Alice Bailey - The Consciousness of the Atom - VI

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The Consciousness of the Atom - The Goal of Evolution

We can look, too, for the development of the power to think abstractly, and for the awakening of the intuition. As the great races have succeeded one another upon the planet, there has ever been an ordered, directed unfoldment of the powers of the soul, and a definitely planned sequence. In the third root race, the Lemurian, the physical aspect of man was carried to a high stage of perfection. Later in the great race which preceded ours, the Atlantean, and which perished in the flood, the emotional nature of man was developed. Then in the race to which we belong, the Aryan or fifth race, the development of the [135] concrete or lower mind is the goal, and this we are developing each decade. A few are also beginning to develop the power to think in abstract terms.

When this is the case we shall see more of that peculiar, interesting capacity which some people evince, and which we call the ability to be inspired. I am not here speaking of mediumship, nor do I mean mediumistic ability. There is nothing more dangerous than that which is usually meant by the term of "medium." The average medium is a man of a negative or receptive nature, and usually so loosely coordinated in his threefold nature that an extraneous force or entity can use his brain, his hand, or his body. It is quite a common phenomenon. Automatic writing, ouija boards, and spiritualistic seances of a low order are rampant these days, and are driving thousands into insanity, or into nervous disorders. But there is something of which mediumship is simply a distortion, and this something is inspiration. To be capable of being inspired means that a human mind has reached a stage in his evolution where he is consciously and positively under the control of his own higher self, the God within. That inner ruler, the real self, can, by definite contact, control his physical brain, and enable the man to make decisions, and to understand the truth, apart from [136] the reasoning faculty altogether; this inner God can enable the man to speak, to write, and to pass on the truth without the use of the lower mind. Truth lies within ourselves. When we can contact our own inner God all truth will be revealed to us. We shall be Knowers. But this is a positive, not a negative thing, and means the putting of oneself in direct conscious alignment with one's Ego, or higher self, and not the throwing open of one's personality to any passing entity or spook.

This can be seen occurring now, occasionally, but it is not very often that the average man comes in contact with his higher self. Only in our moments of highest endeavor, only at the great crises of our lives, and only as the result of long discipline and strenuous meditation does this occur. But some day we shall govern our entire lives, not from the personal, selfish point of view, but from the point of view of the God within, Who is a direct revelation of Spirit on the highest plane.

The final thing I seek to bring out tonight is that the goal for each one of us is the development of the powers of the soul, or of the psyche. This means that you and I are going to be psychics. But I am not using this word "psychic" as it is usually understood, nor in its everyday connotation. The psyche is, literally, the soul within, [137] or the higher self, who emerges from out of the threefold lower self, as the butterfly emerges out of the chrysalis; it is that beautiful reality, which we are going to produce as the result of our life, or lives, down here. The true psychic powers are those which put us in contact with the group. The powers of the physical body, which we use every day, put us in contact with individuals, but when we have developed the powers of the soul, and have unfolded its potentialities, we shall be true psychics. Now what are those powers? All I can do tonight is to enumerate a few out of the many.

One is the conscious control of matter. The majority of us control our physical bodies consciously, making them carry out our behests upon the physical plane. Some of us control our emotions consciously, but very few of us can control the mind. Most of us are controlled by our desires, and by our thoughts. But the time is coming when we shall consciously control our threefold lower nature. Time will then not exist for us at all. We shall have that continuity of consciousness upon the three planes of being - physical, emotional, and mental - which will enable us to live as does the Logos, in that very metaphysical abstraction, the Eternal Now.

Another power of the soul is psychometry. Now what is psychometry? It might be defined [138] as the ability to take a tangible something, belonging perhaps to an individual, and through the medium of that, to put oneself en rapport with that individual, or with a group of individuals. Psychometry is the law of association of ideas applied to the vibratory quality of force for the purpose of obtaining information.

Again, the race will become clairaudient and clairvoyant, which means the capacity to hear and see as clearly and accurately upon the subtler planes as we do upon the physical. It will involve the ability to hear and see all that concerns the group - that is, to hear and see in the fourth and fifth dimensions. I am not enough of a mathematician to attempt to explain these dimensions, and am apt myself to get very confused when considering them, but an illustration that was given me may make the whole thing somewhat clearer. A young Swedish thinker explained it to me thus:

"The fourth dimension is the ability to see through and around a thing. The fifth dimension is the ability, for instance, to take an eye, and by means of that eye to put oneself en rapport with all other eyes in the solar system. To see in the sixth dimension might be defined as the power to take a pebble off the beach, and by means of it to put oneself in accord with the entire planet. Now in the fifth dimension, where [139] you took the eye, you were limited to a particular line of manifestation, but in the case of the sixth dimension, where you took a pebble, you were put in touch with the entire planet."

This is something very far ahead of us, but it is interesting to speak about, and holds a promise for each and all.

There is not time to deal with the other powers, nor can I enumerate what they all may be. Healing by touch will be amongst them. The manipulation of the magnetic fluids, and conscious creation by means of color and sound, are others. All that really concerns us at this time is that we should consciously take ourselves in hand, seek to come ever more and more under control of the inner ruler, endeavor to become radioactive, and to develop group consciousness. [143]

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