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From Intellect to Intuition - Chapter Three - The Nature of the Soul
CHAPTER THREE The Nature of the Soul "Philosophers say the Soul is double-faced, her upper face gazes at God all the time and her lower face looks somewhat down, informing the senses; and the upper face, which is the summit of the soul, is in eternity and has nothing to do with time: it knows nothing of time or of body." - Meister Eckhart In detailing the technique whereby it is claimed the educated intellectual can become the intuitional knower it might be well to state the hypotheses upon which the science of meditation is based. In the process the various aspects (in nature, or of divinity, whichever is preferred) of which man is the expression have to be recognized, but the basic connection which holds him together as an integrated unity must never be forgotten. Man is an integrated being, but existence means more to some men than to others. For some it is purely animal existence; for many it connotes the sum total of emotional and sensory experience; for others, it involves all this, plus a mental awareness which greatly enriches and deepens life. For a few (and those the flower of the human family) Being stands for a recognition of ability to register contacts that are universal and subjective as well as individual and objective. Keyserling says that: "When we speak of the Being of a man in contradistinction to his ability, we mean his vital soul; and when we say this Being decides, we mean that all his utterances are penetrated with individual life, that every single expression [50] radiates personality, and that this personality is ultimately responsible." - Keyserling, Count Hermann, Creative Understanding, page 180. It might be stated here as sine qua non that only those people who are responsible thinking beings are ready for the application of those rules and instructions which will enable them to make that transition and to come to that consciousness which is the hallmark of the illuminated mystic and the intuitional knowers. The beautiful lines found in Dr. Winslow Hall's Illuminanda point the goal: "In all men lurks The Light; yet, in how few Has it blazed forth, as rightfully it ought, Illuming, from within, our fleshly lamp, And kindling cosmic flame in nigh-brought souls! Splendor of God, how few! And ours the blame; For, ever, crassly, by routine and wrath, We undiscerningly damp down and choke The spark of God that glints in every child. All children are, by nature, bits of God; And God, if they but had their freedom, would Unfold Himself in them, would burgeon forth Tinting and moulding, till, as perfect flowers They bloomed, fulfiled of loveliness unveiled." - Hall, W. Winslow, M.D., Illuminanda, page 218. This is the goal of the meditation process - to lead men forth into the Light that is within themselves and enable them, in that light, to see Light. This work of revelation is based on certain definite theories as to the constitution and nature of the human being. The evolution and perfecting of the mind faculty in man, with its keenness and capacity for [51] concentration gives the West at this time the opportunity to put these theories to the test. An intelligent experiment is now naturally in order. "The new synthesis of mind and soul," Keyserling says, "must originate from the mind, on the height of supreme intellectuality, if something decisive is to happen." - Keyserling, Count Hermann, Creative Understanding, page 125. But to do this, there must be a clear understanding of three points upon which the Oriental position is based, and which, if true, validate the entire contention of the student of the Oriental technique of meditation, never forgetting, however, the proverb of the Chinese which says that, "If the wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way."
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