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From Intellect to Intuition - Chapter Ten - The Need for Care in Meditation
Again, some "force" - a word frequently used or some entity comes to the student, as he meditates, and outlines to him some great work that he has been chosen to do; some world message that he has to give and to which the entire world is to listen, or some great invention he is to present some day to a waiting world if he continues to be good. Gladly he grasps the mantle of the prophet, and with unshaken belief in his capacity, his ability to influence thousands, even if he is relatively impotent to influence those around him at present, he prepares to carry out his divine mission. In one year, three "World Teachers," who have been studying meditation in some school or other, made application to the group with whom I am associated. This they did, not because they wanted to carry their meditation forward, but because they felt we would be happy to have them "feed" into the group some of the many hundreds they were to be instrumental in saving. I had to decline the honor, and they disappeared, and nothing has since been heard of them. The world still awaits them. Of their sincerity there is absolutely [246] no doubt. They believed what they said. Neither is there any doubt of their being hallucinated. All of us are in danger of being deluded in just this way, when we start to meditate, if the discriminating mind is not on the watch, or if we have a secret longing for spiritual prominence, or suffer from an inferiority complex which must be offset. Another cause for the delusion lies in the fact that these people have perhaps made a real contact with the soul. They have had a flash of its omniscience and are swept off their feet by the very wonder of the contacted vision and knowledge. But they over-estimate their capacity; the instrument of the soul is totally unable to measure up to requirements; there are aspects of their life upon which the light may not shine; there are secret faults which they know but cannot break; there is the desire for fame and power; there is ambition. They are not yet the soul in functioning activity. They have simply had a vision of a possibility. Hence they crash through their failure to see the personality as it is. Yet, in spite of the truth of the above, let us always remember that it is the privilege of the true knower to work in the closest cooperation with the Guides of the race, but that the method of cooperation is not the one which deceived the aspirant. Only when we have begun consciously to function as souls, and only when we are busy with self-forgetting service - a service that is self-initiated, and carried forward because the soul is group conscious, and it is in the nature of the soul to serve - will we make such a contact. [247] The Christ is the Son of God in full functioning activity, the "Eldest in a great family of brothers." He has a consciousness which is universal in its scope, and through Him the love of God pours, and the purposes of God are working to fruition. He is the Master of all the Masters, and the Teacher alike of Angels and of men. When He and those associated with Him find an aspirant who is engrossed with the work to be done in self-discipline, who is faithful and conscientious in his endeavor, they look to see if the light within him has reached the point of "the shining forth." If they find one who is so anxious to serve his fellowmen that he is looking for no phenomenal contacts for himself and is not interested in being patted on the back and having his pride and self-satisfaction fed in this manner, then they may reveal to him the work that he can do in his own sphere of influence to further the Divine Plan. But he will have to begin where he is; he will have to make his demonstration first of all in his home or office; he will have to prove himself in the small things before he can be safely trusted with the big. The ludicrous arrogance of some of the writings which record the psychic contacts of the writers is almost beyond belief. They certainly lack a sense of humor at least. The point that every student of meditation should always bear in mind is that all knowledge and instructions are conveyed to the mind and brain by a man's own soul; it is the soul that illumines his way. The Teachers and Masters of the race work through [248] souls. This cannot be too often reiterated. Therefore, the prime duty of every aspirant should be the perfect performance of meditation and service and discipline, and not the making of contact with some great Soul. It is less interesting, but preserves him from illusion. If he does this, the higher results will take care of themselves. Should an apparition appear to him, therefore, and should such an entity make platitudinous comments, he will use the same judgment as he would in business or ordinary life with a man who came and said to him, "A great work lies in your hands, you are doing well. We see and know, etc., etc." He would probably laugh and continue with the activity or duty of the moment.
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