A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  b. Physical brain impression. The accurate realisation by the physical brain of what the Ego is seeking to convey concerning the work to be done only becomes possible when two things are realised:

  Direct alignment.

  The transmission of the egoic energy or will to one or other of the three physical centres in the head:

  The pineal gland.

  The pituitary body.

  The alta major centre, or that nerve centre at the top of the spine, where the cranium and the spine make approximate contact. When this congery of nerves is fully developed, it forms a centre of communication between the vital energy of the spinal column (the kundalini fire) and the energy of the two head centres above enumerated. It is the physical correspondence to the antaskarana on higher levels. [961]

  [962] The pituitary body (in all cases of correct normal development) forms the centre which receives the threefold vitalisation pouring through the sutratma from the lower mental, the astral, and the etheric planes. The pineal gland comes into activity when this action is enhanced by the pouring through of energy from the Ego on its own plane. When the antaskarana is in process of utilisation the alta major centre is likewise employed, and the three physical head centres begin to work as a unit, thus forming a kind of triangle. By the time the third Initiation is reached, this triangle is fully awakened and the fire (or energy) is circulated freely.

  It will be apparent, therefore, that man’s ability to create in mental matter grows as he treads the Path. He needs to remember that (from the angle from which we are studying) we are not considering the power of the Ego to produce forms on the mental plane, but the ability of physical plane man to create upon the mental plane those vehicles for energy which—when set in motion by his conscious will—will produce certain specific effects upon the physical plane. This is brought about by egoic energy passed down the sutratma to the physical brain, and retransmitted back to the mental plane, plus or minus that which has been gained or lost in the process. The true Adept, through knowledge, conserves all energy while in process of transmission, and augments it with the energy contacted. It is, therefore, the energy of will, plus that of desire, fed by the energy of the physical brain. Literally, therefore, it is a small resume of the creative process of the Godhead, being the [963] energy of the three persons unified, and considered from the standpoint of the physical. It is the at-one-ment of the three fires in man, being in fact:

  a. That much of the fire of spirit, or electric fire, which any particular Ego is embodying (relatively little prior to the third Initiation) or is able to transmit, coupled with,

  b. That much of the fire of the solar Angel (solar fire) or the egoic aspect which the Ego is able to transmit. This is but little in average man, a good deal in the man on the probationary path, and a full downpour by the time the third Initiation is reached.

  c. That much of the fire of substance in its purified state which can penetrate. This is dependent upon the purity of the three sheaths, and in the case of a highly advanced man is the kundalinic fire as it swells the blaze produced by the other two.

  When, therefore, the alignment is corrected, and the physical head centres are awakening, it becomes possible for man to become a conscious creator in mental matter.

  IV. Man and the Fire Spirits or Builders

  This section we will consider in somewhat greater detail than the previous one, as it concerns much of present practical value to man. This will be seen particularly as we study the effects of speech, and the occult significance of the spoken word.

  1. The Will Aspect and Creation.

  In a previous division, we dealt somewhat with the transmission of the will of the Ego to the physical brain, and we saw how only in those persons who (through evolutionary development) had the sutratma and the antaskarana connected, and whose three physical head centres were more or less awakened, was the will of the Ego capable of transmission. In the other cases, such as the average man and little developed man, the purpose [964] affecting the physical brain emanated from the astral or lower mental levels, and was, therefore, more likely to be the impulse of some lunar Lord, even if of a high order, than the divine will of the solar Angel, who is the true man.

  a. The condition of the Magician. It is of value to remember that when the physical head centres are awakened (through alignment of the etheric centres) we have the very lowest aspect of egoic influence. From these three centres, man on the Probationary Path, and up to the third Initiation, directs and controls his sheath, and from them spreads that illumination which will irradiate the physical plane life. By the time the third Initiation is reached, the internal triangle is in full process of circulatory transmission, and the whole life of the Personality is subjected to the will of the Ego. “The Star absorbs the light of the moon, so that the rays of the Sun may be reflected back” is the occult way of expressing the truth anent this point in evolution. It might be of value here also to point out the condition of the etheric centres during this process of direct solar control. Before the three physical head centres awaken, man is largely subjected to force flowing through the four minor etheric centres; later the three major centres—the head, the heart, and the throat—begin to vibrate, gradually assuming a greater sweep of activity, till their energy tends to negate that of the lower centres, to absorb their vitality and deflect the direction of their vitality, until the three higher wheels are in full fourth dimensional activity. As this proceeds, the three physical head centres begin to awake from dormancy into activity, the effect being felt as follows:

  a. As the major head centre awakens, the pineal gland begins to function.

  b. As the heart centre becomes fully alive, the pituitary body enters into activity. [965]

  c. As the throat centre assumes its right place in the process of evolution, the alta major centre vibrates adequately.

  When the triangle of force that these three physical centres form is in circulatory effect, the greater triangle can be seen in circulation; it then becomes a “wheel turning upon itself.” The major etheric centres are in full action, and the man is nearing the moment of liberation.

  In the work of creation, as occultly carried on, all these three physical centres have to be utilised, and from a consideration of the subject it will become apparent why it has been necessary to deal with them in this order.

  By means of the pineal gland, (289) the organ of spiritual perception, man ascertains the will and purpose of the Ego, and from thence he draws the necessary energy [966] from the higher levels, via the head centre and the sutratma.

  By means of the pituitary body, the second element of desire or of the form-building energy, becomes available, and under the law of attraction he can mould, and build in deva substance.

  When the alta major centre, the synthesis of what might be called nervous energy, is awake, it becomes possible for him to materialise and activate the desired form which, through attractive energy, he is in process of constructing.

  It will be apparent, therefore, why it is that so few people ever construct thought forms which are of constructive lasting benefit to humanity, and also why it is that the Great Ones, (as They work through Their disciples) are forced to work with groups, being seldom able to find a man or woman whose three physical head centres are simultaneously active. They frequently have to work with large groups before the quota of energy supplied to Them for the accomplishment of Their ends measures up to that necessitated.

  It will be obvious, likewise, that the disciple’s power for service for humanity is dependent largely upon three things: [967]

  a. The state of his bodies and their egoic alignment.

  b. The condition of activity present in the physical head centres.

  c. The circulatory action of the triangular transmission of force.

  These factors are again dependent upon others, among which might be enumerated:

  1. The ability of the disciple to meditate.

  2. The capacity he displays for bringi
ng through accurately from the subtler levels the plans and purposes of which his Ego is cognisant.

  3. The purity of his motives.

  4. His power to “hold a state of meditation,” and while in that state begin to build the form for his idea, and thus materialise the plan of his Ego.

  5. The amount of energy he can pour later into his thought form and thus procure for it a period of existence, or its tiny “day of Brahma.”

  These subsidiary factors are again dependent upon:

  a. His place on the ladder of evolution.

  b. The condition of his bodies.

  c. His karmic condition.

  d. The tenuosity of the etheric web.

  e. The calibre of his physical body, and its relative refinement.

  It is necessary here to warn the student against the error of making any hard or fast rule anent the sequential order of the development of the physical head centres, and the vitalisation of the force centres. This process is incident upon many things, such as the ray upon which the monad may be found, and the nature of the development in the past incarnations. Nature, in all departments of her corporate life, parallels her efforts, and overlaps her various processes, and it takes a seer of [968] vast wisdom and experience to state exactly the stage at which any particular unit of the human family may be. He that is wise always refrains from assertion until he knows.

  Let us now consider:

  b. The construction, vitalisation, and actuating of the thought form. The Ego, having brought about a condition of receptivity, or of recognition in the physical brain of the man, and having drawn from him the necessary response, the process of building is thereupon begun.

  This process of physical plane response is based—as is all else in nature—upon the relation of the polar opposites. The physical centres are receptive to the positive influence of the force centres. The physical brain is responsive to the positive influence of the lower nature in the earlier evolutionary stages, or to the reactions of the substance of the sheaths, the impress of the lunar Lords. It responds in the later stages to the positive influence of the Ego or the impress of the solar Lord.

  As is apparent, this building process is divided into three parts, which overlap, and assume an appearance of simultaneity. When (as is the case with the majority of the human family) the process is an unconscious one, produced by reflex action and based largely on the accomplishment of desire, all is carried on with great rapidity, and leads to rapid results—these results being effective of accomplishment according to the ability of the man to vitalise and hold in coherent form his idea. Most of the thought forms created by average man are only relatively effective, and this within great limitations, and having but a restricted radius. When man is learning consciously to create, which he does through the organisation of thought, concentration and meditation, he proceeds more slowly, for he has two primary things to do before the creative process can be carried through: [969]

  a. To contact or communicate with the Ego, or solar Angel.

  b. To study the process of creation and to make it conform step by step with natural evolutionary law.

  The above is necessarily but another way of defining meditation and its objective.

  Later on, when a man is an expert in meditation, the work of thought creation proceeds with ever increasing rapidity, until he surpasses (on a higher turn of the spiral) the activity of the earlier unconscious period.

  Starting, therefore, with the recognition of the egoic intent in the physical brain, the man proceeds to build the form for his idea. He begins first to organise the material required upon the mental plane. It is on that plane that the impulse takes to itself its primary form. On the desire or astral plane, the process of vitalisation is largely pursued, for the length of the life of any thought form (even such an one as our solar system) is dependent upon the persistence of desire, and the strength of the desire.

  On the etheric levels of the physical plane the process of physical concretion takes place; as the physical vehicle assumes the necessary proportions, the thought form becomes divorced from the one who is giving it form. Any idea of enough strength will inevitably materialise in dense physical matter, but the main work of its creator ceases when he has worked with it on mental, astral and etheric levels. The dense physical response is automatic and inevitable. Some ideas of a large and important nature, which have arisen in the consciousness of the Guides of the race, reach full manifestation only through the medium of many agents, and the dynamic impulses of many minds. A few work consciously, when this is the case, at the production of the necessitated [970] form; many more are swept into activity and lend their aid through the very negativity of their natures; they are “forced” to be interested in spite of themselves, and are “swept into the movement,” not through any mental apprehension or “vital desire,” but because it is the thing to do. In this may be seen an instance of the ability of the Great Ones to utilise conditions of apparent inertia and negativity (due to little development), and thus produce good results.

  We will here only deal with the man who is learning consciously to build, and will not consider the process as pursued by the adept, or the chaotic attempts of the little evolved. Having grasped the idea, and having with care discriminated the motive underlying the idea, thus ascertaining its utilitarian purposes, and its value to the group in the service of humanity, the man has certain things to do which, for the sake of clarity, we might sum up in certain statements:

  He has, first of all, to hold the idea sufficiently long for it to be faithfully registered in the physical brain. Frequently the Ego will “get through” to the brain some concept, some portion of the plan, and yet will have to repeat the process continuously over quite a long period before the physical response is such that the solar Angel can rest assured that it is intelligently registered and recorded. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the entire process is greatly facilitated if the “shadow,” or the man, pursues regular meditation, cultivates the habit of a daily and hourly recollectedness of the higher Self, and before retiring at night endeavours to “hold the thought” of bringing through at the time of awakening as much as possible of any egoic impress. When the reaction between the two factors, the Ego and the receptive physical brain, is established, the interplay is reciprocal, and the two are keyed or tuned to each other, the second stage is entered upon. The idea is conceived.

  [971] A period of gestation is then pursued, itself divided into various stages. The man broods over the idea; he ponders upon it, thereby setting up activity in mental matter, and attracting to his germ thought the material necessary for its clothing. He pictures to himself the contour of the thought form, clothing it with colour, and painting in its details. Hence will be seen the great value of a true imagination, and its ordered scientific use. Imagination is kama-manasic in origin, being neither pure desire nor pure mind, and is a purely human product, being superseded by the intuition in perfected men, and in the higher Intelligences of Nature.

  When his will, or the initial impulse is sufficiently strong, and when the imagination, or power of visualisation, is adequately vivid, the second part of the gestation period is entered upon, and the vitalisation by desire is begun. The interplay of mental impulse and desire produce what might be called a pulsation in the organising form of the idea, and it becomes alive. It is yet but nebulous and its tenuosity is great, but it shows signs of organisation and the outline of its form. Students must remember that this entire process is being carried on now during this stage which we are considering from within the brain. There is thus a definite correspondence to the work of the nine Sephiroth:

  The initial three correspond to the egoic impulse with which we have earlier dealt.

  The secondary group of Sephiroth find their analogy in the work pursued in the stage we are now dealing with, or the impulse of mind-desire, emanating consciously from man’s brain.

  The work of the final three is accomplished when the thought form, being cloth
ed in mental and astral matter, passes into objectivity on the physical plane.

  [972] A later stage in the gestation period is pursued when the thought form, being clothed in mental matter, and having become vitalised by desire, takes to itself a layer of substance of astral matter, and is consequently enabled to function on the astral plane as well as the mental. Here its growth is rapid. It should be carefully borne in mind that the process of building in mental matter proceeds simultaneously, and that the development is now twofold. Here the conscious builder must be careful to hold the balance, and not to let imagination unduly assume too large proportions. The manasic element and the kamic element must be justly proportioned, or else will be seen that too common manifestation, an idea wrongly conceived and nurtured, and therefore impossible of playing its just part in the evolutionary plan, being but a grotesque distortion.

  The idea now is reaching a critical stage, and should be ready for the assumption of physical matter and to take to itself an etheric form. When on etheric levels, it receives that final impulse which will lead to what may be called its “actuating,” or its reception of that motivating impulse which will lead to its dissociation from its originator, and the sending out to assume

  1. A dense form.

  2. A separate existence.

  It should be remembered that the thought form has now passed from the mental plane, taken to itself an astral sheath, and likewise is gathering to itself a body of etheric matter. When it has reached this stage its vitalisation is proceeding apace, and the hour of its separated existence is drawing near.

  This vitalisation is consciously carried out by the man who—according to the original intent or initial impulse—directs to the thought form energy of some kind. This energy is directed from one or other of the three higher centres, according to the quality of the embodied idea, [973] and will be seen pouring towards the rapidly objectivising idea from the particular centre involved. We must not forget that we are considering the thought form of the conscious builder. The thought forms of the majority of human beings are energised from no such high source, but find their active impulse emanating from either the solar plexus, or the still lower organs of generation.