THE CANADIAN THEOSOPHIST

The Theosophical Society is not responsible for any statement in this Magazine, unless made in an official document

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vol. XXXIII, No. 4 Toronto, June 15th, 1952 Price 20 Cents

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IS THERE AN AETHER ?

By Phillips Newcombe

(Continued from Page 38)

Stanzas of Dyzan and Field Physics

A basic entity has ever been the quest of thinkers both ancient and modern. One primal, elementary "substance" having no diversity, from which the manifested universe evolved, is the ideal of ancient occult literature. This root or basis of the phenomenal universe is there represented by such terms as mulaprakriti, akasha and aether. There is a maze of discussion in The Secret Doe-trine and elsewhere about these terms. They present divergencies of metaphysical meanings. In making a physical application however, we can extract a general philosophic concept and find a common significance in the terms. The difficulties of the ancient philosophers are well illustrated. Alfred North Whitehead has well said that "their insights are priceless".

The struggles of the scientists to arrive at a basic entity has been represented in a large measure by the terms "aether" or "ether". This concept was largely promoted to fit an especial need and some thinkers regarded it as only basic in a relative sense. It was another physical manifestation just one remove from the ordinary physical phenomena.

As we have previously said, this aether operated as a medium for electromagnetic waves, such as the light waves which are picked up by the human eye and those waves which are detected by the radio receiver. But the idea developed that this aether could be basic in the fullest sense; that it was an entity very subtile, pervading the universe and from which all matter issued. We thus see the common aims of the ancient occultist and the modern scientist.

I have chosen the term "basic entity" deliberately. Some words through long usage and incrustations can exercise a tyrannical influence upon our minds. They can impede the clearer processes of thinking; especially words denoting fundamental concepts. The word "substance", for instance, has two or three main meanings, besides several shadings. In occult writings we read of "primordial substance" and "undifferentiated substance" the reference may be to something of a spiritual essence far removed from any of the ideas we usually have about physicality. In modern science however the word "substance" seems to have lost any serviceable meaning. And again, take this word aether.


--- 50



Dirac heads his now famous letter to the Nature scientific journal with the query - "Is there an aether"? There are some who regret that Dirac has revived this term, for it tends to draw us back into the mire of meanings and definitions which attached to its sad regime of a half-century ago. Would it not have been better at this juncture to make a fresh start with a new name or symbol? Especially so, when from what we can gather so far from Dirac's new theory of electrodynamics, the "aether" now introduced has attributes different from the old-fashioned aether.

In The Secret Doctrine we see Aether mentioned as a synonym for "Primordial Substance" and "the Fifth universal cosmic Principle". Madame Blavatsky states that this Aether is different from the "ether" of science. To emphasize the distinction she and others are careful to spell the latter differently. The latter "ether" to them is not far removed from the other material phenomena on the physical plane. The ether of modern science is still differentiated matter. Other ethers are mentioned in occult literature which it is not necessary for us to go into at this time.

If anyone would take a day off and spend the morning looking up and studying the various references to "Aether" and "ether" in our scientific literature, and then spend the afternoon in studying the same subjects as they appear in occult literature, I believe that before sundown he would accumulate the worst headache on record.

Now there has been some criticism of The Secret Doctrine of a textual character; some claiming that the book is ill arranged and is "fragmentary". But when we consider the plethora of material Madame Blavatsky had to deal with, the controversial condition of some of this material, all the classifications and categories presented, and all the mixtures of terminology, often conflicting, it is hard to see that anyone else could have done any better, facing the same situation and conditions. Madame Blavatsky did a wonderful job.

Anyway, returning to Dirac's query, it may be helpful to our understanding if the Aether problem is stated in a different manner. (1) Can we now have evidence of an entity which stands basic to our present physical phenomena, so that it accounts for the wave-action in the electromagnetic field?; and / or (2) Are there indications of an entity which is basic in the fullest sense, a That, from which the diversified phenomenal universe has issued?

What does Professor Albert Einstein think about the Aether? This is what he stated a few years ago and I have not noticed any change in his opinion since. Here it is - "After such bad experiences, this is the moment to forget the ether completely and to try to never mention its name. We shall say: our space has the physical property of transmitting waves, and so omit the use of a word we have decided to avoid". And finally he disclaims the necessity of "bothering any more about the `e--r' problem". Please note that Einstein says that space has the physical property of transmitting waves; for we are going to find that the philosophy of Einstein is to be a great help to us in developing a common concept in cosmogony which will reconcile our understanding of the theories of quantum and field physics and ancient teaching.

Trying to juggle three balls in the air at once can become confusing. We should start with some formula which has some reasonable degree of acceptance in the three systems of thought. It would furnish a point from which we can establish our bearings and make our departure, a frame of reference, so to speak. It should be free from the difficulties of terminology which we have already illustrated. Using the term "basic entity" we shall try to get on. It has the advantage of not being bound


--- 51



with many qualifications. It is about as "bare-bones" as we can make it, and we are free to add our own meanings as we go along according to the needs of the various systems. This is really the method of the mathematical physicist, only he uses a symbol, function, equation or similar mathematical device.

Mathematics for the physicist is the handy tool for description and elucidation. In the hands of such experts as Dirac and Einstein it becomes more than that, for it is a most powerful instrument of logic and reasoning. What has happened is that Dirac through his mathematical reasoning has produced some equations which indicate the existence of a physical entity of a basic nature. There has as yet been no experimental proof of this basic entity. In a sense the concept is a mathematical prediction. Some scientists are already pronouncing Dirac's equations as "very satisfying". But what faith can we repose in a mathematical prophesy?

The answer is that some of the most revolutionary developments in modern science have been brought about in just this manner and they were afterwards verified by successful experiments. de Broglie predicted that matter was composed of waves. This was afterwards confirmed by a physicist who shot a stream of electrons through very thin gold leaf obtaining upon a screen a perfect picture of the wave pattern. This opened up one of the strangest paradoxes in nature. The electron is both a particle and a wave.

Yukawa predicted the existence of the meson which was afterwards discovered by physical experiment. Dirac himself in 1931 produced some equations which indicated the existence of the positron which afterwards was confirmed through research.

The quantum theory has had a tremendous development since Planck's day. The crux of the theory is this - some physical entities which we have customarily regarded as continuous in their structure are really composed of elementary units or driblets called "quanta". For instance, electricity was regarded as a continuous quantity; its current flowed through the wire like a fluid, but it has been discovered that this negative electric fluid is composed of grains; the elementary quanta of negative electricity are called "electrons". The electron is also one of the elementary quanta of matter itself. The photon is the elementary quantum of light. Not only matter, electric charges but also radiation and energy have a granular structure. Nature's action proceeds not as a continuous whole or quantity but as a series of small jumps. Now the great difficulty which has arisen is that all these have a wave effect as well, they also operate as the motion of waves. We have two seemingly contradictory theories of nature. Physicists to get the complete picture or the full explanation of phenomena have to take into account both these aspects. With the electron they have learned to describe its realm of action in terms of both particle and wave. What is light? Is it a shower of particles or quanta or is it a wave? The answer is that these elements behave both ways. Dirac, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger and others have been wrestling with this problem for years. Much of the results are embalmed in the extensive and complicated mathematics of wave mechanics. The new quantum physics has taken us far from the old mechanical viewpoints. Determinism seems to have been put to flight. Now comes the great question. Quantum physics may have travelled about as far as it can get upon its present road. Do we now witness (in the work of Dirac) the fact that it is about to make a sharp turn? Science has taken sharp turns before. It has often got itself out of an impasse by introducing a revolutionary idea. Dirac says that his aether is "subject to


--- 52



quantum mechanics and conforming to relativity". This may prove to be very revolutionary indeed. We shall examine this later.

Does it not seem plausible that our scientists realizing the failure to find the solution of the physical universe through the study of matter as presented by these waves and particles, etc., are forced to seek another and different manifestation of matter or of something else? They are pushing their quest ever and further back towards the primordial. They are seeking a basic entity as their solution.

There is an old occult teaching which may be expressed in short form - matter can never furnish its own explanation. William Kingsland has expressed this principle cogently when he said that physical matter being an effect not a cause, therefore we cannot expect any ultimate solution from merely physical phenomena. Our scientists seem to be feeling the effect of this principle. Dirac seeks and now finds an extra entity outside the constituents of appreciable matter, something which bears the sheerest minimum of physical qualification as to seem virtually coexistent with space itself.

With Einstein the magic of matter (and mass) whether a la particle or lump seems to have run its course. When science was in a jam Einstein produced his theories of Relativity and put it upon the road of progress again. This was all because Einstein was a greater philosopher than the rest of them. As an introduction to his field physics let us now take a glimpse of his philosophy or metaphysics, if you like. Said Einstein, "We cannot build physics on the matter concept alone". Does not this confirm the occult principle? And again - "The difficulties connected with the structure of the ether, induced us to create a more subtle reality . . . a courageous scientific imagination was needed to realize fully that not the behavior of bodies, but the behavior of something between them, that is the field, may be essential for ordering and understanding events". Down through the years Einstein has been busy finding a basic entity to which he has given the simple name "the field". And finally another quotation - "There would be no place in our new physics for both field and matter, field being the only reality". For instance there is the electromagnetic field which transmits light and the gravitational field which transmits the earth around on its orbit. These are really two aspects of the one entity. The field has the attribute of energy, in fact it represents energy. Matter is really a concentration of energy. In Einstein's philosophy matter is simply a region in space where the field is particularly strong. Einstein explains that there is no room for mechanical description in this concept of a new reality. The concept of substances so necessary to the notion of a mechanical universe is gradually being eliminated. The aim of Einstein's unitary field theory is that all the events of nature should be explained by structure laws. Now here lies the issue. While Einstein has been working out a basic entity which takes us further and further away from matter as we commonly understand it, Dirac now introduces a new entity which on the face of it appears as another manifestation of matter. Perhaps however as a more complete description of Dirac's aether develops we may find them not so far apart. At least Dirac seems to think so when most of his argument so far is directed towards reconciling this aether concept with Einstein's relativity. We shall see.

Let us return to our occult principle again, for I want to show how it impelled Einstein to throw overboard the old mechanical idea of seeking the explanation of physical phenomena merely via matter as of itself. Our idea of gravitation from Newton's day was that


--- 53



it was an instantaneous direct-action force which one body of matter exerted upon another. When the relevant Newtonian principle and its mathematics failed to account for the changing of the orbit plane of Mercury and some other discrepancies crept in as well, Einstein forthrightly tackled the problem; he saw that it was of no use to dodge the issue which was - either the principle or the facts were wrong, they both could not be right. Einstein elected to stand by the facts and he consequently threw aside the principle which had until that time prevailed, viz. that gravity is the direct pull of matter upon matter. The theory of relativity now developed out of the field physics. Old concepts such as the inertial-matter system of Newton and the concept of time as an absolute were abandoned. Einstein now began to describe his basic entity or field reality in terms of space and time, to be conceived together as the four-dimensional time-space continuum and as the matrix for all the events of nature. This is a non-Euclidean universe. Such a continuum governed by Riemannian geometry will possess a certain kind of curvature in the neighborhood of matter. This curvature manifests itself to us as gravitation. The earth travels as it does along its orbital path because it is the readiest one presented by the immediate condition in space-time.

This spectacle of science now reaching out into space and even to space itself for the answers, should be of particular interest to the student of Theosophy. We turn to a very ancient writing The Book of Dyzan. We quote from The Secret Doctrine, Stanza I, verse (1), "'The Eternal Parent (Space) wrapped in her Ever-Invisible Robes... (2) Time was not, for it lay asleep in the infinite bosom of Duration. (8) Alone, the One form of Existence stretched boundless . . . in Dreamless Sleep. . . " And it is stated - "The `Parent' Space is the eternal, ever-present Cause of all - the incomprehensible Deity, whose `Invisible Robes' are the mystic Root of all Matter, and of the Universe. Space is the one eternal thing that we can most easily imagine . . ." Of such is the basic entity as presented by our oldest occult literature. A similarity of ideation with that of recent science is noted. Both exhibit an unitary field. Time is not an absolute. The category of space is used by each. We now see that in a measure science is taking its lead from the fundamental concepts of ancient teaching.

(To Be Concluded)

-----------------------


"When the fundamental principle of the Unity of the Universe has been clearly understood in its many aspects; when it is fully apprehended that all diverse phenomena whatsoever are only the One seen and known partially and incompletely, seen and known in a limited manner under conditions or states of consciousness which give rise to the limitations which we call time and space; when we have learnt that life and consciousness must be as eternal and indestructible as their objective correlatives, matter and motion, and that the real `law of substance' - of that which sub-stands the Universe in its totality, which sub-stands subject as well as object - is the ceaseless activity of Being; then also we come to a clear understanding that our own individual life is necessarily only a temporary phase of that One Life which moves in All, and that there must be natural laws `great structural facts of the Universe,' connecting our present personalities and consciousness with the higher or more interior Planes of the Cosmos, with the Unseen Universe, even to the very highest or innermost, to the One Noumenon Itself." - Scientific Idealism, William Kingsland.

------------------------------


--- 54



CAN WE CAST OUT DEVILS?

By Cecil Williams

With increasing frequency newspapers report irrational crimes of violence. A man with a gun runs amuck or a baby is beaten to death in its cradle. To some, these outbursts of frenzy may seem due to sudden possession by a devil. Can this really be so? What is the truth about demoniac possession? And, if there is any truth in it, can there be such a thing as the casting out of devils.

Antiquity believed so. The New Testament stories reflect a conviction of the time. But we must distinguish between the two kinds of devil named in the Gospels, between diabolos and daemon, both, for reasons to be given shortly, Greek words.

It is diabolos who tempts Jesus in the wilderness and against whom exclusively the writers of the Epistles warn. He is the slanderer, the deceiver, who represents things to be not what they are, the personification of illusion, the Maya of the Hindus, the Mara of the Buddhists, the Astral Light of the Kabalists and, for the Theosophists and in man, Kama-Manas.

The noun daemon did not always have the meaning attached to it at the beginning of the Christian era. At one time, in the age of Homer, according to that great authority on the Greek language, Liddell and Scott's Lexicon, it was the name of the Universal Divine Power, far above the theoi, or gods, who were the personal deities of the pantheon.

From this loftiest of meanings the sense of the word degenerated. Once equated with the Divine Will or Karma it descended to mean a divinity less than a theos. Then it declined to mean a hero, in the early sense of a spiritual teacher or messenger of the gods. It became the genius or spirit of man (Buddhi-Manas) as with Socrates; then the dead souls of the necromancer and, finally, an evil spirit or devil.

Similarly, the verb to be daemonized suffered a similar descent. It lost its original sense of "to be deified," or initiated and came to mean "possessed of a devil."

The accounts of the casting out of devils by Jesus and his disciples (Luke, ix, 1), may have an historical basis, though this cannot be rationally claimed for much of the Gospel narratives (vide, a review of Dr. Hartmann's "Life of Jehoshua," in Lucifer, iii, 159-160). They are chiefly composed of incomplete allegorical dramas and recitations taken from the Greek mystery schools.

But it is certain that the Greeks, with other ancient peoples, attributed epilepsy to daemonic possession (Liddell and Scott.) And it is equally certain that among the Greek religions there were healing cults.

Having some of their origins, at least, in Egypt and Babylonia, in which nations healing was always associated with the occult (Article, "Health and the Gods of Healing," Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. vi), the Greek cults founded temples sacred to Asclepus. These buildings were a sort of hospital, erected in the health-giving air of hills or near spas.

The greatest of them, one of the most magnificent edifices of ancient Greece, was at Epidaurus, across the Saronic Gulf from Athens. Another hospital-temple at Aegea, in Asia Minor, (a city renowned for its associations with the Pythagorean adept and healer, Apollonius of Tyana), was destroyed by the Emperor Constantine, in his zeal for Christianity (Article, "Aesculapius," Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.)


--- 55



The treatments in these hospitals included diet, bathing, exercise and some sort of mental healing. The form the last took puzzles writers. One authority believing it was autosuggestion; another concludes that it was mesmerism. But it is agreed that it was a therapy which embraced sleep and it is reasonable to suppose that the "daemonically possessed", or the insane, were among the invalids treated in the sanctuaries.

The sacred science of occultism cannot be supposed to be ignorant of the phenomena now studied under the heads of psychology, psychoanalysis, psychosomatic medicine and psychiatry, though doubtless the adepts deal more directly with causes than with effects. Evidence of such occult knowledge is contained in two cryptic sentences in H.P. Blavatsky's article, "Black Magic in Science," published in Lucifer, (VI, 274) shortly before her death.

"There are," she wrote, "mysterious secret drawers, dark nooks and hiding places in the labyrinth of memory, still unknown to physiologists, and which open only once, rarely twice, in man's lifetime, and that only under very abnormal and peculiar conditions. But when they do, it is always some heroic deed committed by a person, the least calculated for it, or - a terrible crime perpetrated, the reason for which remains forever a mystery.

The word "forever" is not to be read in an absolute sense. It does not mean "for all time," but rather, "so long as physiologists and psychologists remain as ignorant as they are." For much has been learned since then to verify and explain, at least in part, her statements about

(1) The hiding-places of the memory;

(2) The power of that which is therein contained;

(3) Its good or evil effects when unleashed.

Before proceeding to describe this confirmatory evidence, it should be noticed that the two sentences cited illustrate a peculiarity of both Blavatsky's and the Mahatmas' writing. Both leave something to intuition and even gumption.

In the above instance, the reader is supposed to call to mind the principle of polarity. Between extremes, there are lesser degrees. There are hiding places in the mind easy as well as difficult of access; the hidden power may be great or small. Its effect may be less than a heroic deed or a murder, may, indeed, be trivial.

A nook in the memory, easy to find, may contain a forgotten name that we light upon after a conscious effort, but a secret drawer not to be found by ourself, search how we will, though it is within us, hidden in what Freud called the "unconscious." Sometimes, but not always, it may be opened with the air of a psychoanalyst.

Forty years after Blavatsky wrote the cryptic words just quoted, Freud was to be found echoing her. "Our hysterical (i.e., neurotic) patients suffer from reminiscences," he declared in a lecture at Clark University (An Outline of Psychoanalysis, page 28.) I abstract a fragment from one of the earliest cases he records, as illustrative of the rest:

There was a young girl who was unable to drink despite a great thirst, which was partly assuaged by fruits. As soon as a glass of water touched her lips she thrust it away as though she suffered from hydrophobia. Investigation into her mind revealed that there was hidden in her memory the sight of a detested dog drinking out of a glass. When this thought was brought back into her consciousness the psychoneurotic symptom disappeared permanently.

The cause of such abnormal behaviour Freud called a complex. This may be

(Continued on Page 57)

-------------------------


--- 56



THE CANADIAN THEOSOPHIST

- The Organ of the Theosophical Society in Canada

- Published on the 15th of every month.


[[Seal here]]


- Entered at Hamilton General Post Office as Second-class matter.

- Subscription: Two Dollars a Year

OFFICERS OF THE T.S. IN CANADA

GENERAL EXECUTIVE

Dudley W. Barr, 52 Isabella St., Toronto, Ont.

Charles M. Hale, Box 158, New Liskeard, Ont.

Miss M. Hindsley, 745 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ont.

George I. Kinman, 46 Rawlinson Avenue, Toronto, Ont.

Peter Sinclair, 4941 Wellington St., Verdun, Quebec

Washington E. Wilks, 925 Georgia St. W., Vancouver, B.C.

Emory P. Wood, 12207 Stony Plain Road, Edmonton, Alta.

GENERAL SECRETARY

Lt.-Col E.L. Thomson, D.S.O., 54 Isabella St., Toronto, Ont.

To whom all payments should be made, and all official communications addressed

------

EDITORIAL BOARD, CANADIAN THEOSOPHIST

All Letters to the Editor, Articles and Reports for Publication should be sent to The Editor: Dudley W. Barr, 52 Isabella St., Toronto 5, Ont.

------

Printed by the Griffin & Richmond Printing Co., Ltd., 29 Rebecca Street, Hamilton, Ontario

-----------------------------


OFFICE NOTES

The American Theosophist for May, 1952, reports that through the kindness of Mr. Christmas Humphreys of England, Adyar is to receive for its archives a microfilm of the original Mahatma Letters which are permanently lodged with the British Museum. The Museum staff made the film. Special reading projector equpiment, however, is necessary to make use of the microfilmed Letters, which as yet Adyar does not possess.

--------

The President of India has selected Srimati Rukmini Devi, representing art and culture, to fill one of the twelve appointive seats in the Upper House of the Indian Federal Parliament, the Council of States. This is a consultative senate type of body which does not originate legislation on financial matters but may do so on certain other things, and has a power of veto.

--------

We were glad to see that Theosophy in Ireland is back in print for its Jan-March issue, after being mimeographed for four years. But in whatever medium it is published, Theosophy in Ireland is always welcome. The editorial notes and the articles in the current issue are of much interest. In an article Intuition by D. Jeffrey Williams, the author says, "The standpoint of the real intuition is,that of the Gita, Light on the Path, and The Voice of the Silence. In another sense it is the standpoint of The Secret Doctrine. The S.D. has an uncompromisingly spiritual way of looking at things, and that is the truly intuitive standpoint. That matters much more even than the extraordinary information contained in the S.D." Roy Mitchell's Theosophy in Action (Blavatsky Institute, Toronto) is reviewed favourably by P.L. Pielou.

---------

A wedding of unusual interest took place in Toronto on Saturday May 17. Mr. Edward Stephenson, editor of The Northern Tribune, Kapuskasing, Ont., and a member of Toronto Lodge, was married to Mrs. G. Altry of Salford, Lancashire, England. It all came about through the Royal Visit last year. Pictures of the Royal couple at Kapuskasing appeared in Picture Post, England, and Mrs. Altry wrote to the Mayor, Mr. Alec. Stevenson concerning the possibility of obtaining a position there. Through a `mistake' the letter went to Editor Stephenson - and to make a long story short, romance blossomed in the ensuing correspondence. Comrades from World War I and members of the Toronto Lodge attended the wedding. Our best wishes are sent to the happy couple.

--------------------


--- 57



CAN WE CAST OUT DEVILS? (Continued from Page 55)

defined as an emotion-charged thought, hidden in the mind, in unseen conflict with the person's general ideas.

Complexes of greater or lesser power lurk in all of us. They have been shown to influence, unconsciously to the individual, his words, deeds and judgments. But they maybe dissipated in the light, that is, when the forgotten memory is recalled.

To bring back these concealed memories by a method basically simple but elaborately complex and tedious in application, is the purpose of psychoanalysis. But a newer method, also simple and complex, has been discovered by L. Ron Hubbard and given to the world under the name of Dianetics.

Hubbard has shown that Freud did not go deep enough. The basic cause of neuroses and psychoses and, Hubbard claims, of all psychosomatic illness (said to be 70 percent of all disease), is not the memory Freud called a complex but a memory hidden behind that.

The abnormal behaviour of the young girl did not originate with the sight of the dog lapping at the glass. That was a secondary cause. The primary cause was earlier in time, something that Hubbard calls an engram. (c.f . Science of Survival, MS edition, page 398) .

This term, taken from biology, where it means a lasting memory trace on a cell is regarded by Hubbard not as a memory proper, but a sort of recording, in the lower or reactive mind (kama-manas). Like the complex, it is dynamic, potent with what Theosophists call kama. But whereas the complex may be thought of as self-originated, the engram is planted in the mind from outside, in a moment of unconsciousness. It always records physical pain.

On the lines of Hubbard's discoveries, we can imagine how the engram was recorded in the young girl referred to above. We may picture a situation like this: -

While a child she runs and falls. Striking her head she becomes temporarily unconscious. In this state, the higher or analytical mind (Buddhi-Manas) is shut off, but the lower or reactive mind (Kama-Manas) is still functioning through all senses. It knows everything that is going on. In that condition the lower mind is aware, naturally, of the conversation around her. Someone vainly offers her drink and says, "She can't drink."

The child recovers, but the recording of that statement, irrationally associated with pain (i.e., drink is the cause of pain), lies hidden in the reactive mind, the higher analytical mind knowing nothing about it. Subsequently this unconscious memory is restimulated several times, the sight of the hated dog drinking being such an instance. Growing in power with each unconscious restimulation, the engram at length comes to exercise control.

Engrams may not only be the cause of neuroses or psychoses. They may spur to external action. Anaesthetized for an operation, the reactive mind of a woman may hear someone say, "She can't have a baby." Or a man may record the engram (the words heard actually referring to germs), "We must make sure we kill them all." Or a doctor may say in his presence. "We must spare no effort to save him."

In this theory of engrams we may find the basis of hidden compulsions to great crimes and astonishing heroic deeds, mentioned by Blavatsky.

By inducing the patient to recall and relive, while in full consciousness, the moment when the suggestion was unconsciously implanted in the reactive mind, it is possible to remove the engram.

This treatment, called auditing, is ac-


--- 58



companied by curious phenomena, found also, in a minor degree in psychoanalysis. These are nervous twitchings, yawns, tears, and other psychological manifestations. In some cases these are superficially alarming; in others, amusing. There is also a sort of drowsiness, which has therapeutic value (Science of Survival, pp. 515-517).

These phenomena remind one of the effect which accompanied Mesmer's treatment of the sick. His patients twitched nervously, felt cold, prickly sensations, became drowsy or went to sleep, (Article "A Great Light Under a Bushel," Theosophist, I, 125), though, emphatically not into the hypnotic trance. Mesmerism, called by Blavatsky " a most beneficent science, (Article, "A Case of Obsession," Theosophist, I. 208) often produced total cures.

Natural sleep is a restorer of strength and in illness recovery is frequently preceded by a deep slumber. But it was not to this sort of sleep alone that the ancient Greeks resorted in their hospital-temples. It was to what we now call mesmeric or dianetic sleep, a practice found by one authority to be an importation from Babylonia. (Article, "Health and the Gods of Healing," Encyclopaedia, of Religion and Ethics, VI, 541).

Wilhelm Reich, who has carried psychoanalysis in a new direction, gives us the clue to the meaning of the physiological movements. There is an automatic relation between mind and body and he has discovered that psychoneurotic states are reflected in unconscious muscular rigidity, similar to the tenseness that we consciously experience in times of stress. The moment the unconscious muscular rigidity is relaxed the memory that is the cause of the disorder comes into consciousness. (The Discovery of the Orgone, I, 235).

Conversely, the twitchings and body movements of mesmerism and dianetics are symptoms of release from psycho-neurotic conditions.

Parallel with the mental-emotion and physical manifestations, as every theosophist would expect, there are changes in the human principle called prana. This principle, rediscovered by Dr. Reich and called by him the Orgone, was investigated by Carl von Reichenbach, a century ago, under the name od. Reichenbach found that od was polar, that it differed with the individual, with left and right of the body, at night and morning. (Address, "The Occult Sciences" by H.S. Olcott, Theosophist, I, 266).

The physiological movements may distress an experienced operator, but they give the person experiencing them a sense of relief. Their extreme, epileptic seizures, are pleasurable (cf. The Discovery of the Orgone, I, 249).

Now, it is to epileptic seizures that the Gospel writers refer when they write of a demon tearing the possessed, at the time of the cure (Greek dictionary of Strong's Concordance). The meaning of the word sunesparazen, translated "tare" in Luke IX, 42, is "he was convulsed violently."

Modern psychology, therefore, has revealed the rationale of the ancients' belief in possession by devils. These are not beings with horns and a tail, a far later invention, but irrational, emotion-charged memories, which may indeed take possession of a man's personality. Doubtless, the truth of the matter was well known to the initiates of the healing sanctuaries.

The complex of the psychoanalyst I have always held to be an entity, "an active, living germ," in Blavatsky's words (Article, "Black Magic in Science" Lucifer, VI, 274), and in my classes on Spiritual Psychology, held some years ago, I nearly always called it an elemental.

Since then there has been discovered in Dianetics the engram command, illus-


--- 59



trated above, which is said by Hubbard to compartment off a section of the analytical mind (theosophists would say kama becomes associated with a section of manas,) and to act as an entity separate from the man. This he identifies with the daemon of the ancients (Science of Survival, p. 455).

There are at least three ways in which these parasites may enter the human constitution: (1) Unintentional suggestion during pain-induced consciousness, as in the case of the girl who could not drink; (2) hypnotic suggestion in trance (Article, "Modern Sorcery Assailed," Canadian Theosophist, XXXIII 21); (3) degrading personal magnetism, illustrated in the "influence" of bad companions (Article, "A Case of Obsession" Theosophist, I, 208). Hubbard has elaborated the first case; Blavatsky stressed the third.

In the article last cited it is stated that the magnetic influence of vicious men, living or dead, may sow in the constitution of a suggestible or mediumistic person a virus of evil. As far as the living are concerned Hubbard recognizes this danger, though he limits this influence to the restimulation of an engram only. Nor is he concerned with the fortunately rare cases where an earthbound human, lusting for the gratification of sensual appetites may enter into the very constitution of the psychically negative. (Judge Gadil's article, "Hindu Ideas About Communion With the Dead, Theosophist, I, 68). This peril is the basis of Blavatsky's consistent warnings against mediumistic development. Dangerous personal magnetism, is called entheta or enmest by Hubbard, and its dangers were recognized very quickly after Dianetics was launched upon the world.

At first it was thought this new "science of the mind," could be employed by anyone, but its application has now been found to be so complex as to require special training, in most cases. Again, as Mesmer turned to the aid of magnets, so Dianetics has found valuable the use of an instrument called the electropsychometer.

But as in mesmerism, dianetic machines and techniques are not enough. The moral status of the operator or auditor is of vital importance. The mesmeriser, Blavatsky insisted, must be pure; the auditor, Hubbard iterates, must be high on the tone (morality-intelligence) scale.

As the historic Jehsu was an adept by virtue of inherent purity and ignorance of real evil (Mahatma Letters, p. 344), and as the highly gifted mesmeriser may heal by a touch (Theosophist, I, 277), and, conceivably, by verbal or mantric command, the Gospel stories of healing may quite well have an historic basis.

Mesmerism, says Blavatsky, has been practised since prehistoric times, in India, Egypt and Chaldea. It was the basis of the magic art of the mysterious Dactyls of Phrygia and of the initiated priests of Egypt (Article, "A Great Light Under a Bushel, Theosophist, I, 125). It has been more or less employed consciously or unconsciously, in every age. The marvellous cures of H.S. Olcott are memorable in Theosophical annals.

Dianetics has revealed a novel method of casting out daemons or engrams and there may be some who will see in this revelation of theurgy the confirmation of a prophecy of Blavatsky (Article, "The Esoteric Character of the Gospels," Lucifer, I, 173). They may discern in it evidence of the coming presence of the CHRISTOS (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) in a regenerated world.

-----------------------------


"It is necessary that the world learn again to conjugate the verb to be; I am, Thou art, He is, is the sanity of love and faith, and the atom bomb does not affect it."

- Charles Morgan.

---------------------


--- 60



H.P.B. - THEOSOPHIST

By Robert Byron

"The plain unvarnished truth, which hurts no one save the man who denies it, is that H.P. Blavatsky was the head, front, bottom, top, outskirts, past and present of the Theosophcial Society . . . The T.S. stands or falls by H.P. Blavatsky. Give her up as an idea, withdraw from the path traced by her under orders, belittle her, and the organization will rot; but remember her and what she represented, and we triumph."

-William Q. Judge, in 1893.

Of all the definitions that could be given of a theosophist, perhaps the simplest is contained in that name within a name: H.P.B. When we have said H.P.B. is a theosophist, we have expressed at once the ideal and the fact, the thought and its chief representative. For those who have studied the writings of H.P. Blavatsky, who have endeavored to live the life there enjoined, the definition is all-inclusive; for all others, it may mean little or nothing, but only because, in their case, Theosophy itself is unfamiliar or unimportant.

This does not mean that H.P.B. is to be thought of as the "only" theosophist; such a view goes contrary to her every affirmation of the perfectibility of man. Nor does our definition explain, with any degree of precision, just what a "theosophist" is; the essence of H.P.B. is volatile - she escapes every classification, every form, type, or category that has yet been designed. To discover what and who she is, may be the work of a life or lifetimes, but not to discover her is to miss knowing one who has been and is, for uncounted thousands, a living Companion on the Path.

Had H.P. Blavatsky been a religious leader, the founder of a cult, or a new prophet, the road to her would be shorter, and less worth traveling. If H.P.B. had felt that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, being a theosophist would be a simple matter of play-acting, lip-profession, and the proper appearances. If following in her footsteps meant blind devotion or uncritical faith, there might today be millions in her wake, and all of them asleep to the spiritual Self within!

To her contemporaries, H.P..B. was not particularly ingratiating, and among her readers and disciples, to this day, her writings continue to make their way stormily, as uncompromising as ever. H.P.B. did not pretend to "be" anything. What she was, she and her Masters knew, and some few others divined. What she appeared to be was the least of her concerns, for she knew that the appearance varies with the seer. In her magnificent unconcern for prejudice and preconception, she sometimes seemed to be unkind or ungracious, and her direct speaking, in person and in print, must have wounded many small souls, affronted many closed minds, and alienated many, many selfish hearts. What such offended ones have failed to see is that her contrary approach to the business of winning friends and influencing people may have been designed out of a more profound charity than they credited her with, for is it not merciful to deter timid souls from an undertaking which calls for the utmost courage, self-possession, and the will to know?

And so we come to the plain unvarnished truth voiced by William Q. Judge in 1893. At the time of H.P. Blavatsky's passing, on May 8, 1891, only a Jeremiah would have prophesied the disintegration of the theosophical body,


--- 61



and the rank and file probably never thought that such a declaration as Mr. Judge's would be necessary.

Without presuming to evaluate the present theosophical movement, a task which belongs by rights only to H.P.B. herself and to the Masters who are behind, we may say that each of the conditions warned against in Mr. Judge's statement have been fulfilled to the letter. In many quarters, H.P.B. has been given up as an idea; theosophists have withdrawn from the path she traced under orders from her Masters; and herself, her works, her plan, her life and goal have been belittled. Hence, we have brought to pass the inevitable consequences: "the organization will rot." Today, over-all unity among theosophists is scarcely more than a dream.

However, the disciple of H.P.B. dare not assume that all is lost. For, if we take one side of Mr. Judge's prophecy to be true, we cannot ignore the other: "remember her and what she represented, and we triumph." Let us inquire - and never cease from inquiring - about what H.P.B. represented.

In this regard, we may profitably study the seal of the Theosophical Society, which is an adaptation of H.P.B.'s own seal. Three articles of Mr. Judge's may be especially recommended: - "Theosophical Symbolism," "Theosophical Symbols," and "A Reminiscence" (from The Path of May, 1886; April, 1892 ; and February, 1893, respectively). It was Mr. Judge's understanding that the seal expresses what the Society is itself, and contains, in symbolic form, the doctrines for which it stands. Considering the symbols in the T.S. seal, in the light of his own experiences, the student may derive some insight into the underlying cause for the remarkable disarray of the present theosophical scene.

Here we have space for only a brief mention of a few of the ideas Mr. Judge gleans from the Society's emblem. The interlaced triangles, he writes, are light and dark, "the great contrasts by means of which we are able at last to find the truth," and this "clearly figures the way in which day shades into night, and evil into good." 'The Egyptian cross, symbolizes the regenerated man standing in the center of the two forces. The Serpent encircling the seal signifies reincarnation, and wisdom, also the Masters, whose power of compassion encompasses and protects all who travel the Path. Even the serpent's scales are to be noted, as shadowing forth the "illimitable diversity of the aspects of wisdom or truth."

The circle symbol also tells us that the Theosophical Movement, like the Universe, "is controlled or presided over by harmony now disturbed and now restored," and Mr. Judge offers us a mathematical example to think about: "Although the proportion of the diameter of the circle is as one to three, there is a remainder, when we are exact, of figures that cannot be written because we never should get to the end of them. This is the unknown quantity continually entering into the succession of events and ever tending to restore the harmony." About the Swastica he says it may represent the whirling of the will, and again the "Wheel of the Law."

And here we leave the unmarked trail to be followed by each one for himself. Always, with the Theosophical Movement as with H.P.B., "there is a remainder . . . that cannot be written." But by the whirling of the spiritual will, one's own spiritual force may be generated, and as the symbols change and interchange in our consciousness, we shall arrive at the plain unvarnished truth.

Thus, in some future cycle - whether counted by years or by lifetimes - knowing both H.P.B. and what she represented, we may find that we have made the theosophical seal ours as well as hers.


--- 62



We can begin our attempt without delay or apprehension - gaining confidence, first little by little and then more and more, in the as yet "unknown quantity continually entering into the succession of events."

---------------------


BOOK REVIEW

FAMOUS DOCTOR LOOKS AT THE OCCULT

Dr. Kenneth Walker, famous English surgeon, apresents the esoteric "system" of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff in his most recent book Venture With Ideas. [1]

The engaging intimacy of its style and its freedom from ponderous diction that frequently weights down a subject of this kind, makes Kenneth Brown's [[Walker]] metaphysical narrative delightful reading. Theosophists will find the "system" largely a repetition, with a few minor deviations of basic Secret Doctrine teachings. Yet they will doubtless be interested in the author's objective and balanced portraits of those two remarkable men - Ouspensky and Gurdj,ieff.

His purpose in writing, he tells us in the preface, was to record "the impact" of ancient ideas on his scientifically trained intelligence. In evaluating their worth he was not concerned with ferreting out their origin. For him, their validity and appeal reposed solely on their intrinsic merit. With the help of the "system", he maintains, he was able to correlate into an integrated pattern certain isolated segments of religious and scientific thought.

Vividly he describes his first encounter with the author of Tertium Organum and New Model of the Universe when he attended the Ouspensky lectures, an invited guest, in London. An important feature of the classes was the teacher's answering of questions formulated by an intelligent and articulate group of students. His method was to stimulate thinking by deliberately provoking perplexity. [2] But if the teacher, by his assertions, amazed and confounded his hearers he himself was beyond such exhibitions of emotional excitement. Dr. Walker was impressed by his air of detachment and invulnerable calm.

In the tradition of the Eastern sages, Ouspenaky stressed the illusionary nature of the personality. He sought to drive home the point that the average man is really a composite of multiple selves functioning in a somnolent condition incorrectly termed the waking state. Consequently, self-conscious awareness, as applied to the personality-mechanism which ever identifies itself with changing thoughts and emotions, is a misnomer. Examined in the light of this viewpoint, the behaviorists are right in describing the human psyche as a bundle of reflexes, Ouspensky admitted to his pupils as reported by Dr. Walker. But a means of escape was provided. Automatism could be transcended, Ouspensky said, by the practice of detachment and the integrating of one's desires around a central aim. Only when a man molded his "machine" to his purpose could "will" be said to operate. [3]

After Ouspensky's death, the author visited and was the intimate for a time at the institute founded in Paris by the Caucasian Greek George Gurdjieff, one-time guru of Ouspensky, before he domiciled his international student-group in a chateau at Fontainebleau. [4] Walker's portrait of this modern Cagliostro is a memorable one.

Among a number of eccentric devices employed by Gurdjieff for awakening his pupils was the insistence that those who sat around his hospitable board at the institute should drink vodka regard-


--- 63



less of their individual tastes or inclination. This was done for the specific purpose of exciting reactions which would otherwise remain hidden and quiescent.

As every theosophist knows, one of the psychological tasks the Eastern guru imposes upon himself, for the sake of his disciple's spiritual freedom, is the stirring up of negative skandhas buried deep in the unconscious. When these recalcitrant tendencies, obstacles to the appropriation of Divine Mind, are brought to the surface of consciousness the master, furnished with power and insight far beyond the modern psychiatrist's attainment; is able to permanently dissolve them. Evidently Gurdjieff's methods were unique and peculiar to himself.

The master's protracted wanderings in the near and far East, when he formed one of a company in search of wisdom, is wrapped in an aura of mystery. His alleged familiarity with secret brotherhoods which hold in trust the archaic truth of the ages, Dr. Walker admits, can never be proved. Yet it is gratitude for this same knowledge which obsesses the doctor's reflective brooding when the mortal Gurdjieff was no more and rendered of little moment, in retrospect, his oddities of behavior. There were solemn overtones to the oral instructions he gave. "At such times," the doctor writes, "his words fell on our ears with immense weight for they seemed to be backed, not only by his own wisdom, but by the authority of along line of unseen and unknown teachers." [5]

The Georgian mystic-magician's occult powers, his sudden and inexplicable outbursts of wrath which could be thrust aside like a cloak when it suited his purpose to do so, his gift of mimicry, his titanic energy - are qualities of temperament that are reminiscent of the magnetic and colorful personality of Madame H.P. Blavatsky, who was an even more outstanding tour de force in her day and generation.

Before leaving the subject of Gurdjieff, Dr. Walker quotes from the former's book All and Everything in which Beelzebub, his chief character, contends that the sole hope for earthlings resides in the acquisition of a new organ of perception whereby each individual "should constantly sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own death" and everyone else's. One is inevitably reminded in this connection of the constructive uses to which the death-emphasis was put in the Eleusinian mysteries of ancient Greece - i.e., the priest-hierophants of those days initiated superior men into the experiences of the after-death state. We are told that his momentary glimpse beyond the veil conferred an added piety and nobility of outlook upon those who underwent the experiment.

---------

1 Jonathan Cape (London) Clarke, Irwin & Co. Ltd. (Toronto), 1951, 192 pp., $2.25.

2 See S.D. Vol. I, p. 162 (Los Angeles edition).

3 The theosophist has long been familiar with the idea that the Self is not a concatenation of psychic events. He knows, too, that following vagrant desires, willy-nilly, as they steal up from the subconscious into the heart, is not exercising true will.

4 Gurdjieff attracted many intellectuals and literary notables. Katherine Mansfield was one of these who repaired to the chateau in search of peace and physical healing.

5. Venture With Ideas, p. 157.

--------------------


--- 64


ORIGINAL AND UP-TO-DATE THEOSOPHY

We lend freely by mail all the comprehensive literature of the Movement. Catalogue on request. Also to lend, or for sale at l0c each post free, our ten H.P.B. Pamphlets, including early articles from LUCIFER and Letters from the Initiates.

THE H. P. B. LIBRARY, 750 GRAND BOULEVARD NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C.

----------------------


BLAVATSKY INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS

- ESOTERIC CHARACTER OF THE GOSPEL by H. P. Blavatsky.

- THE EVIDENCE OF IMMORTALITY by Dr. Jerome A. Anderson.

- MODERN THEOSOPHY by Claude Falls Wright.

- THE BHAGAVAD GITA, A Conflation by Albert E.S. Smythe.

These four books are cloth bound, price $1 each.

- ANCIENT AND MODERN PHYSICS by Thomas E. Willson has been republished by The American Philosopher Society and may be purchased through the Institute at the price of $1.00.

- THE EXILE OF THE SOUL by Professor Roy Mitchell has been published in book form. Attractively bound in yellow cover stock. This sells at the price of $1.00.

- THROUGH TEMPLE DOORS - Studies in Occult Masonry, by Roy Mitchell, an occult interpretation of Masonic Symbolism.

- THEOSOPHY IN ACTION, by Roy Mitchell, a re-examination of Theosophical ideas, and their practical application in the work.

The above four books are attractively bound; papperbound $1.00, cloth, $1.50.

Professor Roy Mitchell's COURSE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING especially written for Theosophical students, $3.00.

THE BLAVATSKY INSTITUTE, 52 ISABELLA ST., TORONTO 5, ONTARIO

-------------------------


CANADIAN LODGES

- CALGARY LODGE: President, E.H. Lloyd Knechtel; Secretary, Mrs. Lilian Glover, 418, 10th Ave. N.W., Calgary, Alta. Meetings at 231 Examiner Bldg.

- EDMONTON LODGE: President, Mr. E. Wood, Secretary, Mrs. N. Dalzell, Suite 1, Maclean Block, Edmonton, Alta.

- HAMILTON LODGE: President, Mrs. E.M. Mathers; Secretary, Miss Mablel Carr, 108 Balsam Avenue South, Hamilton, Ont.

- KITCHENER LODGE: President, John Oberlerchener; Secretary, Alexander Watt. P.O. Box 74

- MONTREAL LODGE: President, Mr. G. T. Matsell; Secretary, Miss M.R. Desrochers, 1655 Lincoln, Apt. 37, Montreal, P.Q. Lodge Rooms, 1501 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal, Que.

- OTTAWA LODGE: Enquiries respecting Theosophical activities in Ottawa should be addressed to: Mrs. D. H. Chambers, 531 Bay Street, Ottawa, Ont.

- ST. THOMAS LODGE: President Benj. T. Garside, Secretary, Mrs. Hazel B, Garside, General Delivery, St. Thomas, Ont.

- TORONTO LODGE: President, Mr. G.I. Kinman, 46 Rawlinson Ave., Toronto 12 (phone Mohawk 5346). Recording Secretary, Miss Laura Gaunt. Lodge Rooms 52 Isabella Street, Toronto, Ont.

- TORONTO WEST END LODGE: President, Mrs. A. Carmichael; Secretary, Mrs. E.L. Goss, 20 Strathearn Boulevard, Toronto, 12, Ont.

- VANCOUVER LODGE: President, Mrs. Buchanan; Secretary, M.D. Buchanan, 4621 W. 6th Ave., The Lodge rooms are at 151 1/2 Hastings St. West

- VULCAN LODGE: President, Guy Denbigh, Vulcan, Alta.

- ORPHEUS LODGE, VANCOUVER: President, R.H. Hedley; Secretary, L.C. Hanson; Copp Bldg, Vancouver.

- WINNIPEG LODGE: Secretary, P.H. Stokes, Suite 8, 149 Langside Street, Winnipeg, Man.