis of the theory of relationships and will lead to the expansion of the idea of right human relations which has hitherto—as a phrase—been confined to an ideal desire for correct interplay between man and man, group and group, and nation and nation; it has also hitherto been restricted to the human society and interplay, and remains as yet a hope and a wish. When, however, the Science of Impression has been correctly apprehended and has been brought down to the level of an educational objective, it will be found to be closely linked to the emerging teaching anent invocation and evocation and will be expanded to include not only right human relations to the superhuman kingdoms, but right human relations with the subhuman kingdoms also. It will, therefore, be concerned with the sensitive response of the entire natural and supernatural world to the “One in Whom we [49] live and move and have our being”; it will put mankind into a right relationship with all aspects and expressions of the divine nature, deepening subjective contact and bringing about a diviner objective manifestation and one more in line with divine purpose. It will lead to a great shift of the human consciousness off the levels of emotional and physical life (where the bulk of humanity is focussed) on to the levels of mental perception.

  You will understand, consequently, the reason why the Knowers of the world have ever referred to the dual action of the mind as it is sensitive to the higher impressions and active in the mental creation of the needed thoughtforms. The mind, rightly trained, will seize upon the fugitive impression, subject it to the concretising effect of mental activity, produce the required form, and this, when correctly created and oriented, will finally lead to the externalising of the registered impression, as it took form in an intuition and eventually found its place upon the mental plane. You will see also why disciples and world workers have to function as MINDS, as receptive and perceptive intelligences and as creators in mental matter. It is all related to this Science of Impression with which we have been dealing. You will note also that this whole process is capable of expansion in the processes of meditation, so that the aspirant can be sensitive to impression and (because he is oriented to the world of ideas and is aware of the subtlety and delicacy of the apparatus required to register the “overshadowing cloud of knowable things”) is safeguarded from the sensitivity required to register impacts from other minds, good or bad in their orientation, and from the thought currents of that which is in process of taking form as well as from the powerful pull or urge of the emotional and desire reactions of the astral plane and of the emotionally polarised world in which he lives physically.

  [50] More understanding will come also if you grasp the fact that this Science of Impression is concerned with the activity of the head centre as an anchoring centre for the antahkarana, and that the ajna centre is concerned with the process of translating the recorded intuition into a form (through recognition of and reaction to a mental thoughtform) and its subsequent direction, as an ideal objective, into the world of men. In the early stages and until the third initiation, the Science of Impression is concerned with the establishing of a sensitivity (an invocative sensitivity) between the Spiritual Triad (temporarily expressing itself through the abstract mind and the soul or the Son of Mind) and the concrete mind. This mental triangle is a reflection, in time and space, of the Monad and of the two higher aspects of the Triad, and is reflected (after the process of invocation and a succeeding process of evocation) in another triad—that of the lower mind, the soul and the vital body. When the relation between the lower and the higher mind is correctly and stably established, you have the swinging into activity of the lowest triad connected with the Science of Impression—the head centre, the ajna centre and the throat centre.

  In the above I have given you an interesting and brief elucidation of the technique to be applied to the energising of the centres in the human body. I would remind you that what is true of the individual disciple must be and is true of that great disciple—Humanity, the entire human family. It is also true, as an outgrowth of this idea, of all the three planetary centres: Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity. The name Science of Impression is that given to the process whereby the establishment of the required relationship in all these units of life takes place. The Technique of Invocation and Evocation is the name given to the mode or m
ethod whereby the desired relationship is brought about. [51] The Creative Work is the name given to the manifestation of the results of the two above processes. The three aspects of the Technique of Invocation and Evocation with which the average disciple should concern himself are those of the building of the antahkarana, the correct use of the lower mind in its two higher functions (the holding of the mind steady in the light and the creation of the desired thoughtforms), and the process of precipitation whereby the impression is enabled eventually to take tangible form.

  In the above exegesis I have given you much food for thought in connection with telepathic possibilities; it all fits into the theme of world service as it is to be applied in the expansion of the human consciousness on a large scale. This is one of the major tasks of the New Group of World Servers.