Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00360)

Some more:
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HPB, "Psychic and Noetic Action"

The "Higher Ego," as part of the essence of the UNIVERSAL MIND, is
unconditionally omniscient on its own plane, and only potentially so in our
terrestrial sphere, as it has to act solely through its ALTER EGO--The
Personal Self. Now, although the former is the vehicle of all knowledge of
the past, the present and the future, and although it is from this
fountain-head that its "double" catches occasional glimpses of that which is
beyond the senses of man, and transmits them to certain brain cells (unknown
to science in their functions), thus making of man a SEER, a soothsayer, and
a prophet; yet the memory of bygone events--especially of the earth
eathy--has its seat in the Personal Ego alone.

No memory of a purely daily life function, of a physical, egotistical, or of
a lower mental nature--such as, e.g., eating and drinking, enjoying personal
sensual pleasures, transacting business to the detriment of one's neighbor,
etc., etc., has aught to do with the "Higher" Mind or Ego. Nor has it any
direct dealings on this physical plane with either our brain or our
heart--for these two are the organs of a power higher than the
PERSONALITY--but only with our passional organs, such as the liver, the
stomach, the spleen, etc.

Thus it only stands to reason that the memory of such-like events must first
be awakened in that organ which was the first to induce the action remembered
afterwards, and conveyed it to our "sense-thought," which is entirely
DISTINCT FROM THE "SUPERSENSUOUS" THOUGHT. It is only the higher forms of
the latter, the SUPERCONSCIOUS mental experiences, that can correlate with
the cerebral and cardiac centers. The memories of physical and SELFISH (or
personal) deeds, on the other hand, together with the mental experiences of a
terrestrial nature, and of earthly biological functions, can, of necessity,
only be correlated with the molecular constitution of various KAMIC organs,
and the "dynamic associations" of the elements of the nervous system in each
particular organ....

Indeed, every organ in our body HAS ITS OWN MEMORY. For if it is endowed
with a consciousness "of its own kind," every cell must of necessity have
also a memory of its own lind, as likewise its own PSYCHIC and NOETIC action.
 Responding to the touch of both a physical and a metaphysical Force, the
impulse given by the PSYCHIC (or psyscho-molecular) Force will act from
WITHOUT WITHIN; while that of the NOETIC (shall we call it
Spiritual-dynamical?) Force works FROM WITHIN WITHOUT. For, as our body is
the covering of the inner "principles," soul, mind, life, etc., so the
molecule or the cell is the body in which dwell its "principles," the (to our
senses and comprehension) immaterial atoms which compose that cell. The
cell's activity and behavior are determined by its being propelled either
inwardly or outwardly, by the noetic or the psychic Force, the former having
no relation to the PHYSICAL cells proper.

Every human organ and each cell in the latter has a keyboard of its own, like
that of a piano, only that it registers and emits sensations instead of
sounds. Every key contains the potentiality of good or bad, of producing
harmony or disharmony. This depends on the impulse given and the
combinations produced; on the force of the touch of the artist at work, a
"double-faced Unity," indeed. And it is the action of this or the other
"Face" of the Unity that determines the nature and the dynamical character of
the manifested phenomena as a resulting action, and this whether they be
physical or mental. For the whole of man is guided by this double-faced
Entity. If the impulse comes from the "Wisdom above," the Force applied
being noetic or spiritual, the results will be actions worthy of the divine
propeller; if from the "terrestrial," devilish wisdom" (psychic power), man's
activities will be selfish, based solely on the exigencies of his physical,
hence animal, nature. The above may sound to the average reader as pure
nonsense; but every Theosophist must understand when told that there are
MANASIC as well as KAMIC organs in him, although the cells of his body answer
to both physical and spiritual impulses.
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Rich: It seems to me that any clairvoyant who can see his (or anyone else's)
past lives in detail, see what one looked like, what clothes one wore, etc.,
can only be operating on the PSYCHIC level, not the NOETIC, because the
Noetic doesn't register such mundane details. It retains, according to HPB
in this article, only the spiritual essence and meaning of events, not the
outer details of the events themselves. The higher Manas or NOETIC action
has no connection to the body directly, and can only operate through the
EMBODIED lower manas or PSYCHIC action. Under this view, almost all
clairvoyants and other unusually gifted people today are PSYCHIC and not
NOETIC. This would seem to apply to CWL as well.

Rich