Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter II - Problems arising from Meditation and its Result: Illumination

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Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter II - The Ray of Personality - Some Problems of Psychology

The first of these is the over-activity of the mind in quite a number of cases; which - sometimes with suddenness and sometimes slowly - grasps and sees too much. It becomes aware of too much knowledge. This produces irregularities in the organization of the man's life, and interjects so much variation, so much fluidity and so much restlessness that he is forever in a seething turmoil. Throughout it all, he is conscious of himself as the one at the center, and interprets all the mental activity and contacts, all the fluidity, the constant analysis to which he is prone, and the ceaseless making of plans as indicative not only of mental ability but of real spiritual insight and wisdom. This produces difficult situations for all associated with him, and continues frequently over a long period of time. For as long as this condition lasts, there [469] is little that anyone can do. The constant "permutations of the chitta or mind stuff " and the perpetual "thought form making activity of the mental body" engrosses the man so constantly that nothing else registers in his consciousness. Vast plans, widespread schemes, correlations and correspondences, plus the attempt to impose them on others and to invoke their aid (with consequent criticism if this aid is withheld) for the carrying out of the mass of unrelated ideas occupy him. There is no real effort made to carry these plans and ideas through to completion, for they all remain tentative on the mental plane, in their original vague state. The effort to see more and grasp more and apprehend more of the detail and the interrelation engrosses all the attention, and there is no energy left to carry even one of them down on to the plane of desire, and thus take the first steps towards the physical materialization of the visioned plan. If this state of mind continues for too long a period, it produces mental strain, nervous breakdown and sometimes permanent difficulty. The cure, however, is simple.

Let the man thus afflicted realize the futility of his mental life as he is living it. Then, choosing one of the many possible methods of work and one of the many channels of service whereby the sensed plan can be developed, let him force himself to bring it through into physical manifestation, letting all other possibilities drop. In this way, he can begin again to regulate and control his mind and to take his place among those who are accomplishing something - no matter how small the contribution may be. He becomes then constructive.

I have illustrated this type of difficulty in terms of the aspirant who, in meditation, comes into touch with the influences of the Hierarchy, and thus is in a position to tap the stream of thought forms created by Them and by Their [470] disciples. But the same type of difficulty will be found among all those who (through discovery of the mental plane and the use of focused attention) penetrate into that larger world of ideas which are just ready to precipitate on to the concrete levels of mental substance. This accounts for the futility and the apparent and fruitlessness of many quite intelligent people. They are occupied with so many possibilities that they end by achieving nothing. One plan carried through, one line of thought developed to its concrete conclusion, one mental process unfolded and presented in consciousness will save the situation, and bring creative usefulness into otherwise negative and futile lives. I use the word "negative" in this place to indicate a negativity in the achievement of results. Such a man is, it is needless to say, exceedingly positive in the implications which he attaches to his so-called mental conceptions and ideas as to how it all should be worked out, and is a constant source of dismay to those around him. His friends or co-workers are the butt of his ceaseless criticism, because they do not work out the plan as he believes it should be worked out, or fail to appreciate the flood of ideas with which he is overwhelmed. It should be realized that the man is suffering from a sort of mental fever, with its accompaniments of hallucination, over-activity, and mental irritability. The cure, as I said above, lies in the patient's own hands. It involves earnest application to one chosen plan to prove its effectiveness, using common sense and ordinary good judgment. The light that can be contacted in meditation has revealed a level of mental phenomena and of thought forms with which the man is unaccustomed to deal. Its manifestation and implications and possibilities impress him as so vast that he argues they must be divine and, therefore, essential. Because he is still in the dramatic center of his own consciousness and still - even if unconsciously - full of [471] mental pride and spiritual ambition, he feels he has great things to do, and that everybody he knows must aid him in doing it, or else reckon themselves as failures.

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