VRIL /PART 11
LESSON XI
CONSERVING VRIL-POWER
THE Arcane teachings hold that not only does the
wise person store up a sufficient supply of Vril to meet sudden and unexpected
demands -not only does he direct and distribute Vril to meet the requirements
of his physical and mental system- but he also avoids unnecessary waste and
dissipation of Vril power, and strives to stop all leaks of energy. Such person
practices not only industry and thrift in relation to Vril, but also manifests
a wise economy regarding its conservation.
Vril waste and dissipation occurs in two ways,
viz.: (I) emotional waste; and (2) physical waste. The majority of persons are
more or less prodigals along one or both of the above stated lines. They turn
on the emotional or physical faucet, and allow Vril to drip and dribble almost
constantly -pure waste.
Emotional waste is habitual with many persons who
fail to realize that in every useless flow of emotional activity they are
really dissipating a portion of the life-power and vital energy. Not only does
this emotional dissipation result in a drain on the life energies, but, like
any other form of dissipation, it results also in killing the healthy and
normal emotional expression, replacing the latter with a false emotional
activity which is without real feeling and which seeks constant excitement and
stimulus as the drunkard seeks drink, and the drug habituate his particular narcotic
or stimulant.
One may avoid this emotional waste by watching
carefully the formation of emotional habits. As an authority says: "All
emotions deepen by repetition. If one allows an undesirable feeling to master
him once, he should be on the watch to check that feeling at the start on the
occasion of the second manifestation. The man who falls into a rage once, falls
into the same emotion easier a second time; the man who keeps cool once under
trying circumstances, will be more easily able to control himself the next
time. The truth cannot be too strongly emphasized, that a habit of emotional
feeling is, at the outset, often the result of an intellectual habit. Summon
different ideas to the mind, and notice how the emotion changes with the idea. To
repress certain trains of feeling, repress the ideas that give them birth. This
will have restraining power, even when the emotional state tends to bring up a
consonant idea, just as a fire may suggest putting fuel on it."
Emotional waste may also be prevented by
carefully training oneself to control the physical expression usually
accompanying the feeling or emotion. An authority says: "By restraining
the expression of an emotion, we can frequently throttle it; by inducing an
expression, we can often cause its allied emotion. We know that animals,
barbarians, and children generally allow motor discharges without inhibition,
and that control comes in some way or other with culture." Another eminent
authority says: Even if we cannot prevent a feeling from arising, we may
possibly prevent it from spreading, by inhibiting the organic movement which
accompanies it, and indulgence in which augments it."
An authority says: Novices frequently make the
mistake of thinking that intense expression of emotion indicates not only a
character rich in feeling, but also one that will make great unselfish
sacrifices for the welfare of others. The truth lies generally in the opposite
direction. Many persons expend all their energies in the expression of emotion
and have none left for action. Some demonstrative people find it difficult to
understand that to feel intense sympathy is not the same as to exert themselves
in actually relieving distress. The world could very well spare a million of
those who only feel for a dozen of those who act."
In the volume of this series entitled "The
Arcane Formulas," we have devoted considerable space to instruction along
the lines of mastering and controlling the emotional nature, not in the
direction of killing out or destroying that part of one's mental and spiritual
being, but rather in the direction of attaining perfect mastery and control
thereof. We have therein instructed the student in the art of "mastering
the opposites" of feeling and emotion, that he may secure and maintain the
true mental, moral, and spiritual balance and poise. We have said therein:
"Acquire the mental, “knack” of rising above the plane of emotional
feeling, on to the plane of will, and there calmly watch and observe the storm
of emotion without being influenced by it. This is like one sailing in a
balloon above the storm clouds which are thundering and flashing lightning beneath
him. On the plane of Will there is peace and power undreamt of by those still
on the emotional plane. Never allow yourself to become enmeshed and involved in
the emotional storms or activities. Handle the emotions as the master does an
instrument -but never yield yourself to the power and influence of slave or
instrument, any more than you would yield yourself to the power and influence
of some entity outside of yourself."
The study of the Arcane teachings, in the
preceding volumes of the series, will do much for anyone who has found himself
or herself carried away by emotional storms, or cyclones of feeling, which
result in Vril dissipation and waste. The principles therein taught, and the
methods therein stated, will do much to impart balance and poise, self-control
and self-mastery to those who seek poise and power." Emotion and feeling
play an important part in our lives, and when properly employed are good for us
to use -but, even when normally good, they become bad when we allow them to use
us to the extent that we become subject to them and under their control. Even “the
divine gift of sympathy" may become a veritable curse in this way, and may
tend to wreck the mental and physical well-being of a person, without in the
least benefiting the objects which aroused it originally. We must be strong
ourselves before we may help others. As in everything else in life, so in this
case we must avoid the extremes or "opposites," and preserve the
happy mean in the centre, where alone is poise, power and balance to be found.
Passing from the consideration of this first form
of emotional waste of Vril-power, we perceive that the average person manifests
an equally harmful waste in his physical life. Waste motion, waste nervous strain,
excessive nervous tension, and excessive purposeless physical motion is seen on
all sides. The majority of persons are in a state of unrelaxed nervous and
muscular tension during their waking hours. Their nerves are tense, and the
muscles contracted, without any real cause. Their fingers are beating the “devil's
tattoo," and they waste nervous energy to no purpose whatsoever. They
whittle pencils, chew tooth-picks, or masticate chewing-gum. They do not know
the meaning of the word relaxation, and have no conception of its physical
expression. When talking, these persons throw into the task sufficient energy
to sustain a vigorous orator through the strain of his greatest effort. When
walking, they expend enough energy to carry a giant up a steep hill. When
riding they sit on the edge of the car seat, leaning forward as if they
imagined that they were using their energy to help propel the train to their
destination. Poise is unknown to these people who are burning their Vril candle
at both ends.
Such persons should take an object lesson from a
young resting infant, or from a cat in a relaxed position. The child "lets
go” to perfection. The cat relaxes every muscle and nerve, and yet so finely
organized is it that in the twinkling of an eye when necessity for possible
action arises, its muscles become as steel, and its nerves as hair-triggers.
The cat crouching before a mouse-hole gives one of nature's best object lessons
in the quality of "relaxed power." Here we find the latent
hair-trigger nerves, and the potential steel muscles, in a state of perfection.
The only way to relax properly is to withdraw the
Vril tension from the muscles. And this is not so easy for those who have
contracted the unnatural habits of unnecessary tension. They must first learn
how to "let go." The student wishing to learn how to relax should
begin by practicing with the hands, first taking away all tension, and then
swinging the hands from the wrists, until they become perfectly limp. Then
practice "limbering up" the fingers. Then swing the arms to and fro
in the same manner. Then, tense the upper arm and swing the fore-arms freely
from the elbow. Then follow the same general course with the legs, until you have
them thoroughly "loosened up.” Then swing the head about, the neck being
made limp. And, finally, lying down, manage to take every bit of Vril-force
from the muscles of the whole body, imitating the attitude, position and
general condition of the tired baby who has dropped to sleep over its play.
A variation of the "loosening up"
exercises may be found in the imitation of a Newfound-land clog shaking himself
vigorously -this will give you a good general "limbering up." "
Stretching" the limbs, in the familiar motion of the lazy boy, will also
be found to give relaxation and rest, and to relieve tension. Conclude the
relaxation exercises with the " Bracing-up exercise" given below,
which will also be found excellent in case of the tired feeling caused by
sitting or standing in one position, or when the brain feels fagged and tired,
or when from any mental or physical cause one may feel "stale" and
"not fit"
BRACING-UP EXERCISE. Stand erect, and take
several natural, easy, "full breaths," combining with them the mental
exercise of Vril absorption. Then, holding your arms out in front of you,
clench your fists and draw them slowly toward your breast, gradually increasing
the muscular tension. Then push your fists out and draw them in (muscles still
tensed) several times. Then drop your fists to your sides, and gradually draw
them straight up as far as they will go, tensing the muscles as the fists
ascend. Repeat several times. Then moving your arms about (with clenched fists)
alternately tense and relax the muscles. A few moments of this exercise will fill
the upper part of the body with fresh Vril, and will impart a wonderful feeling
of energy and power. Similar exercises, employing the legs in alternate tension
and relaxation, will likewise vitalize and energize the body be-low the waist.
There are no set motions in this exercise, the whole principle being that of
alternate tension and relaxation. The benefits of this exercise, or any similar
light exercise, will be doubled as one will throw his mind into it. Picture the
benefit to be derived from it, and while performing the exercise, endeavor to
enter into the consciousness of the action of Vril, and you will find that the
action of the mind will serve to give to Vril a mighty force and impulse in the
direction of the exercised parts and their vicinity.
In the field of emotional Vril waste, we find
that the emotional states of anger, hate, jealousy, fear, worry, and
over-anxiety, and the attempt to vicariously live out the life of another for
him or her, are the ones which produce the greatest strain, tension, waste and
dissipation. Steady, calm mental work seldom wrecks one, while the above
emotional states, and others, expressed to too great a degree, slowly but
surely undermine the nervous sys-tem, and react upon mind and body. In the same
way steady, normal physical exercise or work seldom affects one injuriously,
while the unnatural nervous and muscular tension before mentioned, and the
nervous physical actions resulting from the presence of the injurious emotions
to which we have alluded, frequently strain the physical nature to the utmost.
And, as in the majority of cases the emotional waste is manifested in
connection with the physical waste -each serving to feed the other by action
and reaction -we may readily see that in Vril waste and dissipation we have the
secret of that curse of the age known as neurasthenia or nervous prostration.
This is not the result of overwork, as is generally supposed, but is the result
of over-worry, undue tension, and lack of mental balance and poise, which serve
to waste the Iife-forces, the vital energies, or Vril. To overcome this trouble
it is first necessary to recognize its cause, and then to counteract the cause
by following the course directly opposed to it. We trust that in this book we
have explained the former, and pointed the way toward the latter.
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