In this article William
Judge explains that the observations obtained from the astral do not provide
true knowledge, but on the contrary, they end up greatly confusing the seeker.
Perhaps those who have engaged in discussions about whether it is more
advisable to become acquainted with the Astral Plane and to see therein than to
study the metaphysics and ethics of theosophy, may be aided by the experience
of a fellow student. For several years I studied about and experimented on the
Astral Light to the end that I might, if possible, develop the power to look
therein and see those marvelous pictures of that place which tempt the
observer.
But although in some degrees success followed my efforts so far as
seeing these strange things was concerned, I found no increase of knowledge as
to the manner in which the pictures were made visible, nor as to the sources
from which they arose. A great many facts were in my possession, but the more I
accumulated the farther away from perception seemed the law governing them. I
turned to a teacher and he said:
"Beware of the illusions of matter."
"But," said I, "is this matter into which I gaze?"
"Yes; and of grosser sort than that which composes your body; full
of illusions, swarming with beings inimical to progress, and crowded with the
thoughts of all the wicked who have lived."
"How," replied I, "am I to know aught about it unless I
investigate it?"
"It will be time enough to do that when you shall have been
equipped properly for the exploration. He, who ventures into a strange country
unprovided with needful supplies, without a compass and unfamiliar with the
habits of the people, is in danger. Examine and see."
Left thus to myself, I sought those who had dabbled in the Astral Light,
who were accustomed to seeing the pictures therein every day, and asked them to
explain. Not one had any theory, any philosophical basis. All were confused and
at variance each with the other. Nearly all, too, were in hopeless ignorance as
to other and vital questions.
None were self-contained or dispassionate; moved by contrary winds of
desire, each one appeared abnormal; for, while in possession of the power to
see or hear in the Astral Light, there were unregulated in all other
departments of their being. Still more, they seemed to be in a degree
intoxicated with the strangeness of the power, for it placed them in that
respect above other persons, yet in practical affairs left them without any
ability.
Examining more closely, I found that all these "seers" were
but half-seers-and hardly even that. One could hear astral sounds but could not
see astral sights; another saw pictures, but no sound or smell was there; still
others saw symbols only, and each derided the special power of the other.
Turning even to the great Emanuel Swedenborg, I found a seer of
wonderful power, but whose constitution made him see in the Astral world a
series of pictures which were solely an extension of his own inherited beliefs.
And although he had had a few visions of actual everyday affairs occurring at a
distance, there were so few as only to be remarkable.
One danger warned against by the teacher was then plainly evident. It
was the danger of becoming confused and clouded in mind by the recurrence of
pictures which had no salutary effect so far as experience went. So again I
sought the teacher and asked:
"Has the Astral Light no power to teach, and, if not, why is it
thus? And are there other dangers than what I have discovered?"
He answered me:
"No power whatever has the astral plane, in itself, to teach you.
It contains the impressions made by men in their ignorance and folly. Unable to
arouse the true thoughts, they continue to infect that light with the virus of
their unguided lives. And you, or any other seer, looking therein will warp and
distort all that you find there. It will present to you pictures that partake
largely of your own constitutional habits, weaknesses, and peculiarities. Thus
you only see a distorted or exaggerated copy of yourself. It will never teach
you the reason of things, for it knows them not.
"But stranger dangers than any you have met are there when one goes
further on. The dweller of the threshold is there, made up of all the evil that
man has done. None can escape its approach, and he who is not prepared is in
danger of death, of despair, or of moral ruin. Devote yourself, therefore, to
spiritual aspiration and to true devotion, which will be a means for you to
learn the causes that operate in nature, how they work, and what each one works
upon."
I then devoted myself as he had directed, and discovered that a
philosophical basis, once acquired, showed clearly how to arrive at dispassion
and made exercise therein easy. It even enables me to clear up the
thousand doubts that assail those others who are peering into the Astral Light.
They compelled the disciple to abjure all occult practices until such
time as he had laid a sure foundation of logic, philosophy, and ethics; and
only then was he permitted to go further in that strange country from which
many an unprepared explorer has returned bereft of truth and sometimes
despoiled of reason.
Further, I know that the Masters of the Theosophical Society have written
these words: "Let the Theosophical Society flourish through moral worth
and philosophy, and give up the pursuit of phenomena." Shall we be greater
than They, and ignorantly set the pace upon the path that leads to ruin?
(Path, July 1890, p.112-114; Echoes I, p.153-155)
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