It is during this stage that meditation is instituted so that the man becomes aware of soul light as it blends with the inherent light of the mental body, and this blended light steadily intensifies as he persists in the meditation work. A point then comes where the aspirant discovers that this inner light can be used, and he begins tentatively and with uneven success to turn that light upon the problems of his particular glamor. It is also at this point that we now carry forward the Technique of Light, employing it so that the vague unscientific technique of the past comes to an end. The indicated technique is of use only to the man who knows something of the light of the mind, of the light in the head, and of the light of the soul. The light in the head is produced by the definitely planned bringing together of soul light and personality light, focused in the mental body and producing an effect in the brain. This focusing process falls into three stages:

1. The attempt to focus the light of the mind and of matter in the mental vehicle.
   This signifies a bringing together of the light of matter and substance (dense material and etheric light) and the light of the mind itself. There is no peculiar or specific light in or of the astral body itself, for it is only an aggregate of forms, created by individual man, by nations and by races, and these in their entirety constitute the astral plane and possess no inherent light as do other forms. They are not created as a form of expression for some dynamic life by the planetary Logos, and this is the real meaning of what I have earlier told you that the astral plane in reality does not exist. It is the phantasmagoric creation of human desire down the [209] ages and its false light is a reflection of either the light of matter or of the mind. This process of focusing is undertaken through alignment and by the effort to bring to a point of illumination the positive light of the mind and the negative light of the brain and is carried forward through mental control, developed in meditation. When these two opposite poles are in relation then (by an act of the personality will) these two aspects of the lesser light can form a pin point of light - like a small torch light - revealing some phase of the glamor to which the aspirant most easily responds. This first focused light is not of such a nature that it can do more than reveal. It has no dissipating power, nor can it render existing glamor ineffective. It can only make a man aware in his waking or brain consciousness that glamor holds him. This is related to the stage of concentration in the meditation process.
2. The second stage of the focusing process is produced through the effort to meditate. In the previous stage, the blending of the two material lights was entirely a form process and the aspirant is actuated entirely by his personality forces and expediency. An illustration of this and of its effectiveness can be seen in the man who, from purely selfish motives and through an intense concentration, focuses his mind and brings about the gratification of his desires and the achievement of his goals. He kills out all emotional reactions and goes a long way towards dissipating glamor. He develops the ability to draw on the light of matter itself (physical matter and mental substance) and thus he generates a false light from which soul light is rigorously excluded. It is this power which eventually produces a black magician. He has developed the capacity to draw [210] upon the light energy of matter itself and to focus it so powerfully and effectively that it becomes a great destructive force. It is this which has given Hitler and the six evil men associated with him their power to destroy upon the material plane. But, in the case of the aspirant, the power to meditate upon spiritual reality and to contact the soul offsets the dangers inherent in focusing on and using solely the light of matter; to the lesser light of matter is added the light of the soul and then these two blended lights, or aspects of the One Light, are focused upon the mental plane through the power of the creative imagination. This enables man eventually to dissipate glamor and liberates him from the astral plane.
3. The third stage is that in which the light of matter, the light of the mind and the light of the soul (as a channel for the intuition) are consciously blended, fused and focused. The man then turns this blended light, under soul direction, upon the world of glamor and upon the particular glamor with which he is at any one time preoccupied. The false light of the astral plane disappears in this triple blended light just like a fire can be nearly put out if subjected to the full rays of the sun; or a burning glass, focusing the rays of the sun, can start a destructive blaze. It is the use of a powerful light which can obliterate a lesser light and dissipate a fog.

All this has to be understandingly and consciously carried forward as a preliminary to the technique proper. His work will be experimental at first, and scientifically applied eventually. It will be based upon a recognition of truth - a truth which is faced and accepted. This work is not a form of rationalization, though that precedes the definitely [211] scientific work I am outlining; it is not the cultivation of fresh interests of a mental and spiritual kind which gradually supersede desire and drive out glamor. That is all preparatory in character and leads to an unfoldment which prepares the aspirant to work scientifically; it is not a process of "killing out desire" as some schools of thought teach, but is a process of gradually eradicating desire by stern discipline and hard trained work and this, incidentally, involves the dissipation of glamor. Such have been the slow techniques of the past. Today the process is to be changed because enough people are now the product of understanding and can work wisely and also scientifically.