III.

THE FIVE CAUSES OF DISEASE.

If we inquire from modern medical science: What are the causes of diseases? we shall probably be answered:

1.Age.2.Heredity.3.Intermarriage.4.Sex.5.Temperament.6.Climate and locality.7.Town or country.8.Hygienic conditions.9.Occupation.10.Air.11.Previous disease.12.Mental and moral conditions.13.External physical conditions.14.Poisons.15.Temperature.16.Diet.17.Epidemic disease, contagion, malaria, parasites and growths.[29]

We will forbear to pass any remarks upon this classification of the causes of diseases, which merely enumerates certain conditions in which diseases may arise, and we will pass on to the classification of the causes of diseases given by Paracelsus; but as this subject has already received attention in a previously published work on the doctrines of Paracelsus[30], the following is intended merely to supply additional food for thought.

Paracelsus says:

“All diseases have a beginning in either of the three substances;[31]Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury; which means that they may take their origin either within the kingdom of matter, within the realm of the soul, or in the sphere of the spirit. If body, soul and mind are in perfect harmony with each other, no disharmony exists; but if a cause of discord arises in either one of these three planes, it communicates itself to the rest.”

Before proceeding further we will inquire about the nature of thesethree Substances:

Saltsymbol,Sulphursymbol,and Mercurysymbol,which may be translated as Matter, Energy and Intelligence. They are in fact not three essentially different things, but only three modes of activity of one and the same thing; for everything is substantial, each contains a latent or active force, in each is the potentiality of consciousness, if it has not already become manifested therein. Everything exists, therefore, by reason of these “three substances,” and if we for the sake of forming some idea of their nature look at the world as a manifestation ofelectricity(which must necessarily be substantial, as there could be no force without substance), we may compare them as follows:

symbolto electric resistance.symbolto the tension of electromotive force.symbolto the intensity of the current.

No one would ever think of these three measures as being separate entities, which like “substance, energy and intelligence” are merely three aspects or conceptions of one universal life; but these distinctions are necessary for the purpose of forming a conception.

“Nothing can be thoroughly known without a knowledge of its beginning. Man is placed intothree substances, in each of which he has a beginning; and each thing has its substance, its number and measure (constituting their harmony). From (the state of) these three substances originate all causes, origins, and also the understanding of diseases. These three substances,Sulphur,Mercurius,Sal, give to everything its corporeality, each substance having its own qualities. If these qualities are good (in harmony with each other) there will be no disease but if they enter into opposition to each other, disease (disharmony) will be the result. (Paracelsus, “Paramirum,”Lib.I., 1, 2, and 3).”

Within these three kingdoms disorders may arise from either of the followingfive causes of disease:

1. From theEns astrale; namely from surrounding conditions in external nature.

2. From theEns veneni; meaning from poisons and impurities.

3. From theEns naturæ; including causes inherited from the parents.

4. From theEns spirituale; especially those caused by an evil will or morbid imagination.

5. From theEns Dei; to which belong the ills arising from evilKarmaacquired during this or a previous incarnation; in other words, the result ofdivine justice.

We will now attempt to define the meaning of these five beginnings.

I.—Ens Astrale.[32]

Diseases arising from external influences; whether from physical nature or from deeper causes; the planet upon which we live being itself anastrum(star), having a physical and ethereal body, a life, a soul, a mind and a spirit.

“The stars on the sky do not form a man. Man grows out of two beginnings; theEns seminis(the male sperm) and theEns virtutis(the reincarnating spiritual monad). He has therefore two natures, a corporeal and a spiritual nature, and either of these two requires itsdigest(matrixand nutriment). As the womb of the mother is the world surrounding the child, from which the fœtus receives its nutriment, so is terrestrial nature from which the terrestrial body of man receives the influences acting in his organism. TheEns astraleis a thing which we do not see, but which contains us and everything that lives and has sensation. It is that which contains the air, and from which and in which live all the elements, and which we symbolize as M (Mysterium), (“Paramirum,”Lib.I.)

ThisEns Astrorumis therefore evidently theAkâsa, which forms the basis of all material things in physical nature, and if the close relation between man’s physical nature and the physical nature surrounding him were better known, it would become more comprehensible how the states of the all-penetrating ether, changes in temperature, heat and cold, electric and magnetic conditions innature, come to affect the physical nature of man, acting internally by inducing corresponding changes in his microcosm, even if he is protected against the direct action of rain, storm, moisture, cold, heat, etc., etc. A sudden change of conditions in the outside air can affect a patient imprisoned in a room where no such change is perceptible, and a cloudy day produce a melancholy effect even upon a blind person. There are no end of diseases which for want of a better explanation are attributed to “catching cold,” etc., while in fact it is the existence of certain conditions in the all-pervading ether, which induces similar conditions in the body of the patient. Thus, for instance, changes of the moon, or the position of the moon, or the magnetic currents of the earth, produce certain effects in certain persons, even if these persons know nothing about these laws, for it is a fact well known to the ancients, but which has almost been lost sight of by modern medicine, that man, apart from the order in which his organs are arranged, is essentially a counterpart of nature, an image of the world on a smaller scale, amicrocosmwithin the macrocosm. An atmospheric pressure in outside nature produces an atmospheric pressure in him; if nature rejoices in the sunlight of spring, his heart rejoices with it; if storms rage on the outside, similar storms may be aroused in him, etc., etc. He is, in fact, only a laboratory in which the universal forces of nature are performing their work. To this chapter also belong all miasmas and contagious influences, with all the bacteriæ, microbes, amœbæ, bacilli, etc., etc., which are the pride of modern discoverers, but whose characteristics, if not the forms of their bodies, were well known to Paracelsus, who describes them under the names ofTalpa,Matena,Tortilleos,Permates, etc. He says:

“God has caused living creatures to exist in all the elements, and there is nothing empty of life. That which becomes manifested in the visible kingdom has come into existence by being generated in the upper regions. Without such a generation above, it could not have become manifested below.” (“Lib. Meteorum,” I. 4.)

Since the modern discovery of the cholera, tubercle bacilli, and other micro-organisms spreading contagious diseases, it has been the opinion of many, that the presence of such microbes was the only and fundamental cause of such diseases; but still more recent investigations have shown such that the presence of these microbes does not constitute the whole cause; for they have been with impunity introduced into the human organism, and have also been found to exist in persons who had fully recovered from such a disease. This surely shows that there must be an influence causing the microbes to come into existence, after which they can spread and multiply if the conditions are favourable, and the fundamental cause of such epidemics is therefore not the presence of the microbes, this being merely a symptom, but the influences which cause them to come into existence, producingstatesof which the bodies of these organisms are a product and expression and which appears to proceed from causes situated deeper than visible physical nature, if we do not mistake the form for the “spirit” of which the form is the symbol.

“Human science knows how to philosophize about the things that come within its external observation; but Wisdom shows what is contained in thePrima Materia, which is a greater and higher knowledge than that of theUltima Materia(the physical plane).” (“Meteorum,” I. 4.)

This “higher region,” from which such injurious influences originate, causing the growth of miasmas and microbes, is the “astral plane,” or the soul of the world, and as the evil states in the soul of the world are caused by the evil states of the human mind, it becomes comprehensible how epidemic diseases, pestilence and plague, no less than wars, are the ultimate results of disharmonies and depraved spiritual states in the soul of humanity. The greatest truth if seen through a perverted mind appears distorted as a caricature and superstition; it can be seen in its own light, only if properly understood.

The astral plane is the plane of desires, emotions, and passions; that is to say, the plane of those influences (forms of the universal will), which become manifested asdesires, emotions, and passions in the animal organism, and if we were to enter this subject, it would bring us within the realm of the supersensual but nevertheless actual kingdom of living elemental powers belonging to the soul of the world. If our eyes were opened to the perception of thoughts, it would be seen how a continual thought-transference is taking place among individual minds, influencing and determining their actions, even if they are not aware of it, causing not only individual moral diseases, insanities, obsessions and crimes, but whole epidemics of such kinds. There is an immense field for investigation for the psychologist; not for that kind of “psychologists” who imagine that insanity is under all circumstances a disturbance of the functions of the brain from physical causes, but for those who can realise that the functions of the brain may be disturbed by the disordered action of the mind; for although in many cases of brain disease it is as difficult to determine whether the disorder of the mind or that of the brain existed first, as it would be to answer the question, which existed first, the hen or the egg? nevertheless a lesion of the tissues of the brain does not take place without a cause, and this cause in the majority of such cases comes from the sphere of the emotions and thoughts.

If there is no mind, there can be no mental disease. If mind is something (even if it were, as some imagine, the product of the physiological function of the brain), it must be something substantial, and being something substantial, it is able to produce substantial effects; moreover, its actions show a certain order and harmony, which go to prove that mind has an organisation. If this order and harmony be disturbed, discord, disease, insanity will be the result. Without the presence of mind nothing would come into existence; without the consciousness in the All, no brain would be able to manifest consciousness, and this is what Paracelsus means when he says:—

“Whatever exists upon this earth, also exists in thefirmament(space). God does not make clothes for men, but he gives them a tailor. (Forms do not grow by accident; but they are theultimate result of the action of the constructive power in nature.) The essence of things is hidden in space; existing invisibly in thefirmament, and impressing itself upon material substances, when it becomes visible by entering within our sphere of perception.” (“Meteorum,” I. 4.)

Thus we have in theEns Astralea field in which exist the causes of numerous kinds of diseases; the thorough understanding of which requires a still deeper penetration into the secrets of nature and a higher conception of its constitution than is at present presented by the natural sciences of this day.

II.—Ens Veneni.

Diseases originating from poisonous actions and impuritiesin all three planes of existence.

Nothing is poisonous or impure if it stands by itself, only if two things whose natures are incompatible with each other come into contact, can a poisonous action take place or an impure condition be produced.

“Everything is in itself perfect and good. Only when it enters into relation with another thing does relative good and evil come into existence. If anything enters into the constitution of man, which is not in harmony with its elements, the one is to the other an impurity, and can become a poison.” (“Paramirum,” II. 1.)

There is no doubt that modern chemistry, physiology and pathology teach more than ancient science in regard to the chemical constitution, the physiological action of poisons and of the pathological effects which they produce in the animal body; but to explain the order in which a process takes place is not sufficient to explain why it takes place, and there is still a wide field open for investigation; for at present we can only record the fact that certain physical substances have a destructive action upon the human body; while the same substances with a little difference in the arrangements of their molecules, are not only not injurious, but even used as food;[33]that certain substanceshave a specific action upon the emotional nature in man, causing an inclination to certain states of his astral constitution, such as irritability of temper, anger, cupidity, etc., which they could not have if no corresponding elements were contained in them; while others have a specific action upon the mind, such as the fading of memory, paralysis of the will, excitement of the imagination, all of which they could not accomplish if no substantial mind principle existed in them.

To material science the universe is a product of mechanical force created by unconscious matter; to the idealist it is a dream which has nothing real in it; but seen with the eye of wisdom it is a manifestation of life, with the potentiality of consciousness contained in everything. Love and hate exist in minerals as they do in men, only in another state of consciousness, and a tragedy or comedy might be written in regard to their family history; describing, for instance, how the beautiful Princess Sodium fell in love and was married to a fiery youth called Oxygen, and how the happy union lasted until one day a jealous knight, named Chlorine, fell in love with her, and although he himself was married to a flighty woman whose name was Hydrogenia, he abducted the princess, and there was nothing left for poor Oxygen but to take the deserted woman and turn to water with her. Such a story would differ from a similar one enacted in human life only in so far as the actors in the latter would intelligently and consciously follow certain laws which are enacted without individual intelligence in the mineral kingdom. There is only one Consciousness and one law of Harmony in the world, and according to it accords and discords arise in all the three kingdoms of nature.

The influence of the light of the truth is a poison to the erroneous conceptions existing within the mind, and earthly thoughts are impurities to the mind that aspires tothe kingdom of heaven. Evil desires create evil thoughts and give birth to evil acts; good acts procreate their species, giving rise to good thoughts and aspirations, from which good children are born. The sum of men’s individual desires constitutes the desires of the soul of the world; the sum of the thoughts and opinions of mankind constitutes the mental atmosphere by which the world in general, and each locality in particular, is surrounded; and the state of the mind ultimately expresses itself upon the outward plane of manifestation. It is not more difficult to poison a mind with impure thoughts than to poison a body with drugs. Impure is he who has many diverging desires, pure is the mind having only one will.

Popular medicine deals only with external effects and physical causes, occult science goes deeper, seeking for fundamental causes and final effects, which are of far greater importance than the passing manifestations taking place in the physical form. Thus, for instance, a promiscuous sexual intercourse not only causes venereal diseases; but as during that act a commingling of the inner natures takes place to a certain extent, a man cohabiting with a depraved woman takes on some of her characteristics and joins to a certain extent her futureKarmaand destiny to his own. The basis of the existence of human beings is what, for want of a better expression, has been called theWill(Spirit or Life), and as one body may colour or poison another, likewise a colouring, and perhaps poisoning, takes place by a blending of spirit during sexual intercourse; this “spiritual substance” being the essence of each human being.

“If a woman leaves her husband, she is then not free from him, nor he from her; for a marital union having once been established, remains a union for all eternity.” (“De Homunculis.”)

That which nourishes a thing, goes to make up its substance. The physical body receives its nutriment from the physical plane, the soul is nourished by the influences coming from the soul of the world, the intellect is nourished, grows and expands in the intellectual plane; an ill-fedbody becomes diseased; a soul living on morbid desires and inordinate longings becomes depraved, a mind fed with false theories, errors and superstitions becomes dwarfed, perverted and unable to turn its face towards the sunlight of truth. The food for soul and mind is as substantial to them as material food is substantial to the material body; body, soul, and spirit being three states of the eternalOne, manifested on three different planes of existence, being governed by only one fundamental law. What the stomach is in the body, the memory is in the mind. Both are related together; a dyspeptic stomach causes a defective memory and an irritable mind; an irritable temperament causes indigestion and forgetfulness; forgetfulness can cause inattention, irritability and dyspepsia. Soul, body and mind are one in man, and disorders existing in one can cause impurities in the other; each passion in man, each superstition in which he firmly believes, is capable of poisoning his body and of producing a certain disease. A belief in salvation made easy renders a man indolent, indolence causes want of self-control, which causes want of resistance to injurious influences in the physical plane. Repeated physical misfortunes may make a man a coward, and his cowardliness prevents him from letting go of a doctrine which he intuitively known to be false. Anger is not only injurious to bodily health, but drives away reason by confusing the mind; wrath causes not only mental but also physical shortsightedness, and hard-hearing is often the only cause of a suspicious character.

Thus innumerable comparisons may be drawn and analogies be found, and cases cited to prove the correctness of this theory, if our space would permit it, and if it were necessary to prove by arguments and facts the truth of the unity of the all, which must be self-evident to everyone taking the trouble to seek for the answer to such questions within himself.

But the highest cannot act upon the lowest without an intermediary link connecting them, the spirit cannot act upon the body without the connecting link of the soul, northe soul upon the body except by means of the life. We cannot cook a dish of soup for a starving beggar by means of the fire of love; but love moves the will and induces actions which the mind directs, and thus the soup may be cooked after all owing to the power of love or charity. The greatest difficulty in the understanding of occult laws arises from the circumstance that we cannot perceive remote causes or seek to connect them with ultimate effects without being able to see through the intricate network of intermediary causes between the two ends.

III.—Ens Naturae.

Diseases which have their origin in certain conditions inherent in the constitution of man.

Man is a perfect child of nature. There is not a single essence in his constitution which does not exist in nature; neither is there any substance or power to be found in nature which does not exist in him, either actually or potentially, undeveloped or developed.

“There are many who say that man is amicrocosm; but few understand what this really means. As the world is itself an organism with all its constellations, so is man a constellation (organism), a world in itself, and as the firmament (space) of the world is ruled by no creature, so the firmament which is within man (his mind) is not subject to any other creature. This firmament (sphere of mind) in man has its planets and stars (mental states), its exaltations, conjunctions and oppositions (states of feelings, thoughts, emotions, ideas, loves and hates), call them by whatever name you like, and as all the celestial bodies in space are connected with each other by invisible links, so are the organs in man not entirely independent of each other, but depend on each other to a certain extent. His heart is hissymbol, his brain hissymbol, the spleen hissymbol, the liversymbol, the lungssymbol, and the kidneyssymbol.” (“Paramirum,” III. 4.)

Man has two kinds of natures. His physical organism is a product of that nature which he received from his terrestrialparents; his mental organisation is the result of a higher and quite different kind of evolution. His terrestrial nature includes not only his visible organism, but also the organisation of his astral form and his mental constitution.

“There are two kinds of flesh. The flesh ofAdam(the physical body) is gross earthly flesh; the flesh that isderived from Adamis of a subtle kind. It is not made of gross matter, it penetrates through all walls without requiring doors or holes; nevertheless both kinds of flesh have their blood and bones, and both differ again from the spirit.” (Paracelsus, “De Nymphis.”)

Man having within himself the same essences and powers, and there being only one universal law of evolution, there takes place in him a development similar to, if not identical with, the development in eternal and internal nature. Accords and discords in his nature can grow and swell into harmonies or disharmonies, and constitute the whole man a symphony or cacophony, colouring his whole being and transmitting this to his offspring. A seed of wheat and a seed of barley resemble each other, and nevertheless wheat grows out of one and barley out of the other. Theovumof a human being shows no essential difference from that of a monkey; nevertheless out of the one grows a human being and out of the other a monkey. The nature of man is fully expressed in every part of his organism, and in the sperm of the father is contained not only the quality of this or that part of his nature, but the potentiality of the whole.[34]

The quality of the constitution of a man determines the length of his natural life.

“If a child is born, itsfirmament(astral body and mind, etc.) is born with it, containing the seven principles, of which eachhas its own potencies and qualities. What is called ‘predestination’ is only the quality of the powers in man. The weakness or strength of his constitution determines whether his life is to be short or long, according to natural laws; the planets in him run their course whether he has a long or a short life, only in the former case the course of his planets is of a longer, and in the other case of a shorter duration. The quality of the constitution which a man receives at his birth determines the length of his natural life, just as the quantity of sand in an hour glass determines the time when it will have run down.” (“Paramirum,” L. I., Tr. iii., C. 5.)

TheEns Naturætherefore refers to those beginnings in man’s constitution which are the result of the quality of his body, soul and mind as he received them from nature, and includes all inherited physical diseases, qualities of temperament and mental peculiarities; for the earthly part of the mind (Káma Manas) belongs to terrestrial nature and its tendencies are inherited; while the spiritual part of the mind (Manas Buddhi) is not inherited from the parents, but belongs to the spiritual man whose parent exists in eternity.[35]

This class includes all internal diseases originating from disorders arising among the interaction of the physiological functions of the organs of the body, or of the interaction between these and those of the soul (the emotions) and mind (thoughts).

This system of Paracelsus includes the whole realm of modern physiology and pathology; but it penetrates deeper, for it investigates the functions of soul and mind, and follows the development of an evil desire or thought until it ultimately finds its expression in an external manifestation of visible pathological states. To enter into the details of this field of pathology is not possible within the limits of this book.

There is no indication that the sympathies and antipathies, in other words the physiological relations existingbetween the different organs in the human body, are better known at the present time than they were at the time of Paracelsus: on the contrary, he speaks of the currents of the life-principle taking place between these organs, while modern anatomy speaks only of nerves, which are in regard to the “life-fluid” what electric wires are in regard to electricity.

“The heart sends its spirit (will power) through the whole of the body, as the sun his power to all the planets and earths; thesymbol(the intelligence of the brain) goes to the heart and back again to the brain. The fire (heat) takes its origin in the (chemical) activity of the organs (the lungs), but pervades the whole body. Theliquor vitæ(essence of life) is universally distributed and moves (circulates) in the body. This ‘humor’ contains many different powers, and cause in him ‘metals’ (virtues or vices) of various kinds.” (“Paramirum,” L. I. Tr. 3.)

In regard to this subject modern medical science says:—

“A wide basis of positive knowledge in regard to this subject does not exist. The physiology of the different departments of the sympathetic system of nerves is now only beginning to shape itself, while on the side of pathology and morbid anatomy there is even still less of definite knowledge. Thus it happens that for the most part only conjectures, often very insecurely based are current, or can be said to exist in regard to the dependence of definite sets of symptoms, or distinct diseases, upon disordered actions or morbid changes occurring in one or other part of the sympathetic system of nerves.” (“H. Charlton Bastian.”)

Both ancient and modern science are right as far as they go; only while modern science pays all of its attention to the forms (organs, nerves, etc.), which are merely the products of certain principles and powers and the instruments for their activity, ancient science deals with these powers themselves, taking only into secondary consideration the visible instruments in and through which they become manifest. Modern science, so to say, studies the muscular movements of a musician, occult science knows the art of music itself. Material science is the servant mixing the paints for the painter; the true physicianis the artist who knows how to paint. The one studies the tools which the workman uses; the other sees also the workman himself. These comparisons are not drawn for the purpose of throwing discredit upon modern medical science, nor for the purpose of blaming any modern physician for not employing powers which he does not possess; but for the purpose of indicating that a knowledge of physical phenomena and visible forms is not the limit of all attainable knowledge, and that there exists a higher and more important kind of knowledge, based upon a higher perception, such as is attained only through the higher development of the spiritual character of man; which becomes possible only when earthly presumption and vanity are overcome and when, by stepping up higher, he realises the nothingness of the terrestrial illusion of “self.”

IV.—Ens Spirituale.

Diseases arising from spiritual causes.

“Spirit”—fromspiro, to blow—means breath. “Breath means a power, quite distinct from mechanical force, as being endowed with consciousness, life and intelligence. In its aspect as an universal power, it means the breath of God which caused the universe to come from a subjective state into objective existence; in its individual aspect it means the spiritual power dwelling in man.[36]

Spirit is Consciousness in every plane of existence; but from this it does not follow that all the forms in which it dwells necessarily manifest self-consciousness or are even conscious of existence. For the manifestation of perfect spiritual self-consciousness a spiritual organism is required, such as an average man does not possess, if he has not been reborn in the spirit. In the forms of the mineral kingdom the presence of spirit is perceptible by the manifestations of mineral life, in the vegetable kingdom by the manifestations of vegetable life, and in the animal kingdom by those of animal life, for spirit is itself thebasis of life in the physical, astral, intellectual and spiritual world; and as the spirit of the universe is the spiritual breath of God, issuing from the centre and returning to it, so is the spirit of man the spiritual power which enters into his constitution, and issues again when the body dies.

“That is a spirit, which is born from our thoughts; immaterial and in the living body. That which is born after our death is the soul.” (“Paramirum,” L. I., C. iv., 2.)“The spirit is not born from reasoning, but from the will.” (Ibid.3.)

“That is a spirit, which is born from our thoughts; immaterial and in the living body. That which is born after our death is the soul.” (“Paramirum,” L. I., C. iv., 2.)

“The spirit is not born from reasoning, but from the will.” (Ibid.3.)

“Spirit,” in other words, is a form ofWillendowed with thought; a spiritual power, neither good nor evil in itself; but which becomes good or evil according to the purpose for which it is employed. Its functions are willing, imagining, and remembering.

A great deal has been written about the power of will and imagination in Nature, by means of which the types existing in the memory of the universal mind continually find re-expression in physical visible forms;[37]in this place we have to deal only with the qualities of these three functions, and the effects which they produce in the body of man.

In the previous three divisions of this chapter we have had under our consideration causes of diseases originating in the terrestrial part of the human constitution; this and the following deals with his spiritual part.

“There are two subjects in man, one is a material, the other a spiritual being (thought-body), impalpable, invisible, subject to its own diseases (discords); one belonging to the material, the other to the spiritual world, each having its own states of consciousness, perception and memory, its own associations with beings of its kind. Nevertheless, both are one during this life, and the spirit influences the body; but not the body the spirit. Therefore if the spirit is diseased, it is of no use to doctor the body; but if the body is diseased, it can be cured by administering remedies to the spirit.” (Lib.“Paramir.,” I., iv., 4 and 7.)

This spiritual part, or the thought-body of man, is the vehicle for the reincarnating spirit, when the spiritualindividuality evolves a new personality upon the earth. For the purpose of understanding what is said in the following division of this chapter, it will be necessary to understand the theory ofReincarnation, of which we can only present an outline within the space of this work. H. P. Blavatsky says that which reincarnates is:

“The Spiritual thinking Ego, the permanent principle in man, or that which is the seat of the Manas.It is notAtma,or evenAtma-Buddhi,which is the individual or divine man, butManas;for Atman is the Universal All, and becomes the Higher Self of man only in conjunction withBuddhi,its vehicle, which linksITto the individuality (or the divine Man).”[38]

The resurrection of the physical body is a modern superstition in which none of the ancient philosophers or real Christians ever believed.[39]

Will.

“Will” comes fromwillan, desire; but is quite distinct from that selfish desire which is the result of the fancies of the brain; the true will is a strong power which comes from the centre, the heart, and in its highest aspect it is that creative power which called the world into existence. All the voluntary and involuntary actions in nature and in the organism of man originate in the action of will, whether or not we are conscious of it.

“You do not know a tithe of the real power of the will.” (Paracelsus, “Paramir.,” I., iv., 8.)

Upon the physical plane the will acts, so to say, unconsciously, carrying out blindly the laws of nature, causing attractions, repulsions, guiding the mechanical, chemical and physiological functions of the body without man’s intelligence taking any part in the process. Man is himselfa manifestation of will, and the will (spirit) in him can perform many things without depending on the intellectual activity of the brain; all of which is left unexplained by modern physiology, although it cannot deny the facts. Thus an experienced pianist does not require to determine first which movement he should give to the muscles of his fingers before striking a key; but he does this instinctively after his spirit has been educated to it. Rope-walking, gymnastic feats and acts of all kinds are the products of a trained will, and would be impossible without that. They may be superintended by the intellect, but are not guided by it. Its sphere of action is limited to that of the body in which it dwells.

In its higher aspect the will is a conscious power, manifesting itself as emotions, virtues and vices of various kinds. Its sphere of action extends as far as the sphere of the influence of the individual mind. Thus the will of a superior person exercises an influence over his inferiors, a teacher over his pupils, a general over his army, a sage over the world.

In its highest aspect the will manifests itself as a self-conscious power, capable of acting far beyond the limits of the corporeal form from which it issues, constituting, so to say, an independent organized spiritual being acting under the guidance of the intelligence of the person from whom it is born. Strange as this assertion may appear, it is nevertheless true, and the now accepted phenomena of “hypnotism” have opened the door to the understanding of such phenomena.[40]An investigation into this subject would bring us within the realm of magic, spiritism, witchcraft, sorcery, etc., etc., which does not belong to our present purpose, and which has been treated in a previous work.[41]

As an evil will is the cause of many diseases, so is a good will a great remedy for curing them. While two fools hypnotizing each other will produce a mixture of folly, the magic power of the self-conscious benevolent will of an enlightened physician is able to arouse the confidence and restore health in many cases where all the remedies of the pharmacopœia are of no avail, and the cultivation of this power is therefore of supreme importance, even more so than a knowledge of all the details in regard to the action of drugs. Science and wisdom should be cultivated together, but not the former at the expense of the latter.

Imagination.

“Imagination” means the power of the mind to formimages; from the shadowy images of a dream up to the corporeal and living images formed by the power of an Adept. This faculty, which was well known to the ancient sages who were in possession of it, is almost entirely ignored by popular medical science, which in spite of its recent discoveries of what is now called “suggestion,” does not yet seem to suspect the extent of its power. It is a power whose application cannot be taught to those who do not possess it, and there are very few who have this power developed; for our present generation is of a pre-eminentlyadamic(terrestrial) and impotent kind; leading a dream-life, and being itself composed of dreams, its imagination is as feeble as a dream. The real power of active and effective imagination belongs to the spiritual inner man, who in the vast majority of mankind has not yet awakened to life. Only when men and women have entered into the true life—in other words, when the spirit in them will have become self-conscious—will they be able to possess and to exercise spiritual powers, such as constituted theArcanaof Theophrastus Paracelsus, on which there has been so much speculation in modern literature and yet so little really known—the stumbling block and fruitful source of error for so many of our modernsurfaceobservers.[42]

We do not blame popular medical science for not knowing that which it does not know; but we believe that the presumption of those who figure temporarily as the representatives of science, and who dogmatically pronounce useless and absurd everything which they do not possess, ought not to be encouraged. It is not so very long since recognised science laughed at the rotundity of the earth, and declared officially that no meteors could fall from the sky “because there were no stones in heaven;” denounced the belief in “psychic phenomena” as being a degrading superstition, and ridiculed the idea of building steamboats and telegraphs, etc. These errors originate not from science, but from stupid ignorance and self-conceit; they are the result of human infirmities, which exist now as in times of old, and can be cured only by the development of a superior power for knowing the truth.

Memory.

The third great power of the spirit manifested in the mind is the power of memory, which is, in fact, the power of man’s spirit to visit those places within the sphere of his mind where the impressions of former experiences are preserved, and thus to bring them again within the field of consciousness. Whatever function the physical brain may exercise in using this faculty of the spirit, the brain is no more the memory than the eye the sight; it is merely an instrument for perception, but not the perceiver nor the object of perception, nor the perception itself. To remember a thing is to see its impression or image in theastral light; to recollect a thing is to gather together one’s own attention at the place where its impression is stored up in the mind, and the power which enables a person to do so is the relation which exists between the creator and his creatures; man having formed a thought or idea, or perceived an image, is able to recollect it, because theimpression is his creation—having issued from himself, it is a part of his world.

It depends upon the degree of spiritual power of perception in man, whether he can clearly and vividly see these images in the Astral Light, or whether they appear to him dim, uncertain and indistinct; but in the vast majority of men and women in our present generation this power of perceiving does not penetrate deeper nor rise higher than the Astral Light, while the spiritually developed man can penetrate deeper, and behold the memories of not only his present incarnation, but also those referring to his previous states of existence.

Will, Imagination and Memory are the cause of many diseases and such may be caused by one’s perverted use of those faculties, or by being practised upon another. A thought of any kind, be it wicked or virtuous, if rendered strong and substantial by the consent of the will, becomes born in the inner world as an elemental being, which grows by being cultivated, so that it may ultimately obsess its own father and produce visible effects upon the physical frame. The imagination of animals produces change in the colour of their offspring, the imagination of a mother can produce marks upon the child; the recollection of evil events and keeping such memories constantly in the mind gives rise to melancholy, ill temper, and despondency, anger, greed, lust, avarice, etc. All forms of evil will produce not only morbid states of the mind, but also certain definite changes in the physical body; all of which offer a vast field for a science of psychology in the future. An exposition of such a mental science cannot be attempted within the limited space of this work; but there already exists a vast amount of literature on this subject ignored by official science.

Diseases arising from eternal Retribution.

A definition of the word “Deus,” God, is an impossibility, because it refers to a state beyond the conception of the limited mind. Eckhart says:—“A god of whom Icould conceive would not be a god, but a limited creature.” We can therefore only say, God is the universal will in its highest aspect as divine love; which is the supreme law and the life of all things. A necessary consequence of the action of divine law is divine justice; because it would be impossible to imagine how one being could be favoured without doing injustice to another, and thus depriving the law of universal divine love of its unity and equality. This divine law of justice, according to which every cause created by a rational being returns with all its effects to its creator, is called in the East the law ofKarma, and may be translated as the law of Eternal Retribution. H. P. Blavatsky says:—

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