Lesson Nine

The Universal Mind

Social living is based on the functions of the mind.  It is necessary to profoundly explore the diverse levels of the mind.   The sphere of thought that man lives within is never locked up within the limited circumference of the cranium, as is generally supposed by the ignoramus and even the illustrious ignoramuses of the world.  If such a man existed as those people believe, he would, of course, be the most unfortunate man in the world.  A man with his mind imprisoned in his cranium could not see or perceive anything, he would be a complete idiot, living in the most profound darkness.  That unfortunate creature would not see the Sun, the moon, stars, the Earth we live on, people, things, nor light.  Nothing that has existence would exist in the mind of such a man; this is explained by the fact that man can perceive nothing that does not exist beforehand in his own mind.

In his Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant said, “The exterior is the interior.”  The entire universe exists in the cosmic mind.  The mental sphere of each person extends throughout the entire cosmos and reaches the most faraway stars.  This is the cause of seeing, hearing, and feeling all that is created.  This is the reason for seeing the most remote stars.  Our thoughts are not locked up in our cranium.  Our mind extends throughout the entire cosmos.  Our mind penetrates everywhere: worlds, suns, people, and things; everything is within the mind of each man.

The mind is universal energy.  The mind vibrates and sparkles in all creation. The cerebrum is not the mind.  The cerebrum is only a receptive center, a radio-telegraphic office which receives the messages of the mind.  The cerebrum does not think.  The one that thinks is the mind, and it is is not the cerebrum.

Religions say that the human Soul has a body of flesh and bones.  The Theosophists maintain that besides the body of flesh and bones, the soul has a Mental Body.  All the Oriental and Occidental schools dedicated to the study of occultism teach their students how to use the Mental Body. The Soul dressed in the Mental Body can transport itself to other planets at will and see what happens there.

The entire universe is within the human mind.  All minds are within all other minds.  We mutually live in the thought sphere of others.  The economic and social problems of each person live in the mind of everybody: no one is alien to another.  We are all in the mind of everybody else.  The beggar lives within the mind of the rich individual, and the rich one lives in the mind of the beggar.  We are all submerged in the ocean of the universal mind.

Imagination and Will

Imagination and will are the two poles of the mind.  The imagination is feminine; the will is masculine.  The key to success is within the imagination and will united in vibrant harmony.

Mental Action

The inventor conceives with his imagination the telephone, the radio, the automobile, etc., and then with the will gives it shape, converts it into facts, into concrete reality.  Parisian designers dictate fashions just as they conceive them in their imagination.

Mental Epidemics

If a man thinks in both a good and a bad sense, the waves that emanate from his mind reach the Mental Body of each individual.  Mental waves are propagated in all places.  When the waves are those of wisdom and love, they benefit all those who receive them.

When the waves are permeated with devotion and veneration towards God, they carry peace and comfort to all those in suffering.  Poisonous mental waves harm the minds of others.  Mental waves of hatred, envy, covetousness, lust, pride, laziness, gluttony, etc. produce mental epidemics.  Perverse mental waves poison many weak minds with their radioactivity.

The case of “rebels without a cause” is a good example of what mental epidemics are.  The “rebels without a cause” have become an evil and harmful plague.  The cause of this mental epidemic should be sought for in the ill-used imagination.  Movie theatres show movies of bandits and gunmen that are then recorded in the minds of young people.  Parents give their children guns, war trucks, tiny cannons, soldiers, toys, machine guns, etc.  All of this is forcefully reflected in the imagination of children and adolescents.  Then follow the magazines and comic books of police and robbers, pornographic magazines, etc.

The result of all this does not make itself wait; shortly afterwards, the child, the adolescent, actually becomes the “rebel without a cause,” and later, the robber, the professional thief, the swindler, etc.

Mental Hygiene

It is necessary to practice mental hygiene.  A preventive medicine is urgent.  Develop wisdom and love.  Pray a lot daily.  Select works of art: we suggest good music, classical music, good paintings, the works of Michelangelo, the great operas.

Avoid spectacles harmful to the mind, such as bloody spectacles like boxing, wrestling, bullfights, etc.  These kinds of spectacles produce mental epidemics.  Take care of your mind.  Do not permit evil thoughts to penetrate the temple of your mind.  Be pure in thought, word, and deed.  Teach your children all that is good, true, and beautiful.

Origins of the Universal Mind

The great Divine Reality surged from its own bosom in the aurora of this solar universe in which we live, move, and have our own Being.  The Great Reality does not know itself but, contemplating itself in the living mirror of the great imagination of Nature, it then comes to know itself.  In this manner, a mental vibratory activity is created by which the Great Reality knows its infinite images that shine marvelously in the cosmic scenery.

This activity coming from the periphery going towards the center is called the universal mind.

All of us beings live submerged in the infinite ocean of the universal mind. Therefore, we all live in everyone else. No one can separate mentally.  “The heresy of separateness is the worst of heresies.”

The intelligent activity of the universal mind proceeds from a centripetal force and, since every action is followed by a reaction, the centripetal force, on finding a resistance in the center, reacts and creates a centrifugal activity called the Cosmic Soul.  This vibratory Cosmic Soul turns out to be the mediator between the center and the periphery, between the Universal Spirit of life and matter, between the Great Reality and its living images.

A great Master said:

The Soul is the product of the centrifugal action of the universal activity impelled by the centripetal action of the universal imagination.

Terms

• Centrifuge: is the force that tries to move away from the center. The force that goes from the center to the periphery.
• Centripetal: the force which is attracted by the center. The force that flows from the periphery to the center.

Every individual can fabricate a Soul.  When we know the technique of internal meditation, when we direct mental power to the interior of our own divine center, the resistance that we will find internally will cause a reaction, and the more vigorous the centripetal force we apply, the more vigorous will be the centrifugal force that forms.  Likewise do we fabricate a Soul.  In this manner, the soul grows and expands.  The strong and robust Soul incarnates and transforms the physical body: transforms it into more subtle and elevated manner until it also converts into Soul.

Exercise

Learn to use your imagination and will, united in vibrant harmony.  Lying in your bed or seated in a comfortable chair, imagine a faraway place that you know well (a house, a park, an avenue, a city, etc.).  Lull yourself to sleep with that image in your mind.  When you find yourself falling asleep and with that image in your mind, fulfill that imagination.  Forget the place where your body is: put your willpower into play and, full of self-confidence, walk in the imagined site.  Walk in the imagined place as if you were there in flesh and blood.  If the exercise is done correctly, you will leave your physical body and your soul will be transported to that place, where you will be able to see and hear everything that is happening there.