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Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter II - The Ray of Personality - Problems of Disciples and Mystics
Revelation of Light and Power and Attendant Difficulties

The problems with which we must now deal belong in a totally different category. They have no relation at all to emotion or to the astral plane but constitute the specific difficulty of the aspirant or the advanced man or disciple who has learnt to focus himself in the mental nature. They are problems connected with achieved contact with the soul, [607] which results in the illumination of the mind and a definite influx of power.

These difficulties only come to the man in whom the throat center and the ajna center are awakening. The moment that any difficulty is sensed in relation to the phenomena of light, the psychologist or the physician can know that the pituitary body is involved and that consequently the center between the eyebrows is beginning to be active and awake.

The problem of power, sensed by the aspirant and seeking expression in his life, falls into two categories:

  1. The sense of power which comes through the effort to do definite creative work. This necessarily involves the activity of the throat center. Where there is this inflow of creative force and where there is no real use made of the inflowing energy in the production of creative work, then there is very apt to be difficulty with the thyroid gland.
  2. The sense of power which takes the form of ambition, and of an integration which is brought about by the force of that ambition. This frequently succeeds in subordinating the various aspects of the lower nature to that ambition. When this takes place the ajna center is active and is synchronizing its vibration with that of the throat center. This leads to real difficulty and is one of the commonest forms of ambition to which the aspirant and the disciple succumb.

One can also divide the problem of light into two groups of difficulties if one so desires - one related to the physical registering of the light in the head and the other to the acquiring of knowledge.

This registering of light within the periphery of the skull is connected with the relation to be found between the head [608] center and the center between the eyebrows; that is, between the area (localized around the pituitary body) and that localized around the pineal gland. The vibratory effect, you know, of those two centers can become so strong that the two vibrations or their "pulsating rhythmic activity" can swing into each other's field of action and a unified magnetic field can be set up which can become so powerful, so brilliant and so pronounced that the disciple - when closing his eyes - can see it plainly. It can be visually sensed and known. Eventually, and in some cases, it can definitely affect the optic nerve, not to its detriment but to the extent of evoking the subtler side of the sense of sight. A man can then see etherically and can see the etheric counterpart of all tangible forms. This is physiological and not a psychic power and is quite different to clairvoyance. There can be no etheric vision apart from the usual organ of vision, the eye. The sensing and the registering of this light in the head can lead to its own peculiar problems when the process is not correctly understood or controlled, just as the registering of the energy of power (coming from the mind in its will aspect or from the soul through the will petals) can prove definitely detrimental to the personality, when not consecrated or refined.

Again, this registering of the light falls into certain definite stages and takes place at certain definite points in the unfoldment of the human being, but is more likely to occur in the earlier stages than the later. These are:

  1. The sensing of a diffused light outside the head, either before the eyes or over the right shoulder.
  2. The sensing of this diffused misty light within the head, permeating, apparently, the entire head.
  3. The concentrating of this diffused light until it has the appearance of a radiant sun. [609]
  4. The intensifying of the light of this inner sun. This is in reality the recognition of the radiance of the magnetic field, established between the pituitary body and the pineal gland (as expressions of the head and the ajna centers). This radiance can at times seem almost too bright to be borne.
  5. The extension of the rays of this inner sun first to the eyes, and then finally beyond the radius of the head so that (to the vision of the clairvoyant seer) the halo makes its appearance around the head of the disciple or aspirant.
  6. The discovery that there is, at the very heart of this, a point of dark blue electric light, which gradually grows into a circle of some size. This occurs when the light in the head irradiates the central opening at the top of the head. Through this opening the various energies of the soul and the forces of the personality can be synthesized and thus flow into the physical body, via the major centers. It is also the esoteric "door of departure" through which the soul withdraws the consciousness aspect in the hours of sleep and the consciousness aspect plus the life thread at the moment of death.

The registering of this inner light often causes serious concern and difficulty to the inexperienced person and the intensity of their concern and fear leads them to think so much of the problem that they become what we occultly call "obsessed with the light and so fail to see the Lord of Light and that which the Light reveals". I would point out here that all aspirants and occult students do not see this light. Seeing it is dependent upon several factors - temperament, the quality of the physical cells of the brain, the nature of the work which has been done or of the particular task, and the extent of the magnetic field. There never need be any difficulty if the [610] aspirant will use the light which is in him for the helping of his fellowmen. It is the self-centered mystic who gets into difficulty, as does the occultist who uses the light which he discovers within himself for selfish purposes, and personal ends.
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