Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter II - Problems of Guidance, Dreams, and Depression

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Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter II - The Ray of Personality - Some Problems of Psychology

1. Guidance or instruction coming from the man or woman upon the physical plane to whom the guided person is, usually unconsciously, looking for help. This is largely a brain relationship, electrical in nature, established by conscious physical plane contacts, and is greatly helped by the fact that the neophyte knows pretty well, exactly what his instructor would say in any given circumstance.

2. The introverted attitude of the neophyte or mystic brings to the surface all his subconscious "wish life." This, as he is mystically inclined and probably aspires normally towards goodness and the life of the spirit, takes the form of certain adolescent tendencies towards religious activity and practices. These, however, he interprets in terms of definite extraneous guidance, and formulates them to himself in such a way that they become to him the Voice of God.

3. The recovery of old spiritual aspirations and tendencies, coming from a previous life or lives. These are deeply hidden in his nature but can be brought to the surface through group stimulation. He thus recovers spiritual attitudes and desires which, in this life, have not hitherto made their appearance. They appear to him as utterly new and phenomenal, and he regards them as divine injunctions coming from God. They have, however, always been present (though latent) in his own nature [489] and are the result of the age-old trend or tendency towards divinity which is inherent in every member of the human family. It is the prodigal son speaking to himself and saying: "I will arise and go" - a point which Christ makes beautifully and abundantly clear in the parable.

4. The "guidance" registered can also be simply a sensitivity to the voices and injunctions and well-meaning intentions of good people on the path of return to incarnation. The spiritual dilemma of the race today is causing the rapid return of many advanced souls to life on the physical plane. As they hover on the borderland of outer living, awaiting their time to be reborn, they are oft contacted subjectively and unconsciously by human beings in incarnation, particularly at night when the consciousness is out of the physical body. What they say and teach (frequently good, usually indifferent in quality and sometimes quite ignorant) is remembered in the waking hours of consciousness and interpreted by the neophyte as the voice of God, giving guidance.

5. The guidance can also be of an astral, emotional nature, and is the result of the contacts made by the aspirant (firm in his aspiration but weak in his mental polarization) upon the astral plane. These cover such a wide range of possibilities that it is not possible for me to enlarge upon them here. They are all colored by glamor, and many well-meaning leaders of groups and organizations get their inspiration from these sources. There is, in them, no true lasting divine guidance. They may be quite harmless, sweet, kindly and well-intentioned; they may feed the emotional nature, develop hysteria or aspiration; they may develop the ambitious tendencies of their victim and lead him down the [490] byways of illusion. But they are not the voice of God, or of any Member in the Hierarchy, nor are they divine in nature, any more than the voice of any ordinary teacher upon the physical plane is necessarily divine.

6. The guidance recorded may also be the result of the man tuning in telepathically upon the mind or the minds of others. This frequently happens with the more intelligent types and with those who are mentally focused. It is a form of direct, but unconscious, telepathy. The guidance, therefore, comes from other minds or from the focused group mind of some band of workers with which the man may have a realized or an unrealized affinity. The guidance thus given can be consciously or unconsciously imparted, and can be, in quality, good, bad, or indifferent.

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