They want to talk about "the facts of my senses."
They still talk a lot about possessing "solid sense" and "sound
common sense," and they often boast about having "horse sense,"
which they seem to think is an asset. Except, alas, for the greed of this group
of people. They are often seen to be very credulous in matters outside of their
ordinary work and thinking, following without doubt the most ludicrous teachings
and dogmas given to them by the voice of some supposed authority, while
scoffing at some sophisticated instruction that their minds are incapable of
comprehending.
Anything that looks out of the ordinary to them is considered "flighty," and deficient in their cherished "horse sense." However, I have no intention of devoting time to these meaningless half-penny brains. I've included them to draw your attention to the fact that the concepts of "meaning" and "senses" are very closely linked in the minds of many people. They treat all awareness and wisdom as "meaning," with all such sense deriving directly from their five senses.
They almost entirely disregard the mind's intuitional stages
and are oblivious of many of the higher thought mechanisms. Such people believe
what their senses tell them to be so. They believe it is heresy to doubt a
sensory analysis. "It almost makes me question my senses," one of
their favorite lines goes. They are oblivious to the fact that their senses
are, at best, faulty devices, and that the mind is continually engaged in
correcting the erroneous reports of the usual five senses.
Not to mention the widespread occurrence of color blindness,
in which one color seems to be another, our perceptions are far from precise.
We can be led to believe that we smell or taste things that don't exist, and
hypnotic subjects can be led to believe that they see things that don't exist
except in the person's imagination. The well-known experiment of crossing one's
first two fingers and positioning them on a small point, such as a pea or the
tip of a lead pencil, demonstrates how "mixed" one's sense of feeling
can get.
The several well-known examples of optical illusions
illustrate that even our keen eyes may be deceived—every conjuror knows how
simple it is to deceive the eye with persuasion and misleading gestures. The
most well-known example of erroneous sense-reports is that of the earth's
rotation. The world is a set, immovable entity, and the sun, moon, planets, and
stars pass through it every twenty-four hours, according to a person's senses.
Only when one accepts the reasoning faculties' reports does
one realize that the earth not only spins on its axis every twenty-four hours,
but also circles around the sun every three hundred and sixty-five days; and
that the sun, carrying the earth and other planets, moves around space, moving
toward or through some unknown point far away.
If there is one sense report that seems to be without doubt
or challenge, it is this basic sense report of the fixedness of the planet
under our feet and the motions of the celestial bodies surrounding it—but we realize
that this is only an illusion, and that the details of the case are very
different.
Again, how many people are aware that the eye perceives
something backwards and that the subconscious eventually learns to change
the impression? I'm not going to convince any of you to question the results of
your five senses.
That would be unintelligent, for we all depend on these five senses
in our daily lives, and we would easily come to grief if we dismissed their
reports. Instead, I'm attempting to familiarize you with the true nature of
these five senses, so that you can recognize what they aren't as well as what
they are; and so that you can see that it's not absurd to believe that the ego,
or soul, of a person, has access to more channels of information than these
commonly used five senses.
Once you have a correct empirical understanding of the true
nature of the five ordinary senses, you will be able to comprehend the
existence of the higher psychic faculties or senses intelligently, and
therefore be well equipped to use them. So, let us take a few moments to get
this basic wisdom firmly embedded in our heads. What precisely are the five
senses? "Feeling, seeing, listening, eating, and smelling" would be
the first response.
But that's a list of the various types of sensing. When
it comes down to it, what is a "sense"? A sensation is a
"faculty, possessed by creatures, of perceiving foreign objects by means
of observations made upon the organs of the body," according to the
dictionary. When we get down to the basics, we discover that man's five senses
are the channels by which he becomes aware or conscious of knowledge about
things outside of himself. These senses, however, are not limited to the
sensory organs.
Back of the organs is a strange configuration of the nervous
system, or brain centers, which carry up the signals obtained from the organs;
and back of it is the ego, or spirit, or mind, which, at the end of the day, is
the true KNOWER.
The eye is merely a camera; the ear, merely a sound-wave
receiver; the nose, merely a sensitive mucous membrane arrangement; the mouth
and tongue, merely a reservoir of taste-buds; the nervous system, merely a
sensitive device built to send signals to the brain and other centers—all are
merely part of the physical machinery, and all are susceptible to impairment or
destruction. The true Knower who makes use of all this apparatus is at the
heart of it all. Science tells us that of all the five senses, that of Touch or
Feeling was the original—the fundamental sense.
All the others are thought to be variations and advanced
versions of this initial sense of emotion. I'm telling you this not only
because it's fascinating and instructive scientific knowledge, but also because
knowing this truth will help you understand what I'll have to say about the
higher faculties or senses more clearly. Many of the most primitive and
simplistic types of animal life have only this one meaning, which is mostly
underdeveloped.
The basic life type "feels" the touch of its food
or other items that might meet it. Plants have a meaning like this, which in
certain situations, such as the Sensitive Plant, is very established. We find signs
of taste and anything akin to primitive hearing or sensitivity to sounds long
before the sense of sight or light sensitivity existed in animal life. Smell
evolved from the sense of taste, with which it is now closely associated.
The sense of smell of certain lower animal life forms is
much more evolved than in humans. Hearing developed over time from the
primitive sensation of sounds. The strongest of the senses, sight, came last
and evolved from the basic sensitivity to light. Although, as you can see, both
senses are just variations on the initial sense of touch or sensation. The
touch or sensation of light waves striking the eye is registered. The touch or
sensation of sound waves or air movements that enter the ear is registered.
The chemical touch of food particles or other compounds meeting
the taste buds is recorded by the tongue and other taste seats. The chemical
touch of gases or fine particles of material that meet the mucous membrane of
the nose is registered. Sensory nerves detect the presence of external stimuli
that meet nerve ends in different areas of the body's skin. Both of these
senses merely document the interaction or "touch" of external
objects, as you can see. The sense organs, on the other hand, are not
responsible for detecting the presence of objects. They're all fragile bits of
devices used to capture or collect primary impressions from the outside world.
As wonderful as they are, they have human predecessors, such
as the camera, which is an artificial eye; the phonograph, which is an
artificial ear; the delicate chemical apparatus, which is an artificial taster
and smeller; and the telegraph, which is an artificial nerve. Not just that,
but nerve telegraph wires are still there, carrying signals from the eye, ear,
nose, and tongue to the brain, informing something in the brain of what has
been sensed at the other end of the line.
If you cut the nerves that connect to the eye, even if the
eye continues to register correctly, no message can enter the brain. And the
brain will be rendered blind, with no messages from the nerves supplying the
eye, ear, nose, tongue, or any other part of the body reaching it. You know,
there's a lot more to getting meaning signals than you would imagine at first.
All of this implies that the self, or spirit, or consciousness, as you like to
call it, is the true Knower who becomes mindful of the outer world through the
senses' signals.
When the mind is cut off from these texts, it becomes almost
blank in terms of external objects. Any one of the senses would be diminished
or cut off, implying that a portion of the ego's universe would be diminished
or cut off. Similarly, each new meaning applied to the list continues to
broaden and expand the ego's universe. In certain cases, we are unaware of
this. Instead, we have the propensity of believing that the universe is made up
of a finite number of objects and truth, and that we are aware of every single
one of them.
This is a child's way of thinking. Remember how much smaller
the world of a person born blind or deaf is relative to the world of the normal
person! Consider how much bigger, broader, and more wonderful our planet would
become if any of us were unexpectedly given a different meaning! How much more
will we be able to perceive? What a difference it will make. How much more can
we learn? How much more will we have to discuss?
Why, we're in the same boat as the unfortunate blind girl
who said that the color scarlet must be similar to the sound of a trumpet. She
had no idea of color because she had never seen a beam of light, so she could
only see and talk in terms of touch, sound, taste, and scent. She would have
been deprived of even more of her world if she had already been mute. Consider
these points for a moment.
Assume, on the other hand, that we developed a new sense
that enabled us to detect electrical waves. Under that scenario, we'd be able
to "see" what was going on in another location—perhaps on the other
side of the globe, maybe on another planet entirely. Imagine having the ability
to see through a stone wall and into the rooms of a building if we had an X Ray
sense. We might see what is going on Mars and transmit and receive emails from
others who live there if our view was enhanced by the inclusion of a telescopic
adjustment.
Or, if we could see all the mysteries of a drop of water
with a microscopic adjustment—perhaps it's for the best that we can't. In the
other side, if we have a well-developed telepathic sense, we would be mindful of
others' thought-waves to the point that no secrets would be kept concealed from
anyone—wouldn't it drastically change existence and human interaction? Many will
be no more amazing than the evolution of our senses. We can do any of these
stuff with devices built by man's brain—because man is nothing more than a
natural imitator and adaptor.
Perhaps there are people on other worlds or planets that
have seven, nine, or fifteen senses instead of the five we have. Who knows what
will happen! However, it is not appropriate to use one's imagination to conjure
up images of creatures on other worlds that possess more senses than humans.
Although occult teachings affirm that there are entities on other worlds with
senses as far higher than those of the earth-man as the latter's are higher
than those of the oyster, we don't have to go far to find evidence of beings
with far higher and more powerful faculties than those used by the average man.
We just need to understand man's higher psychical faculties
right now to see what new worlds are available to him. When you have a
scientific view of these things, you'll find so much of the overwhelming body
of marvelous encounters of men throughout history, which the "horse
sense" man dismisses as "queer" and "contrary to sense,"
is simply nothing mystical. You'll find that these interactions are almost as
normal as those affecting the five senses—even though they are super-physical.
You must understand that there is a significant distinction between
supernatural and super-physical.
Both occultists are aware that man has additional senses beyond his five senses, but few men have learned them enough to use them effectively. Occultists refer to these extrasensory perceptions as "the astral senses." The name "Astral" is taken from the Greek word "astra," which means "star," which is used by both occultists, ancient and modern. It's used to define the planes that are directly above the physical plane. The astral senses are man's parallels to his earthly senses, and they are linked to the person's astral body in the same way as the physical senses are linked to the physical body.
The aim of these astral senses is to allow a person to
obtain sensations on the astral plane in the same way as his physical senses
allow him to do so on the physical plane. The consciousness of man experiences
only the sense sensations of the actual organs of sense on the physical world;
but, as the mind acts and vibrates on the astral plane, it needs astral senses
to receive the impressions of that plane, which are present, as we shall see.
Any of man's physical senses has a corresponding astral equivalent.
Thus, in latency, man can see, sound, taste, smell, and hear
on the astral plane through his five astral senses. Furthermore, the strongest
occultists understand that man has seven physical senses rather than only five,
but these two extra senses are not activated in the normal human (though
occultists who have reached a certain stage are able to use them effectively).
In the astral plane, these two additional physical senses have equivalents.
People who have evolved their astral senses can receive
astral plane sense sensations almost as clearly as they can receive actual
plane sense impressions using their physical senses. For example, the
individual can sense events on the astral plane; read the Akashic Records of
the past; see events in other areas of the world; see past events; and, in
unusual situations, catch glimpses of the future, though this is much rarer
than the other types of astral sight. Again, using clairaudience, a person can
hear sounds from the astral plane, both past and present, and in rare cases,
hear things from the afterlife.
In either case, the explanation is the same: impulses are
received on the astral plane rather than the actual plane. The astral
sensations of hearing, taste, and sensing function in the same way. However,
although we sometimes experience astral sensing, we scarcely experience astral
smelling or tasting during those processes of psychic phenomena, because the
astral senses are available and ready to be used. Only while moving in the
astral body do the last two described astral senses, namely scent and taste,
come into action.
Telepathy, also known as mind transference, is a phenomenon that exists on both the physical and emotional planes. On the physical world, it manifests randomly, while on the astral plane, it is as transparent, consistent, and receptive to demand as astral perception, for example. The average person experiences only sporadic bursts of astral sensing and is rarely able to witness the phenomena at will. In the other hand, a learned occultist will move from one set of senses to the other with a simple act or effort of will anytime he wishes.
Advanced occultists will also work on both the physical and
astral realms simultaneously, but they don't often want to. To see astrally,
the educated occultist literally changes his visual mechanism from actual to
astral, or vice versa, in the same way that a typewriter operator shifts from small
letter to capital form by pressing the shift key on his keyboard. Many people
believe that to use the astral senses, they must fly on the astral plane and in
the astral body. This is a blunder.
In cases of clairvoyance, astral visioning, psychometry, and
other practices, the occultist resides in his own body and experiences the
phenomenon of the astral plane very quickly by the astral senses, just as he
can perceive the phenomena of the physical plane through the physical organs—in
certain cases, much more easily. In most instances, the occultist does not even
need to reach the trance state. Travel in the astral body is quite another
phase of occult phenomena and is far more difficult to manifest.
Under the supervision of a qualified tutor, the pupil can
never try to fly in the astral body. In Crystal Gazing, the occultist simply
uses the crystal to harness his influence to put his astral vision into view.
The crystal itself has no mystical qualities; it is merely an instrument for
achieving a purpose, a piece of valuable equipment to help in the development
of such phenomena. In psychometry, an entity is used to put the occultist
"in tune" with the person or item with which it is associated.
However, the astral senses are used to describe the thing's
past environment, as well as the current and past behavior of the individual in
question, and so on. In other words, the entity is simply the unwound end of
the psychic ball of twine that the psychometrist winds and unwinds at will.
Psychometry, like crystal gazing, is just one form of astral seeing.
Telekinesis, or movement at a distance, requires the use of both astral sensing
and astral will motion, which is also followed by the actual projection of a part
of the astral body's material.
We have an example of the simplest method of astral seeing
in Clairvoyance, which does not include the "linked entity" in
psychometry or the focal point of the crystal in crystal gazing. This is true
not only to regular clairvoyance, in which the occultist sees astrally the
happenings and doings at some remote stage, at the time of observation; it is
also true of historical clairvoyance, or astral seeing of past events; and
future clairvoyance, as in prophetic vision, etc. All of these are just various
variations of the same thing.
"These phenomena are supernatural, way beyond the
domain of common law," some of you might suggest, "and yet this guy
will have us think otherwise." Dear reader, please don't leap to
conclusions too quickly. What do you know about natural law and phenomena's
limits? What gives you the freedom to declare that something outside the normal
spectrum of sensory perception is outside of Nature? If you know you're
attempting to put a cap on Existence, which is basically limitless?
If a man from a previous century had been told that the
wonders of wireless telegraphy could be manifested, he would have been
similarly justified in asserting that they were mystical. Going back even more,
the man's father would have said the same thing about the telephone if someone
had been so brave as to predict it. Imagine the response of some of the old men
of the time to the telegraph if we go back another century.
These objects, though, are merely the discovery and
deployment of some of Nature's amazing powers and energies. Is it any more
implausible to believe that Nature already has a mine of undiscovered treasure
in both man's mind and constitution and in inorganic nature? These phenomena
are as normal as the physical senses, and not a smidgeon more miraculous. It is
perhaps that we are used to one and not the other that the astral senses seem
to be more wonderful than the real senses. Nature's workings are all amazing,
and none are more so than the others. When we come down to the heart of it,
they are all beyond our comprehension. So, let's keep our minds open!
