Theos-Talk Archives (October 1993 Message tl00035)

     Second, taking off from Eldon's discussions of psychism, I
would like to add a thought or two based on my personal
experiences in the matter.  It seems that all my life, I've heard
tales concerning psychic phenomena of all types.  Psychics are in
every generation in my own family, and stories going back to my
great grandmother in the early and mid 1800's, have been handed
down, and I've seen more than my share of phenomena.  It seems
that psychic abilities have more to do with heredity and have
about as much to do with spiritual development as the color of
one's hair.  Therefore, I agree with Eldon; psychic ability is
NOT a sign of spiritual development, and would like to share some
personal experiences that led me to believe this to be so.

     As Eldon pointed out, this E.S.P. seems to be of two types;
one is based in the emotional/mental nature, while the other
seems to be a function of one's spiritual nature. The first, is
what I call "lower psychism," and if anything, is more of a
hinderance to spiritual development, rather than a sign of it.
The other appears to be a function of our spiritual nature, and
is also accessible to everyone, but doesn't receive as much
attention.  I call this mode of perception "spiritual vision."

     The lower psychism, based upon the emotional/mental nature
seems to be very common.  About every third person I meet seems
to have this psychic nature to a greater or lessor degree.  For
some reason, I'm immediately aware of who those people are upon
meeting them--but that is partly because I have the dubious honor
of being among this group.  These people are all able to at least
sense if not experience other people's feelings.  A lessor number
of them will also pickup other's thoughts (telepathy), but I
never met anyone who could do this at will and with any accuracy-
-it was always involuntary.

     On the psychic vision (clairvoyant) level, I found that most
people can see energy fields around people and objects.  I use to
teach theosophy classes in Los Angeles, and one segment was
always devoted to psychism.  In teaching these classes, I
discovered that with very little training, almost everyone leaned
to see these fields in greater or lessor detail.  I've
tentatively concluded that they are really on the lower threshold
of physical vision, accessible to everyone, but unconsciously
blocked out because they really don't convey much (for most
people) meaningful information.  This kind of perception seems to
be consistent with C.W. Leadbeater's description of "etheric
vision,"  but it is not what Blavatsky means by the "etheric" or
of the Linga Shirira.

     Perception of colors around people, seems to be much rarer.
Those whom I have met with this ability, usually see only the
nimbus, and at that only occasionally and involuntary.  A few
people are able to see the entire "aura," and are able to do so
at all times, but usually don't pay attention to it, for the same
reason that people cut out "etheric vision."  My own experiences
with seeing colors are very occasional and involuntary, so there
is little I can say on this from personal experience.  But I have
conducted interviews with numerous people who have this ability
at all times, and have discovered an inconsistency as to their
perceptions of the significance of the colors.  One person (a
theosophist) I interviewed, was very familiar with C.W.L.'s
correlations of colors (MAN VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE), and said that
they were not consistent with her experiences.

     Another thing I learned, is that the reputation of the
psychic has little to do with accuracy.  Around 1964, I was at a
theosophical gathering at Krotona, where everyone was milling
around in a large reception room in the main building.  At a
certain moment among those people, I was thinking about the
Liberal Catholic Church.  Almost immediately, an elderly woman
came across the room and told me that I would someday be a Bishop
in the Liberal Catholic Church.  She then almost as quickly moved
back across the room to continue her conversation with someone
else.  As soon as she left, another elderly man came up to me and
asked what the lady said to me.  I told him, and he replied that
I should take her words seriously, because she was Phoebe Bendit,
one of the three greatest psychics of the Theosophical Society.
C.W. Leadbeater and Dora Kunz, according to him, were the other
two.  Those of you who personally know me, can testify that my
becoming a Bishop in the Liberal Catholic Church is very
unlikely.  The above incident seemed to me to be more of an
impressive demonstration of telepathy, rather than a prediction
of my future.

     About twelve years later, after Phoebe Bendit, had passed
away, her psychiatrist husband, Laurance moved to Ojai, and for a
short time, we resumed our friendship that had begun in the early
sixties.  For the first time, I related my experience regarding
his wife to him, and we fell into a rather lengthy conversation
concerning his fifty years worth of experiences with Phoebe, and
other psychics he had known.  He made one very important point
that stands out in my mind: clairvoyants, in his experience, are
unable to distinguish where their observations end and their
imagination begins.  He was convinced that this was a problem
with all of them he had known, including his wife and C.W.
Leadbeater.

     Around the late sixties, Dame Sybil Leek, came to Los
Angeles on a speaking tour.  On a whim, I bought a ticket and
went to hear her speak about Witchcraft.  During the question and
answer period, a woman began to describe the training she went
through to develop "psychic powers,"  and said she was able to
see events before they happened.  As she described her
experiences her stress elevated, her voice started to break--she
said that she was unable to turn this ability off, and began to
beg the speaker for help her do so.  Sybil Leek, replied: "My
dear, you have a great gift."  Most of the audience was
distressed at this woman's plight, and understood the danger
here.  Unfortunately, there were others, like the speaker, who
seemed to miss the point.

     I have a few personal experiences of a lower psychic nature
that seem to be unique, and would like to know if anyone had
experienced anything similar.  One that stands out at the moment
was from childhood.  I remember being able to look at the wall
nearest my bed, and its solidity would melt away into a vortex of
energy.  The wall at first would look like it was completely
covered with ants moving at an amazing speed, then disappear all
together.  Behind, or rather within the wall, were a couple, in
all appearances perfectly normal adult people.  We would have
conversations, the substance of which I can no longer remember,
except that they spoke as adults and whatever they said was very
consoling and important to me at the time.  One day, they told me
that they had to move on, and I would not see them again.  I
remember my deep disappointment upon hearing this.  A day or so
later, I looked into the same wall, and it evaporated as before,
but no one was there.  I never repeated this until, some years
later, remembering the incident, I tried again, and the wall
opened as usual, but it was with effort for the first time.
Still, there was nothing there.  Over the years, I had forgotten
the incident until I was in my teens. I was working a night job,
stuffing newspapers, and glanced to the cement floor, which began
to open in the same way as before.

     I have collected stories from several people who, in stress,
have had people appear in their rooms, but not in walls.  This
seems to be unique.  Perhaps someone else has had an experience
like this.

     Another problem has to do with the emotional nature of
psychic transference.  Other people's feelings were always a
source of confusion, to me because I was never able to
distinguish them from my own.  This was never really resolved
until I was in my early thirties.  I remember sitting on a bench
in Griffith park while my daughter was riding a pony. A couple
walked by, and a wave of depression came over me, and I found
myself trying to analyze its source, when I realized that the man
who walked by was deeply depressed.  It was only after that
breakthrough that I learned to make the separation.  My wife
coined the term "low ego boundaries" for this condition. It seems
to fit.

     Regarding what I call "spiritual vision," I think there is a
lot of confusion concerning this.  About seven years ago, a
theosophist approached me with a "message from those in the know"
(ie the E.S.), and began to dictate to me as to what I may or may
not discuss with other members.  I grew angry at his impertinence
of thinking he can dictate to me what I may or may not say, and I
started to tell him off.  He calmly turned away from me, without
giving me the satisfaction of blasting him, only to say as he
left me; "you need to learn to think in your Buddhic body." Only
upon looking back on this incident that it has become funny--at
the time, I found no humor in it.  Buddhic consciousness, of
course, is a level of relative omniscience--it is the state of
consciousness of the Buddha.  My visitor was implying that by his
association with the E.S., he was in possession of this
consciousness, therefore my lowly protests of his infinite wisdom
was of no consequence to him. (I'm telling this story not to
disparage the E.S. I wrote a letter of complaint to one of those
"in the know" and received a reply that he had acted on his own.)

     According to the core teachings of Blavatsky, and of the
Mahatma Letters, the whole of the human race is in the fourth
round; that is we are still perfecting the Kamic principle.  That
is, our emotional nature is still in evolution, and is the
primary overall focus at this time.  However, we are also in the
fifth root race.  This allows us a secondary focus on the
manasic, yet even at this state, we still operate primarily out
of our feelings.  We can't escape them--the primary level of our
consciousness is kama, though we "think" through the manasic
subprinciple of kama.  According to these core teachings, this is
true of everyone, with very few exceptions. Those exceptions are
called "fifth rounders."  When humanity reaches the fifth round--
millions of years from now, its consciousness will be centered in
manas, but it won't be until the sixth round that we will be
operating out of buddhi.  So the claim my impertinent friend made
about himself, if he really understood what he was talking about,
meant that he was tens of millions of years in advance of the
rest of us poor humanity.  He is even in advance of the Mahatmas,
and has the consciousness of the Buddha.  Even K.H. is a
spiritual inferior, as he confessed in a letter to A.P. Sinnett
that he was annoyed with A.O. Hume.

     Therefore, according to those teachings, we are barely in
the human state of evolution.  Our physical forms are human
enough, but our level of consciousness is still more akin to the
animal than to the human.  Yet, we all still get glimpses of
spiritual vision.  Those flashes of intuition, and the simple
knowing that has nothing to do with feelings or logic, are from
those higher realms of consciousness that we are still moving
toward.  This kind of awareness is not accompanied with beautiful
feelings, or exquisite colors, but is simply an extraordinary
level of understanding that is of a loftier and truer quality
than anything that could ever be achieved through psychism or
clairvoyance.  A book that most beautifully expresses the
differences between the psychic and spiritual consciousness is
the VOICE OF THE SILENCE, where the base psychic powers are
called the lower iddhis. But to gain true spiritual vision:

     Before the soul can see, the Harmony within must be
     attained, and fleshly eyes be rendered blind to all
     illusion.

     Before the Soul can hear, the image (man) has to become as
     deaf to roarings as to whispers, to cries of bellowing
     elephants as to the silvery buzzing of the golden fire-fly.
     Before the soul can comprehend and may remember, she must
     unto the Silent Speaker be united, just as the form to which
     the clay is modelled is first united with the potter's mind.

     For then the soul will hear, and will remember.

     And then to the inner ear will speak--

     THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE

          Jerry Hejka-Ekins