THE HIDDEN SIDE OF THINGS/PART 21

 

CHAPTER XXI

 

BY COLLECTIVE THOUGHT

 

CHURCH HYMNS AND RITUALS

 

IN an earlier chapter I have explained how the congregation and the parishioners are affected by the ceremonies of the Church, and from what was then said it is not difficult to see how the priest from his side can influence those about him. He has chosen a position the responsibilities of which are great, and in order to discharge them properly it is important that he should know something of the hidden side of things, that he may understand the real meaning of the services of the Church to which he belongs, and how to order them aright.

 

Much exception has been taken by the ignorant to the statement always made by the Church that the celebration of the Eucharist is a daily repetition of the sacrifice of the Christ. But when we understand from the occult point of view that that sacrifice of the Christ means the descent into matter of the outpouring of the Second Aspect of Deity, we see that the symbolism is an accurate one, since the outflow of force evoked by the consecration has a special and intimate connection with that department of nature which is the expression of that divine Aspect.

 

The priest who comprehends this will not fail to assign to that service its due position, and will take care to surround its culminating point with whatever in the way of ritual and music will add to its effect and prepare the people to take part in it more receptively. Realising also of how tremendous a mystery he is here the custodian, he will approach its celebration with the utmost reverence and awe, for though his attitude towards it makes no difference to the central fact and to its effects, there is no doubt that his deep devotion, his comprehension and co-operation can bring down an additional influence which will be of the greatest help to his congregation and his parish. A priest who has the advantage of being also an occultist has a magnificent opportunity of widespread usefulness.

 

As a student of magic, he appreciates to the full, the effect produced by music, and knows how to utilise it so as to produce harmonious and powerful forms. A great deal may be done by inducing the congregation as far as possible to join in the music of the church. It is impossible that they should do so in the production of the more elaborate and magnificent forms, which produce far-reaching effects at higher levels, but they themselves may be helped to an almost incalculable extent if they can be induced to join heartily in stirring and well-chosen hymns and chants.

 

This has been more fully recognised by the English branch of the Catholic Church than by the Roman, and a corresponding advantage has been reaped. The powerful influence of the corresponding advantage has been reaped. The powerful influence of the processional hymn must not be neglected, for this operates usefully in all directions; first, by bringing the choir down among the congregation and moving them slowly through the different sections of it, the people are greatly encouraged and helped to throw themselves with vigour into the singing. Secondly, the splendid appearance of a well-organised procession, the colour and light, the rich banners and splendid vestments, all combine to fire the imagination, to raise the people' s thoughts above the prosaic level of ordinary life, and to help their devotion and enthusiasm.

 

CONGREGATIONS

 

Many of these considerations apply also to ministers of other denominations. Though they have not the power of the priest which brings them into touch with the reservoir of force arranged by the Christ for his Church, they may do a great deal for their congregations, first by their own devotion and secondly by evoking that of their people. The resources of congregational music are at their disposal, and if they can work their followers up to the required level, they also may produce the wonderful results which flow from the combined devotion of a large number of people.

 

A grand outpouring of force, and a magnificent and effective collective thought-form can thus be made by a gathering of men who join heartily in a service; but there is generally great difficulty in obtaining this result, because the members of the average congregation are entirely untrained in concentration, and consequently the collective thought-form is usually a broken and chaotic mass, instead of a splendid and organised whole. When it happens that a number of occult students belong to such an assembly, they can be of great use to their fellow-worshippers by consciously gathering together the scattered streams of devotion and welding them into one harmonious and mighty current. It is evident at once that every member of congregation has here a definite duty.

 

MONASTERIES

 

Better results than those produced by an ordinary congregation are frequently obtained from the united devotions of a body of monks, because they have gradually trained themselves into something approaching to concentration, and are also well used to working together. The influence flowing from a monastery or nunnery of the contemplative order is often beautiful and most helpful to the whole country-side-- a fact which shows clearly how foolish and short-sighted is the objection sometimes made by the Protestant that, while the active orders of monks are at least doing good work among the poor and the sick, those who adopt a contemplative line are merely dreaming away their lives in selfish isolation from the rest of the world.

 

In most of such monasteries the hours of prayer are strictly observed, and the effect of this is a regular out-flow of force over the neighbourhood many times each day. There are some such institutions in which the scheme of perpetual adoration is carried out before the consecrated Host in the chapel of the monastery, and in such a case there is a steady and powerful stream always pouring out, both night and day, bringing to the surrounding country a benefit which can hardly be overestimated.

 

EFFECT UPON THE DEAD

 

The effect produced in all these cases is far wider than the ordinary thinker realises. The young student of occultism, if he does not happen to be clairvoyant, sometimes finds it difficult to remember that the host of the unseen is so much greater than the number of the seen, and that therefore the people who benefit by church services or by outpourings of collective thought and feeling are not only the living but also the dead-- not only human beings even, but great hosts of nature-spirits and of the lower orders of the angels. Naturally, whatever feeling may be aroused in them reacts upon us in turn, so that many different factors combine to strengthen us when we make any effort for good.

 

The Christian Church directs some of her efforts intentionally towards her departed members, and prayers and masses for the dead are a great feature of the life in Catholic countries. A most useful feature certainly; for not only do the good wishes and the outpourings of force reach and help those at whom they are aimed, but also the formation of such prayers and wishes is a good and charitable undertaking for the living, besides providing them with a satisfactory and consolatory outlet for their feelings in the shape of doing something to help the departed instead of merely mourning for them.

 

SAVING SOULS

 

Hundreds of good and earnest people are putting a great deal of strength and devotion into efforts (as they put it) to “save souls”-- which to them generally means imprisoning people within the limits of some particularly narrow and uncharitable sect. Fortunately, their endeavours in this particular direction are not often successful. But we must not suppose that all their energy and thought for others is therefore necessarily wasted. It does not do half the good that it would if it were intelligently directed; but such as it is, it is unselfish and kindly meant, and so it brings down a certain amount of response from higher levels, which is poured upon both the petitioner and the object of his prayers. If the suppliant be earnest and free from conceit, Nature answers the spirit rather than the letter of such a request, and brings general good and advancement to its object without also inflicting upon him the curse of a narrow theology.

 

PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE CEREMONIES

 

There are in the world many people so constituted that ceremonies of any sort do not appeal to them. It may be asked what kind of provision Nature makes for them, and how they are compensated for their inability to appreciate or to share in the benefits of these various lines of ecclesiastical influence of which I have written. First to a considerable extent they do share in the benefit of them, though they would probably be the last people to admit it. Perhaps they never enter churches; but I have already described how these influences radiate far beyond the mere buildings, and how the vibrations are sent out on all levels, and consequently have something which affects all varieties of people.

 

Still, it is clear that such men miss a good deal which the others may gain if they will; what sources then are open to them from which they may obtain corresponding advance? They cannot well gain the same uplifting-- nor, I suppose, would they desire it; but they may gain a mental stimulus. Just as the thought of the great saint, radiating out all round him, arouses devotion in those who are capable of feeling it, so does the thought of the great man of science, or of anyone who is highly developed intellectually, radiate out upon the mental level and affect the minds of others, so far as they are capable of responding to it. Its action stimulates mental development, though it does not necessarily act so directly upon the character and disposition of the man as does the other influence.

 

Perfect knowledge must make for goodness of life as much as perfect devotion; but we are as yet so far from perfection that in practical life we have to deal rather with the intermediate or even elementary stages, and it seems clear that elementary knowledge is less likely on the whole to affect the character than elementary devotion. Both are necessary, and before Adeptship is reached both must be acquired in their entirety; but at present we are so partially developed that the vast majority of men are aiming at one and to some extent neglecting the other-- I mean, of course, the majority of those men who are trying at all, for the greater part of the world has not arrived as yet at recognising the necessity for either knowledge or devotion. The only organisation, in western countries at least, which fully meets and satisfies man' s requirements along both these lines appears to me to be the Theosophical Society, and its meetings, small and unimportant though they may seem to an outsider, are capable when properly managed of radiating a powerful influence which will be exceedingly useful to the community.

 

THEOSOPHICAL MEETINGS

 

A meeting may produce most important results, not only for those who take part in it, but for their unconscious neighbours. But in order that it may do this, the members must understand the hidden side of their meeting, and must work with a view to produce the highest possible effects. Many members utterly overlook this most important part of their work, and have in consequence quite an unworthy idea of what the work of a Lodge is.

 

I have sometimes heard a member frankly confess that the Lodge meetings are often rather dull, and so he does not always attend them. A member who makes such a remark has not grasped the most rudimentary facts about the work of the Lodge; he evidently supposes that it exists for the purpose of amusing him, and if its meetings are not interesting to him he thinks that he is better off at home. The excuse for such an attitude (if there is an excuse) is that through many lives, and probably through the earlier part of this life, such a man has been looking at everything entirely from the outside and from the selfish point of view, and he is only now gradually accustoming himself to the true and higher standpoint-- the common-sense attitude which takes account of all the factors, the higher as well as the lower and less important.

 

The person who attends a meeting for the sake of what he can get, or to be entertained there, is thinking of himself only and not of his Lodge or of the Society. We should join the Society not for anything that we get from it, but because, having satisfied ourselves of the truth of what it proclaims, we are anxious to spread that truth to others as far as possible. If we are merely selfish in regard to this matter, we can buy the Theosophical books and study them without belonging to the Society at all. We join it for the sake of spreading the teaching, and for the sake of understanding it better by discussing it with those who have spent years in trying to live it. We who belong to it do get a good deal from it, in the way of instruction and of help in understanding difficult points, of brotherly feeling and of kindly thought.

 

I know that I have received much of all these things during my thirty years of membership, but I am quite sure that if I had joined the Society with the idea of getting something out of it, I should not have gained half of what I have. In my experience of the Society I have seen over and over again that the person who comes in with the idea “What shall I get?” gains little, because so far as the flowing of higher forces goes he is a cul-de-sac ; he is what plumbers call a “dead end,” out of which nothing is running. What can there be in the dead end of a pipe but a little stagnant water? But if the pipe be open and the water flows freely, then a vast amount may pass through.

 

In the same way, if members come to a meeting, thinking all the time about themselves, and how they like what is said or done, they assuredly gain but little good from it, compared to what they might gain if their attitude were more rational. No doubt such people have spasms of unselfishness; but that is insufficient. The whole life of a member ought to be devoted to trying to fill his place well, and to do his duty to the utmost of his power. Therefore, being a member of the Society and of a Lodge, he has his duty to do from that point of view also. If a member says that Lodge meetings are dull, one always feels inclined to begin by asking him: “What are you doing to allow them to be dull? You are there also and it is your business to see that things are kept going as far as may be.” If each individual member feels resting upon him the duty of trying to make each meeting a success, it will be much more likely to succeed than if he goes there just to be amused or even merely to be instructed.

 

Let us consider then the hidden side of the meeting of a Theosophical Lodge.

 

For the purposes of our illustration I will take the ordinary weekly meetings, at which the Lodge is prosecuting its definite line of study. I am referring to the meetings of members of the Lodge only, for the occult effect which I wish to describe is impossible in connection with any meetings to which non-members are admitted.

 

Naturally the work of every Lodge has its public side. There are lectures given to the public, and opportunities offered for their questions; all this is good and necessary. But every Lodge which is worthy of the name is also doing something far higher than any work in the physical world, and this higher work can only be done by virtue of its own private meetings. Furthermore, it can be done only if these private meetings are properly conducted and entirely harmonious. If the members are thinking of themselves in any way-- if they have personal vanity, such as might show itself in the desire to shine or to take a prominent part in the proceeding; if they have other personal feelings, so that they would be capable of taking offence or of being affected by envy or jealousy-- no useful occult effect can possibly be produced. But if they have forgotten themselves in the earnest endeavour to comprehend the subject appointed for study, a considerable and beneficial result, of which they usually have no conception, may readily be produced. Let me explain the reason of this.

 

We will assume a series of meetings at which a certain book is being used for study. Every member knows beforehand what paragraph or page will be taken at the approaching meeting, and it is expected that he shall take the trouble to prepare himself to bear his part in it intelligently. He must not be in the attitude of the young nestling, waiting with open mouth and expecting that someone else will feed him; on the contrary, every member should have an intelligent comprehension of the subject which is to be considered, and should be prepared to contribute his share of information with regard to it.

 

A good plan is for each member of the circle to make himself responsible for the examination of certain of our Theosophical books-- one taking the first volume of The Secret Doctrine, let us say, another the second, another the third, another The Ancient Wisdom, another Esoteric Buddhism, and so on. Some of the members could easily take two or three of the smaller books, and on the other hand, if the Lodge be large enough, a volume of The Secret Doctrine might very well be divided among several members, each taking up a hundred or a hundred and fifty pages. The exact subject to be considered at the next meeting is announced at the previous one, and each member makes himself responsible for looking carefully through the book or books committed to his charge for any reference to it, so that when he comes to the meeting he is already possessed of any information about it which is contained in that particular book, and is prepared to contribute this when called upon. In this way every member has his work to do, and each is greatly helped to a full and clear comprehension of the matter under consideration, because all present are thus earnestly fixing their thought upon it. When the meeting opens, the chairman will first appoint some one to read the passage chosen for study, and will then ask each member in turn what, if anything, his book has to say which bears upon it. After all have thus borne their part, questions may be asked and any points which are not quite clear may be discussed. If any question arises which the older members present do not feel themselves fully competent to answer, it should be written out and sent to the Headquarters of the Society.

 

If some such plan as that be adopted, no one will have reason to complain of the dullness of the meetings, for every member will exert himself to bear his own part in each of them. Each must go to the meeting in a spirit of helpfulness, thinking of what he can contribute and in what way he can be useful, for upon the attitude of mind much depends.

 

Let us consider what effect such a meeting will produce upon the neighbourhood in which it is held. We have already noted that a Church service is a powerful centre of influence; how does a Theosophical meeting act in this respect?

 

To understand that, recall for a moment what has been said as to the action of thought. The thought-wave may be generated at various levels of the mental body. A selfish thought uses the lowest kind of mental matter, while an unselfish thought, or an attempt to comprehend some elevated idea, uses the higher kinds only. An intense effort at the realisation of the abstract-- an attempt to comprehend what is meant by the fourth dimension or by the tabularity of a table-- means, if successful, a dawning activity of the causal body; while if the thought is mingled with unselfish affection, with high aspiration or devotion, it is even possible that a vibration of the intuitional world may enter into it and multiply its power a hundredfold.

 

The distance to which a thought-wave can radiate effectively, depends partly upon its nature and partly upon the opposition with which it meets. Waves in the lower types of astral matter are usually soon deflected or overwhelmed by a multitude of other vibrations at the same level, just as in the midst of the roar of a great city a soft sound is entirely drowned.

 

For this reason the ordinary self-centred thought of the average man, which begins on the lowest of the mental levels, and instantly plunges down to correspondingly low levels of the astral, is comparatively ineffective. Its power in both the worlds is limited, because, however violent it may be, there is such an immense and turbulent sea of similar thought surging all around that its waves are inevitably soon lost and overpowered in that confusion. A thought generated at a higher level, however, has a much clearer field for its action, because at present the number of thoughts producing such waves is very small-- indeed, Theosophical thought is almost a class by itself from this point of view. There are religious people whose thought is quite as elevated as ours, but never so precise and definite; there are large numbers of people whose thoughts on matters of business and money-making are as precise as could be desired, but they are not elevated or altruistic. Even scientific thought is scarcely ever in the same class as that of the true Theosophist, so that our students have practically a field to themselves in the mental world.

 

The result of this is that when a man thinks on Theosophical subjects, he is sending out all round him a wave which is powerful because it is practically unopposed, like a sound in the midst of a vast silence, or a light shining forth on the darkest night. It sets in motion a level of mental matter which is as yet but rarely used, and the radiations which are caused by it impinge upon the mental body of the average man at a point where it is quite dormant. This gives to such thought its peculiar value, not only to the thinker but to others round him; for its tendency is to awaken and to bring into use an entirely new part of the thinking apparatus. Such a wave does not necessarily convey Theosophical thought to those who are ignorant of it; but in awakening this higher portion of the mental body, it tends to elevate and liberalise the man' s thought as a whole, along whatever lines it may be in the habit of moving, and in this way produces an incalculable benefit.

 

If the thought of a single man produces these results, the thought of twenty or thirty people directed to the same subject will achieve an effect enormously greater. The power of the united thought of a number of men is always far more than the sum of their separate thoughts; it would be much more nearly represented by their product. So it will be seen that, even from this point of view alone, it is an exceedingly good thing for any city or community that a Theosophical Lodge should be constantly meeting in its midst, for its proceedings, if they are conducted in a proper spirit, cannot but have a distinctly elevating and ennobling effect upon the thought of the surrounding population. Naturally there are many people whose minds cannot yet be awakened at all upon those higher levels; but even for them the constant beating of the waves of this more advanced thought at least brings nearer the time of their awakening.

 

Nor must we forget the result produced by the formation of definite thought-forms. These also are radiated from the centre of activity, but they can affect only such minds as are already to some extent responsive to ideas of this nature. In these days, however, there are many such minds, and our members can attest the fact that after they have been discussing such a question as reincarnation it not infrequently happens that they are themselves asked for information upon that subject by persons whom they had not previously supposed to be interested in it. The thought-form is capable of conveying the exact nature of the thought to those who are somewhat prepared to receive it, whereas the thought-vibration, though it reaches a far wider circle, is much less definite in its action.

 

Here is already a momentous effect upon the mental level, produced quite unintentionally by our members in the ordinary course of their study-- something far greater in reality than their intentional efforts in the way of propaganda are ever likely to produce. But this is not all, for by far the most important part is yet to come. Every Lodge of this Society is a centre of interest to the Great Masters of the Wisdom, and when it works well and loyally Their thoughts and those of Their pupils are frequently turned towards it. In this way a force more exalted than our own may often shine out from our gatherings, and an influence of inestimable value may be focused where, so far as we know, it would not otherwise specially rest. This may indeed seem the ultimate limit which our work can attain; yet there is something beyond even this.

 

All students of the occult are aware that the Life and Light of the Deity flood the whole of His system-- that in every world, at every level, is outpoured from Him that especial manifestation of His strength which is appropriate to it. Naturally, the higher the world, the less veiled is His glory, because as we ascend we are drawing nearer to its Source. Normally the force outpoured in each world is strictly limited to it; but it can descend into and illuminate a lower level if a special channel be prepared for it.

 

Such a channel is always provided whenever any thought or feeling has an entirely unselfish aspect. The selfish emotion moves in a closed curve, and so brings its own response on its own level; the utterly unselfish emotion is an outrush of energy which does not return, but in its upward movement provides a channel for a downpouring of divine Power from the level next above, which is the reality lying at the back of the old idea of the answer to prayer.

 

To a clairvoyant this channel is visible as a great vortex, a kind of gigantic cylinder or funnel. This is the nearest we can come to explaining it in the physical world, but it does not really give at all an adequate idea of its appearance, for as the force flows down through the channel it somehow makes itself one with the vortex, and issues from it coloured by it, and bearing with it distinctive characteristics which show through what channel it has come.

 

Such a channel can be made only if all the thought is earnest and harmonious. I do not mean that there must be no discussion at the meetings, but that all such discussion must invariably be of the most friendly character, and conducted with the fullest brotherly feeling. We must never suppose that a man differs from us is necessarily weak in thought or uncomprehending. There are always at least two sides to every question, so that the man who disagrees may often simply be seeing another side. If that is so, we may gather something from him and he something from us, and in that way we may do each other good; but if we become angry over a discussion we do each other harm and the harmony of the thought-waves is lost. One such thought as that so often spoils a beautiful effect. I have seen that happen many times-- a number of people working along quite happily and building up a beautiful channel; suddenly some one of them will say something unkind or personal, and then in a moment the thing breaks up, and the opportunity to help is lost.

 

Whenever anyone is speaking, or reading a paragraph, or trying to do anything helpful, try for the time to help him, and do not be everlastingly thinking how much better you could do it yourself. Do not criticise, but give him the aid of your thought. You may afterwards enquire as to any points that are not clear, but do not at the time send a hostile or critical thought against him, because if you do you may interfere with the sequence of his thought and spoil his lecture. Make a mental note of any point about which you wish to ask, but for the time try to see what good there is in what he says, as in that way you will strengthen him.

 

A clairvoyant sees the current of thought flowing out from the lecturer, and other currents of comprehension and appreciation rising from the audience and joining with it; but critical thought meets it with an opposing rate of vibration, breaks up the stream, and throws it all into confusion. One who sees this influence in action will find these considerations so forcibly impressed upon him that he is little likely to forget them and act contrary to them. The helpful thoughts of members of his audience tend to make a lecturer' s presentation clearer, and to impress it upon those to whom it is not familiar. For this reason members should be present even at public lectures upon the most elementary subjects delivered by their fellows, in order that they, who understand thoroughly, may help the lecturer by making clear thought-forms connected with his subject, which will impress themselves upon the minds of the public who are trying to understand.

 

The man who is occupied in the earnest study of higher things is for the time lifted entirely out of himself, and generates a powerful thought-form in the mental world, which is immediately employed as a channel by the force hovering in the world next above. When a body of men join together in a thought of this nature, the channel which they make is out of all proportion larger in its capacity than the sum of their separate channels; and such a body of men is therefore an inestimable blessing to the community amidst which it works, for through them (even in their most ordinary meetings for study, when they are considering such subjects as rounds and races and planetary chains) there may come an outpouring into the lower mental world of that force which is normally peculiar to the higher mental; while if they turn their attention to the higher side of the Theosophical teaching, and study such questions of ethics and of soul-development as we find in At the Feet of the Master, Light on the Path, The Voice of the Silence and our other devotional books, they may make a channel of more elevated thought through which the force of the intuitional world itself may descend into the mental, and thus radiate out an influence for good upon many a soul who would not be in the least open to the action of that force if it had remained on its original level.

 

This is the real and the greatest function of a Lodge of the Theosophical Society-- to furnish a channel for the distribution of the Divine Life; and thus we have another illustration to show us how far greater is the unseen than the seen. To the dim physical eye all that is visible is a small band of humble students meeting weekly in the earnest endeavour to learn and to qualify themselves to be of use to their fellow-men; but to those who can see more of the world, from this tiny root there springs a glorious flower, for no less than four mighty streams of influence are radiating from that seemingly insignificant centre-- the stream of thought-waves, the cluster of thought-forms, the magnetism of the Masters of the Wisdom, and the mighty torrent of the Divine Energy.

 

Here also is an instance of the eminently practical importance of a knowledge of the unseen side of life. For lack of such knowledge many a member has been lax in the performance of his duty, careless as to his attendance at Lodge meetings; and thus he has lost the inestimable privilege of being part of a channel for the Divine Life. Such a man has not yet grasped the elementary fact that he joined not to receive but to give, not to be interested and amused, but to take his share in a mighty work for the good of mankind.

CHAPTER XXII