THE ARCANE FORMULAS/PART 4

 

LESSON 4.

ESTABLISHING THE EGO (III)

In the preceding lessons we have directed your attention to the process of mentally freeing oneself from the restrictions imposed by the illusory identification of the Self or Ego with the physical body --- the Corporeal Self. If the Neophyte has caught the spirit of the Formulas, and has put the same into practice, he will have at least evolved into a partial consciousness or realization of the Incorporeal Self.

But even this is but the first step toward Freedom and Attainment. Even with the highest conception of the Incorporeal Self, when the latter is bound by the illusion of Personality, one fails to realize his true Ego-hood. Only when the bonds of Personality are loosened, does the Ego begin to realize its true nature.

Just as one is bound by the illusion of the corporeal nature of the "I," so is it further bound --- and even more closely bound --- by the illusion of the personal nature of the Ego. The Ego is not only more, and greater, than the physical body it uses --- but it is also more, and greater, than that part of the mind, consisting of a series of inherited or acquired impressions which constitutes the "Me." There is a great difference between the "Me and the I." The "Me" is the individual as he thinks he is--- a bundle of prejudices, tastes, ties, etc. The "I" is the Individual as he is in reality --- free from mental ties of all kinds. The "Me" is the character being played by the Ego --- the "John Smith" part of him. The "I" is the real player of the part. It is often very difficult for one to disentangle and free himself from the overwhelming force of Personality, so completely is the average person self-hypnotized and race-hypnotized with the "John Smith" idea. The Arcane Teachers have several Formulas for unloosening the bonds of Personality. Let us consider them.

Let the Neophyte place himself in a position, and condition, of restful, calm repose. Then let him take mental stock of himself. Let him ask himself the question: "What am I?" He will find, upon self-examination, that he considers himself to be a certain person --- "John Smith," for instance, "aged 45, grocer, of Cincinnati, Ohio." This "John Smith" has a "character" of his own, which he supposes to be himself. Laying aside the illusion of the appearance, shape, form, etc., of the body, he will still find that he has decided personal characteristics. He likes certain things --- he hates certain others. He is tied tight by his likes and dislikes, his loves and hates, his tendencies, his general "nature" and "characteristics" in short. He imagines that these things are himself, and that if they were taken away from him, he would cease to exist.

Then let him proceed as he did when divorcing himself from the illusion of the Corporeal Self. Let him set aside first one like, and then another --- first one hate, and then another. Let him, in imagination, visualize himself as being divested of first one "characteristic" and then another. As the process continues, the Neophyte will find, much to his surprise, that notwithstanding that his most cherished and firmly rooted "characteristics" are sheared away from him, he HIMSELF remains. He finds that when all his mental feelings, as well as objects thereof, are removed from his mental vision, he, HIMSELF, remains. HE will find a Something remaining that is back of, underneath, and at the centre of all these "feelings" and "characteristics”, and which persists in full vigor when they have been stripped away from him.

Then let him, mentally, in imagination, see himself as acting out other characters. He will find that he is able to play out Hamlet, Richard III, Mephistopheles, Micawber, and a host of other characters, as well as he has been playing the old "John Smith" part, which he has been imagining was Himself. He will then see that just as the body was but an instrument and covering, so is this habitual "character" but an instrument and mental covering --- useful but not essential to his being --- something that can be put on, and taken off --- something that could be exchanged without affecting the "I." He will realize that this "character" is but his "Me" --- and that he may have other "Me's" at will. But the "I" remains the same in each case.

But, try as he may, he will never be able to shake off or discard the "I." He will find that this "I" is unchangeable, and cannot be gotten rid of --- for it is Himself, his Real Self. He will find this same "I" always at the centre of every "character" he assumes --- always behind every mask he places before him.

He will find that it will always be the same old "I," of which he can always, and must always, say "I AM". No one can truthfully assert of his Real Self, "I AM NOT." Such a statement is always a lie upon the face of Truth. One may say "I am not this, or I am not that" --- but he can never say of that Central "I," that it is not.

This "I" is always the Actor --- the Doer --- the Seer --- the Thinker. It is always the Centre. Divest it of every characteristic, and there will always remain that Something that IS.

This "I" is absolutely subjective, or inner --- all else is objective, or outer, to it. It cannot be classified with any mental state --- for all mental states are objective to it. It cannot be described in terms of objective consciousness, for these terms denote things subordinate to it. We are conscious of it, not through any channel of sense, or feeling, --- it impresses itself upon us directly. We cannot separate ourselves from it --- for it is the Self, itself. We cannot stand of and examine it, nor set it off for examination --- for where it is so must we be, for the two are one. It is never objective to anything else in us --- but everything else in us is objective to it. It may, in our ignorance, be influenced and moved by our feelings, emotions, etc. --- but when we know the Truth it turns on these feelings and emotions, and changes, kills, or creates them. It is at the basis of all activities --- it is identical with the will.

Divorce this "I" of all its mental "characteristics," feelings and emotions--and instead of seeming weakened, it is increased in strength. It then appears as untrammeled, and unrestricted will. It gives and can give, but two reports of itself : (1) it must always, and does always say of itself : "I AM"; (2) it must always say, and does always say, of itself : "I DO." This is all. This is what the "I" is --- the Something that IS, and Something that DOES. All the rest of the mental furniture belongs to the "Me," and is changeable, inconstant, and shifting. The "I" is always the same --- there is nothing else for it to be.

By practicing this "mental stock-taking," and self-examination, the Neophyte will soon be able to at least partially divorce his "I" from his "Me" --- at least he will be able to do so in imagination, sufficiently to testify to the different elements of the two. Other Formulas, in this book will aid him in this attainment. For this is the Centre and Heart of all Attainment. It is the one thing, which, when found, gives us the key to all the rest, The following exercise is also taught by the Arcane Teachers and other advanced Occultists. In connection with the others given in this book, it will serve to loosen the bonds and ties of Personality, and enable the Neophyte to spread the Wings of the Self, and soar in the free ether of Individuality.

EXERCISE.

Let the Neophyte place himself in a position and condition of calm, restful repose. Then let him meditate upon his own identity, as distinguished from the outside objective world. Let him reach mentally into the very centre of his being --- the inner recesses of his soul, until he meets his Real Self face-to-face. Let him, in this meditation, repeat softly to himself his own name ---that is, the name which he applies to himself at times when he thinks of himself in the third person. Or, else, his favorite "short name" or familiar "nickname," such as "Jim," or "Will," or "Jack," etc. --- in short, the name which he most familiarly identifies with himself. Let him repeat this name over and over again, softly, to himself, throwing into it his earnest attention as if in that name, or word, were contained the Secret of His Existence. In many cases the Neophyte will find that he is lifted up to a higher plane of being or consciousness, in which he sees more clearly the Light Within, and hears a few strains from the great Song of Life. If the experiment succeeds, he will realize, as never before, the reality of the "I" ---the Secret of the Ego.

Rudyard Kipling, in his great story of Hindu life, entitled "Kim," speaks of this practice familiar among Oriental people. He describes his hero, "Kim," attempting to gain this state of consciousness. We quote from this book, as follows:

"A very few white people, but many Asiatics, can throw themselves unto amazement, as it were, by repeating their own names over and over again to themselves, letting the mind go free upon speculation as to what is called personal identity "'Who is Kim --- Kim --- Kim?’

" He squatted in a corner of the clanging waiting room, rapt from all other thoughts, hands folded in lap, and pupils contracted to pin-points, In a moment --- in another half-second --- he felt that he would arrive at the solution of the tremendous puzzle, but here, as always happens, his mind dropped away from those heights with the rush of a wounded bird, and passing his hand before his eyes, he shook his head.

"A long-haired Hindu bairagi (holy-man) who had just bought a ticket, halted before him at that moment, and stared intently. 'I also have lost ' he said sadly. "It is one of the gates of the Way.'

"'What is thy talk?" said Kim, abashed."

'Thou was wondering there in thy spirit what manner of thing thy soul might be . . . I know. Who should know but I?"

Tennyson, the great English poet, in his letters to and conversations with his intimate friends and relatives, terrified to having experiences of this kind, occasioned by repeating his name to himself in a manner resembling the practice of the ancient secularists, and of the Hindus of to-day, as mentioned in "Kim." He stated that he was lifted into another world in which he was given a positive assurance of his spiritual nature and immortality --- a condition in which the fear of death became laughable. He also stated the same idea in the following verses:

 

"And more, my son, for more than once when I

Sat all alone, revolving in myself

That word which is the symbol of myself,

The mortal symbol of the self was loosed,

And passed into the Nameless, as a cloud

Melts into Heaven.

I touched my limbs, the limbs

Were strange, not mine --- and yet no shadow of doubt,

But utter dearness, and through loss of Self

The gain of such large life as matched with ours

Were Sun to spark, unshakeable in words,

Themselves but shadows of a shadow-world"

 

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Will Focalization