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Glamor - A World Problem - The Causes of Glamor
The Bhagavad Gita can be read entirely from the standpoint of the disciple's combat with glamor and students would be well-advised so to study it. The individual glamors of which the disciple becomes aware are consequently of five types of force. These, when brought into activity simultaneously, produce those glamorous which are strictly initiated and produced by the man himself. They are: The forces of his dense physical nature and of the vital body which latter, functioning through the dense physical nature, produce a condition of maya or of uncontrolled energy. The forces of the astral nature, based upon desire and upon sentiency. These, at this stage, fall into two groups which we call the pairs of opposites. Their potency is accentuating at this period of individual history, for the disciple is polarized in the majority of cases in his astral body and is, therefore, subject to the glamors produced by the interplay of the opposites, plus the condition of maya, referred to above. The forces of the lower mental nature, of the chitta or mind-stuff of which the mental body is composed. This [117] is colored by past activity, as is the substance composing all the vehicles. This adds to maya and glamor, the state of illusion. The personality ray then emerges and intensifies all these three aspects of force expression, producing eventually their synthetic work. Then we have the emerging of what has been called "the threefold glamorous condition," into one major glamor. The soul ray or energy is all this time steadily increasing its rhythmic potency, and seeking to impose its purpose and will upon the personality. It is the united relation and the interplay between these two which - when a point of balance has been achieved - sweeps the man on to the Probationary Path, on to the Path of Discipleship, and right up to the gate of initiation. There, standing before the Gate, he recognizes the final duality which awaits resolution. The Dweller on the Threshold and the Angel of the PRESENCE. The nature of these glamors differs with different people, for the ray quality determines the type of glamor or illusion to which a man will easily succumb, and that kind of glamor which he will the most easily create. Disciples have to learn to differentiate between: The glamors or glamor already existent in his environment, to which he will easily be attracted, or which he will easily attract, for they constitute the line of least resistance. The glamor that he creates as he tackles life through the medium of a particular equipment, which is colored by the experiences of past incarnations, and by the ray quality under which he has come into being. [118] This subject is so intricate that it will serve no useful purpose for me to go into detailed particulars. I can indicate the major glamors (and under this term I include the various maya and illusions) to which the ray types predispose the man. If you then apply these to the three vehicles of manifestation as well as to the personality and the soul, you will note how complicated is the problem. Yet remember this, my brother: The issue is certain and determined for, in this solar system, the triumph of the soul and its final dominance and control is a foregone conclusion, no matter how great the glamor or how fierce the strife. Thus, the ascertaining (by the aspirant) of his ray influence is one of the first steps towards understanding the nature of his problem and the method of release. The psychology of the future will direct attention to the discovery of the two rays which govern the soul and personality. Having done this through a study of the physical type, emotional reactions and mental tendencies, attention will then be directed to the discovery of the rays governing the specialized vehicles. When these five rays (egoic, personality, physical, astral and mental) have been approximately ascertained, then the following factors will need consideration: The nature, quality and stability of the glandular system. The point attained in evolution. This will be done by a careful consideration of the centers and the glands and their relation to each other. The recognition of the points of cleavage or the splits in the personality which exist. These can be: Between the etheric and the physical bodies, leading to a lack of vitality, physical weakness, obsession and many forms of difficulty. [119] In the sentient astral body, leading to a vast number of problems and psychological difficulties based upon undue sensitivity, reaction to glamor in the environment, innate tendencies to glamor in the equipment or resulting from sensitivity to the glamors of other people. In the mental body, imposing mental illusions of many kinds, such as control by self-created thought-forms, sensitivity to existing world, national, or environing thought-forms of any school of thought, idée fixe, the sense of the dramatic or of importance, or a fanatical adherence to groups of ideas, inherited from the past, or mental reactions of a purely personal nature. Between any of these groups of forces which we call bodies: - Between the etheric and astral bodies. - Between the astral and the mental bodies. There is, for instance, a definite correspondence between the condition of negativity to physical plane living which is the result of a lack of integration between the physical and the etheric bodies, and that lack of interest and that failure to handle physical plane living which the thinker on abstract and scientific levels so frequently evidences. Both groups fail to make a definite and decisive manifestation upon the physical plane, both groups fail to deal with the problems of physical plane living in a clear and satisfactory manner, both are non-positive physically, but the causes producing these relatively similar conditions are totally different - though alike in their effects. The comprehension of the Path of Life for an individual, through a study of his astrological indications. It is necessary in this connection to regard the sun sign [120] into which a man is born, as indicative of his personality trends, and as embodying the characteristics which he has inherited from the past, but to regard the rising sign as holding within it the indications of the way that a man's soul would have him go.
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