Alice Bailey - From Intellect to Intuition - IV - The Objectives in Meditation







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From Intellect to Intuition - Chapter Four - The Objectives in
Meditation





We are told, for instance, that we have five main instincts,
which we share in common with all animals. These, when used with selfish and personal
objectives, enhance the body life, strengthen the form or material nature and so serve
increasingly to hide the Self, the spiritual man. These must be transmuted into their
higher counterparts, for every animal has its spiritual prototype. The instinct of
self-preservation must eventually be superseded by realization of immortality, and [80]
"dwelling ever in the Eternal," man will walk the earth and fulfil his destiny.
The instinct which causes the lower self to thrust itself forward, and force its way
upward, will eventually be transformed into the domination of the higher or spiritual
Self. The assertion of the little or lower self will give way to that of the higher Self.
Sex, which is an animal instinct powerfully governing all animal forms, will give place to
a higher attraction, and will, in its noblest aspects, bring about conscious attraction
and union between the soul and its vehicle; whilst the herd instinct will be transmuted
into group consciousness. A fifth instinct, namely the urge to inquire and to investigate,
which characterizes all minds at a high or a low level, will give place to intuitive
perception and understanding, and so the great work will be accomplished and the spiritual
man will dominate his creation, the human being, and lift all his attributes and aspects
into heaven.Through meditation, spiritual knowledge grows up within the mind, and from
the basis of ordinary knowledge, we steadily expand our understanding of the term, until
knowledge merges into wisdom. This is direct knowledge of God by means of the mental
faculty, so that we become what we are, and are enabled to manifest our divine nature.
Tagore, in one place, defines meditation as "the entering into some great truth until
we are possessed by it," and truth and God are synonymous terms. The mind knows two
objects, we are told - the outer world through the medium of the five senses and the
brain, and the soul [81] and its world through what we might call an introverted use of
the mind and its intense focusing upon a new and unusual field of contact. Then

"the
mind-stuff reflecting both the knower (the Self) and the knowable, becomes omniscient...
it becomes the instrument of the Self and acts as a unifying agent."
- Bailey, Alice, The Light of the Soul, IV, 22-24.

All things
will stand revealed to the man who truly meditates. He will comprehend the hidden things
of nature, and the secrets of the life of the spirit. He will also know how he
knows.
Thus,
meditation brings about union, or at-one-ment.
The Occidental mystic may speak of the At-one-ment, whilst his brother in the Orient
may speak of Raja Yoga, or of Union and of liberation, but they mean the same thing. They
mean that the mind and the soul (the Christ within us or the Higher Self) function as a
unit, as a coordinated whole, thus expressing perfectly the will of the indwelling God.
René Guénon, in his book Man and His Becoming, makes the following interesting
comments on the word "union," which have a place here.

"The realization of this identity is effected by Yoga, that is, the
intimate and essential union of being with the Divine Principle, or, if preferred, with
the Universal. The proper meaning of this word Yoga is in fact 'union' and
nothing else... It should be noted that this realization ought not strictly to be regarded
as an 'achievement,' or as 'the production of a non-pre-existent result,' according to
Shankaracharya's expression, for the union in question, although not actually realized in
the sense in which we here [82] intend it, exists none the less potentially, or rather
virtually; what is involved is merely the effectual attainment by the individual being...
of the consciousness of that which truly is from all eternity."
- Guénon, René, Man and His Becoming, page 37.

Through the ordered stages of the meditation process, a relationship is gradually and
steadily established between the soul and its instruments until the time comes when they
are literally one. Then the sheaths serve simply to reveal the light of the indwelling Son
of God; the physical body is under direct control of the soul, for the illuminated mind
transmits (as we shall see later) soul knowledge to the physical brain; the emotional
nature is purified and simply reflects the love nature of the soul, as the mind reflects
the purposes of God. Thus, the hitherto disorganized and separative aspects of the human
being are synthesized and unified and brought into harmonious relation with each other and
with the soul, their creator, their source of energy, and their motivating power.
This science of union involves the disciplining of the life, and an experimental system
of coordination. Its method is that of focused attention, of mind control, or of
meditation, and is a mode of development whereby we effect union with the soul, and become
aware of inner states of consciousness. This is summed up for us in the familiar words of
Browning:

"Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate'er you may believe. [83]
There is an inmost center in us all,
Where truth abides in fullness; and around
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
...and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendor may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without."
- Browning, Robert, Paracelsus.

The whole object of the science of meditation is, therefore, to enable man to become in
outer manifestation what he is in inner reality, and to make him identify himself with his
soul aspect and not simply his lower characteristics. It is a quick process for the
unfolding of the reasoning consciousness, but in this instance must be self-applied and
self-initiated. Through meditation, the mind is used as an instrument for observing the
eternal states, and becomes in time an instrument for illumination, and through it the
soul or Self transmits knowledge to the physical brain.





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