It is an undisputed truism that the state of the body and mind has a direct influence upon the indwelling Spiritual being, and that Spiritualization, or the attainment of Soul Consciousness is retarded by the state of the physical health, ESPECIALLY if weakness or sickness of the body is caused by disobedience to some Natural Law and removable by obedience to the Law.
Complete, well-rounded development is concerned equally with body, mind and the inner Spiritual self. It is likewise true that when there is a sincere, consistent effort to change the mental, emotional self by a whole-Souled desire for freedom from the destructive passions, such as run the gauntlet between maliciousness, hate, and resentment, then the physical self will be freed from many of the weaknesses and ailments to which it has been subject.
This method, procedure, or Science, is designated as The Science of the Soul, for the reason that the incentive is from within the innermost self, the hidden, awakening Christos or Divine Spark.
Medical science has finally recognized several facts which the Occultist has always held as fundamental truths. It is now accepted that the mental and emotional state has an almost unbelievable influence on the body for either health or disease. An emotional upheaval, more frequently than men are willing to believe, can cause acute indigestion resulting in heart failure, mental unbalance, even cancer and all of the various other diseases mind and body are heir to and DOES SO IN POSSIBLY SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT OF ALL DISEASES!
Contrariwise, an emotional ecstasy, a Spiritually uplifting experience, may instantly or gradually, if the emotional ecstasy is held on such a balance, cure such diseases. Such an emotional change or uplift is, of course, based on the afflicted person's recognition that giving way to anger, malice, hatred, resentment and all other degrading and depressing passions IS EVIL IN ACTION.
It is necessary to create a strong awakened desire to change these destructive passion into their opposites of kindness, gentleness, graciousness and other heartfelt emotions. These emotions being of a Spiritual nature, have been rightly recommended as the method to be practiced as The Science of The Soul.
Medical science has progressed beyond its primary concept, realizing now that many diseases are the direct result of DESTRUCTIVE emotional upheavals. This recognition DIRECTLY concerns and is of untold importance to the Acolyte in Arcane Science. To indicate to the searchers for the truth that makes men free, it is only necessary to quote extracts from an article that appeared in the April, 1955, issue to the Mississippi Valley Medical Journal, written by Jonathan Forman, M.D.:
"Do not subscribe to the idea that dis-ease has a place
within the natural order. First, if we skim the pages of history,
we can deduce only that dis-ease is an effect of abnormal Living.(1)
Secondly, if we ask ourselves pragmatically whether it pays to
look upon dis-ease as an abnormality and make every effort to
keep our health, we must answer, `yes'. Finally, all biometric
data indicates that dis-ease is an expression of the abnormal.(2)
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(1) Abnormal living, or living in any respect contrary to natural
laws, whether in thought, desire or act, is a sin and the REaction
is an abnormality or dis-ease. Making Health Certain, published
in 1921 was built entirely on this theory. Philosophical Publishing
Company, Quakertown, Pa.
(2) The abnormal body, mind or the Spiritual self is always the
result of Disobedience, though such DISobedience may be unconscious.
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"Nature at all times and in all places is attempting to maintain an equilibrium. When she approaches it, there is the beginning of positive health.
"Behind this...of established facts, there is always
the concept that dis-ease has governed men's mind at particular
periods of history. Man still refuses to assume any responsibility
for his health.(3) Consequently he expects scientists to furnish
physicians with powerful poisons to kill the invading germ, but
never quite strong enough to kill the patient...
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(3) Though men refuse either to admit or accept their responsibility
for their state of mental, physical health, Nature compels them
to suffer in proportion to their disobedience or infringement
of her Laws.
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"There can be no doubt that at times since the race
began there have been a great variety of factors, some favorable,
some unfavorable, some physical, some chemical, and some psychological(4)
acting upon each man and woman through out the ages.
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(4) An emotional upset is psychological. Its influence is first
upon the nervous system, then the mind and finally the body, the
material mechanism which "manifests" the DISorder, or
imbalance; the effect being to the degree of the severity of the
emotional stress. As far as can be estimated, fully 65% of all
diseases have their origin in emotional upsets.
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"Within these limits the body functions and operates without present-day methods of examination.
"On the other hand, these adaptive processes may not function well enough to meet the full demands of the rest of the body; thus the economy of the body may become impaired. In this event the individual develops unusual feelings, associated with which are no {apparent} changes in the function or structure demonstrable by modern techniques or examination.
"This condition can be assured present as a pre-clinic disorder or disturbance in equilibrium. If it is continued or becomes slightly more pronounced, this imbalance of the organism's equilibrium will result in impairment of function, and finally, in most instances of organ structures readily detectable by the examining physician. This breakdown {in proper functioning} is called Dis-ease.
"Between health and dis-ease, I am trying to point out there is a zone which is neither one nor the other(5). The objective of creative medicine(6) is to get a fuller understanding of the interplay of the forces within the human body, and how to keep them at work at, or near the full
potential, with little or no wear and tear.
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(5) The efforts of the Initiate or Secret Schools ever since the
time of Egypt have been directed in a positive manner. The entire
theme of the present work is designed to help the Acolyte
recognize this truth and to bring about a state of peace and tranquillity.
This is accomplished by the elimination, transmutation or change
of those passions which tend to upset the harmony of the emotional
nature; DEPRESSING IT -LOWERING ITS RATE OF VIBRATION -so that
inharmony and imbalance cannot take place, jeopardizing health
of mind, body and Soul.
(6) This objective the Secret Schools have always attempted to
bring about by instructing its Acolytes in the destructiveness
of the passions which bring about depressions and indirectly imbalance;
at the same time affecting adversely the Divinity within man,
degrading it instead of resurrecting it from under the
debris with which man's actions tend to entomb it.
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"A responsible body of knowledge now being assembled
deals with the large relationship in Nature. Ecology, like all
natural science, rests upon the laws which govern the behavior
of energy(7) and matter. These laws express the universal tendency
of every process to work toward a condition of equilibrium.(8)
The process whereby life and environment are inter-related are
no exception.
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(7) Nature uninterfered with, may bring about an adjustment. It
generally does this in animal life. However, right here the psychological
factor functions. In animal life, there is no emotional upheaval
to upset the laws working toward a balance. Man, possessing free
Will and feeling, both of which are seldom under control,
gives both free Will and his emotions free play with the result
that his destructive felling or passions interfere with the free
actions of nature and are strong enough to upset the entire physical
economy.
(8) Equilibrium is not only Nature's highest order, but it is
equally vital to Spiritual self-being. The emotions affect equally
both the physical and the Spiritual bodies, keeping them constantly
in unbalance, inharmony, upheaval turmoil, ill-ease and dis-ease.
There is even a constant conflict between the body, the mind and
the inner, hidden Spiritual urge.
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"From this point of view, dis-ease can be looked upon
as a process subject to constant change and consequently influenced
by factors which also may be constantly varied. the old concept
of dis-ease, while allowing for certain changes and inter-relationships,
was largely static and divisional. This new concept, on the other
hand, is unitarian and dynamic. Hippocrates and Galen looked upon
dis-ease in this manner, and many a man since has held that dis-ease
is nothing more that nature's effort(9) to restore the patient's
health."
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(9) While the author's concept is authentic almost as a whole,
there is a disagreement regarding the final conclusions. It is
agreed that so far as the physical man is concerned, this is true,
and this is nature's department. But man is a composite being.
He has feelings which ARE WHOLLY ASIDE FROM HIS ANIMAL BODY -ANIMALS
NOT BEING POSSESSED OF THESE FEELING. Nature actually has little
or no control over these feelings.
Nevertheless, just as the body is made aware of its existence, so is man made aware that there is something more in himself than the body and its feelings. An awareness that there is something of which he is not conscious, but which brings him mental UNease when he transgresses the moral code.
There can be no equilibrium until such time as man recognizes the fact that he must live in accord with Nature's laws; at the same time he must give expression to that which is within himself; the cause of constant urge, an uneasiness, the call of the inmost self; the Spiritual, which is first of all affected by his passions, and in turn affects his mind and body, resulting in UNease, dis-ease; a combination of physical-emotional (psychological) discord. -----------------------------------------------------------
The "Science of the Soul" is the Science dealing with the mental, emotional nature and its harmonizing with the physical man. It is necessary to make a clear distinction between the Spiritually unawakened, unenlightened mind native to the UNregenerate man, and the awakened, poised and constructively inclined mind, which has become conscious of its mission as the most vitally active agency in the development of the Soul and all the forces under its direction.
The mind unawakened in its relationship to Spiritual matters may be keen and alert in intellectual pursuits, business and social affairs, and may have accumulated a vast fund of knowledge on the mental plane, without realizing that it must become a creative agency in the development of the Spiritual self.
Once the mind has become fully imbued with this idea and its responsibility, and willingly, even cheerfully, accepts it, it becomes both the architect and builder of the Immortal structure known as the temple wherein God - the awakened Christos -dwells.
The awakened mind at once becomes the constructive agent in the effort to bring the as yet unconscious Soul into Consciousness. At the same time it brings into activity the "scourge" in the Nazarene's hand for cleansing the temple, the body.
This is the freeing of the self-being - the body which is become the temple - of its weaknesses in the form of destructive, debasing passions, which lie at the root of its diseases and misfunctionings.
Once awakened to its possibilities and opportunities, the awakened mind becomes the Solomon who, with his wisdom, and the power wisdom confers, will be the builder of the "temple not made with hands." The literal, material temple of Solomon was three-fold in its departments or arrangements. The outer court of the building corresponded to the body of man; the middle or main apartment of the building where all might enter, represented the mind or conscious functioning of man. Lastly, and most important, the INNER SANCTUARY: the Holy of Holies: the Sanctum Sanctorum, the Place where none but the Initiate Priests may enter.
This Holy of Holies, was, is, symbolic of the INMOST Center in man, wherein is the Altar with its constantly burning flame of the unquenchable Fires, the Light of the Ineffable Light. This temple itself, being the house wherein the Soul finds its domicile, must have the same care that the Soul itself received. This inmost center, as a temple, must be cleansed of all "money changers" - doers of evil - symbolized by the Nazarene's driving out of the money changers who made the ancient temples charnel houses.
The Science of the Soul, i.e., the basic instructions of the Ancient Schools, in not limited in its field of work to the Spiritual in man, the Christos or Divine Spark. It is equally concerned with the fourfold man as a whole, constituting man as body, mind, spirit and Spiritual self, and deals with man in his higher aspect, once he has awakened to his possibilities.
So long as man is wholly carnally minded, the Science of the Soul is not applicable to any department of his nature. It would be no help even to his purely physical self because, being carnally inclined, he would not willingly follow even Nature's Laws as they apply to his welfare; Nature being unable to wholly separate the animal from the Divine.
The carnally disposed, unawakened mind may become a huge storehouse of knowledge, even of the wisdom that comes as a result of experience and the cunning and shrewdness of such experience. However, it can apply this knowledge only in a material manner. The Spiritually unenlightened mentality may become dynamic only upon the mental plane of action.
This is illustrated by what is known as black magic, though this power is only temporary and for the duration of the functioning of the mind in that direction; having a REaction toward its own downfall and destruction. The forces, powers and energies, developed by means of obedience to the teachings of the Science of the Soul function upon a higher plane and in combination with physical, mental and Spiritual activation. The powers developed depend entirely upon the purity of the incentive, the goal visioned, and the impulses of all that is good and noble which emanates from the emotional center of man's inner self.
The normal, healthy, brilliant mind, always desirable in itself, is capable of accumulating a vast store of knowledge and directing it into channels of constructiveness, but solely on the material plane. The material mind is not inclined toward the Spiritual or the Immortalizing of the inner self; nor does it possess the power to build up a Spiritual health and strength within the physical self. The material mind must be awakened sufficiently to the existence, and desirability to seek for Spiritual verities. This knowledge must be applied to the activities of life, thus establishing harmony with the Creative Law, while also recognizing its obligation to the needy, not to the drone and inert. Thus the mind enters the path of the Way, the Truth, and the Life and becomes capable of directing its knowledge into channels both mental and Spiritual, and by becoming Spiritually enlightened it can attain to the highest levels of physical life.
In every effort toward achievement in any field or avenue of activity concentration is of prime importance. There must be a singleness of purpose and direction. Without the singleness of thought and purpose there is a dispersal of power and energy invariably ending in weakness. By concentrating on a single purpose, there will be an accumulation of power.
This accumulation of power must be transferred or directed into the desired field of action. Concentration, in, or by itself, is not growth, nor is it development. To concentrate is merely to hold in mind a single thought or desire. As a result of the activating force of this one thought or desire the constructiveness of the mind comes into harmonious vibrations with other minds or forces of like nature. This accumulation followed by action or direction, if constructive, brings about a development harmonious with the directive desire and the ultimate achievement in harmony with the desire.
By means of desire and concentration -centralization of desire - man attracts and draws to himself forces of like kind. Through a trained Will, these forces may be applied or directed to the desire which is within man, such as Spiritual attainment, mental stability, or success along any avenue of activity. The inner Spiritual self manifests as it truly is, by external expression in the field on which man is engaged.
The Science of the Soul deals with all of life; with growth upon every plane; with conditions underlying all of life's activities. The results following in the wake of the knowledge imparted depend entirely on the degree to which it is practiced and applied.
If the mind has been inclined toward destructive tendencies
and is directed to the constructive in an effort to change the
ignoble, depressing, destructive passions into the emotions of
exalted feeling, then it is certain that the whole of life will
tend away from the purely physical and temporal toward the balanced
physical-Spiritual, the eternal.
Concentration, like all other forms of activity, may be either
a blessing or a curse; bringing in its wake either health of disease;
discord or peace; failure or success. Concentrated efforts in
harmony with goodness, i.e., kindness, sympathy, nobleness, exaltedness
and other emotions of like nature, will ALWAYS be creative of
health, strength and power.
It is a truism, though incompletely stated, that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." `this statement, basically true, is nevertheless misleading. It should read: As are a man's thoughts, if strong enough to give birth to desire, and if desire leads to action in harmony with the thoughts, so will he become.
A house is not built when he who is in need of a house begins to think of a house, or even if he continues to think of it. It will only become a house if, following the thought of need, the desire becomes keen enough to urge him to plan, then proceed with the execution of the plan and continue until the house is finished.
It is true that if any thought be continuously held in mind it will, according to the nature of the thought, permeate the entire being, The good (healthy) tree will not bring forth defective fruit, neither will the balanced, normal, clean mind think degrading and sensual thoughts.
The precepts of the Science of the Soul applied in thought, desire and action are conducive to health, strength and general well-being, because they constantly stimulate an harmonious state of mind and a balance in the emotional nature. The mind, as the center, the generator, from which electrical (vibratory) currents are sent to all parts of the body, will build up or tear down, according to the nature of the thoughts, desires and inclinations.
Positive thoughts create waves of pure, wholesome, beneficent, happy, peaceful, constructive vibrations, which are impressed upon and built into every cell of the body, increasing the vitality and power of each cell and promoting a strong, vital, virile physical being and normal mind.
The Science of the Soul is the basis of all Arcane philosophy, having as its goal the preparation of mind, body, the spirit that is life, and the path for the Soul to function. Unless the foundation is properly prepared, the awakened, Conscious Soul will have a poor medium through which to function.
Every thought man thinks is actually a suggestion that impresses itself upon his manifold being. Every time a man verbally expresses his thoughts he is conveying a suggestion to those who hear him. It is therefore well, especially for the Acolyte, to be careful of his words.
Every thought possesses power in itself but is not as embracing in its influence as the spoken word. The spoken word has greater power because it not only impresses the vibrations of itself upon the hearer, but is also an incentive to action in harmony with the vibrations felt.
All potential power for good or ill has its inception in the mind. Man could create or destroy worlds by the direction of his thoughts, if he fully understood the operating law. Thought is the beginning, the Alpha of all things; the action in harmony with the thought is the end, the Omega.
According to the feelings in the heart so will be the thought. Act follows the thought, and the great, universal, operating Law, according to the Occult and the Nazarene, is embraced in the short sentences:
"As ye sow so shall ye reap."
"No power on earth can stay the operating Law."
He who in truth and sincerity seeks the Truth, the Way and the Life, will follow the precepts of the Science of the Soul by applying them himself in the purification of the physical self, abandoning all that is weakening, by purging his mind of all unclean, carnal, destructive thoughts and desires.
He will have for his Creed: AS MY HEART DICTATES, THAT WILL I BECOME. He will prove his loyalty to this motto by making every effort to keep his heart noble, generous and unblemished; his emotions under control.
The Science of the Soul demands of its adherents -FOR THEIR OWN ALL-INCLUSIVE BENEFIT - a wholesome introspection and self-examination, enabling them to comprehend the weaknesses and the strength inherent in them; to separate the desirable from the undesirable under whatever guise they may manifest.
What are those coarser elements which are manifested each day of his life by means of angry words, jealous thoughts, envy and every type of unworthy feeling? Has he learned the importance of stopping to think, to analyze, before speaking or acting? Has he formed the habit of sitting down in silence and communing with himself honestly and without any attempt to hide his weaknesses and short-comings?
Does he ponder his past actions, not with the idea of excusing himself and blaming others, but to REVEAL TO HIMSELF THE EXACT TRUTH IN ORDER TO AVOID LIKE ERRORS IN THE FUTURE? If he has not, then he has not yet learned the value of being honest with himself and, in his dishonesty, betrays both God and his own Soul. He must interview HIMSELF, not with any idea of belittling himself, or developing an inferiority complex, but with the desire for self improvement.
He must think, desire, with the poet:
"Oh wad some power the giftie gie us to see oursel's as ithers see us!" -Robert Burns.
By self analysis, the undesirable is more easily eliminated and a better, greater, more normal self substituted. However, it is not in any sense sufficient that one take such a detailed inventory of himself and then stop.
The conclusions reached must be acted upon with vigor; prompt, courageous action toward the elimination of the undesirable and everything that tends to defeat success in every avenue of action.
All introspection that stops short of definite and determined effort in the direction of efficiency, general improvement and the building of vital health as a foundation upon which to base all future life, both material and Spiritual, is faulty and unwholesome. If immediate action is followed by a self-command right face the moment an undesirable tendency or weakness manifests, this will be a long step toward strengthening both mind and body, and a stimulus toward the building of a powerful, conquering Will.
The Science of the Soul is based entirely upon the fundamentals of Law, Order and Active cooperation with Law and Order. Godliness, which, in its true sense, is goodness, gives power and, because it is absolute in its tendency, is man's greatest potential. When man's heart and Soul witness that he thinks none but kindly, sincere, generous, exalted thoughts at all times, it is an assurance that the hardest lesson has been learned.
At the very beginning the Science of the Soul dictates to the novice the Laws creative of health, strength and well being, and the elimination of the causes of weakness that end in illness, failure or both. Anyone can make the experiment of sitting the silence, as far away form all noise as is possible, and for ten or fifteen minutes meditate on the desirability in life of love, kindness, justice and peace and, in mind, send forth these feelings toward all men in the form of the vibrations created by thought.
In the cultivation of good-will toward all, men should make no distinction between friend and foe. On the other hand, he should not permit infringement upon his rights, allow no one to take advantage of him, knowing that the Law adjusts everything and that any other thought reacts upon itself. If man will follow this practice faithfully and really learn to feel as he meditates or invokes, he will soon find that he is drawing to himself, and upon himself, the Christic forces active throughout the entire universe.
If a man seeks for the best in all things for himself, than he must send out nothing but the best; because that which is sent out will again return: "The sower reaps as he sows."
His thoughts will mingle with those of other thoughts of like quality, and the forces of this combination and accumulation will benefit all concerned.
Control of his own thoughts is to be the first aim in the improvement of mind and body, in the whole of man. The primary development of the Soul consists in training the mind to desire the exalted things in life. Although the Soul, the Light which is "upon neither land nor sea" is the only REALITY; the entity that may become the Immortal Son of God, it is the mind that functions as the architect and builder, the bringing about, of Soul Consciousness.
The Soul is the connecting link between the mortal and God;
the key to all that has real, not fleeting, temporal existence.
Once awakened and brought into Consciousness, it is God in his
temple; "KNOW YE NOT THAT YE [may become] THE TEMPLES OF
THE LIVING GOD."
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